Zinda Bhaag was a film ahead of its time. Released in 2013, I recall it sent shivers down my spine at a moment when the migrant conversation had just begun
“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne
In June 2023, a refugee shipwreck off the coast of Greece revealed the horrific face of illegal migrant stories when humans are packed off in inhuman conditions, to meet a fatal end. The boat’s engine had stopped working, the boat itself, jampacked to capacity with migrants from developing countries, hoped to reach the shores of Italy. But it never did. As the search for survivors is still ongoing, it is said that over 100 or more Pakistanis, some estimate 400 (about 750 people in total on a vessel that could take 300 or 350 max) were onboard. The women and children were forced to hide below deck in dark, dingy, claustrophobic conditions. This was also the part of the ship that would sink first if a catastrophe befell it, which it did. It is said that some of the migrants had already lost their lives before the shipwreck due to the cramped conditions below deck.
In retrospect and as nations struggle to find answers to the tragic loss of lives, we failed yet again, to resolve an issue that should concern all of us, but it was another moment in history when humanity fell short again & again & yet again. The film, Zinda Bhaag, essays the story of such migrants. It is a sharply accurate representation of real life and times of those who have lost all hope. It shows the utter hopelessness & despair in the lives of those willing to risk miserable death for a future beyond reach.
Remember the Syrian child washed ashore on a beach?
That was 2015 I believe. In 2013, Pakistan screened a movie “Zinda Bhaag” – Flee while you’re alive, that was also submitted for the Oscars, but it failed to get a nomination. The story of Zinda Bhaag is the story of those who would rather try and fail (or die) than not try at all and live.
If this story had made it to the Academy Awards in time – 10 years ago, would the world have been a safer place for migrants? Would Pakistan and countries like Pakistan been forced to act faster? I’m not sure of the answer, but economic policies, sub level poverty, corruption, organized crime rings might need more than one Oscar nomination to break them. However, that is not to say it would have been a great start to help shine the spotlight where it needed to be, 10 years ago!
What makes a man step into a cargo container … to be sealed for days? Why does he step into a flimsy overloaded boat to face a stormy sea? Dart across international borders dodging bullets?
The film is a story of 3 young men who risk everything to seek a better future. It delivers standout performances from Naseeruddin Shah, Amna Ilyas along with a super talented cast. Written & directed by Farjad Nabi & Meena Gaur, Zinda Bhaag is rated 7.5 on Imdb
The narrative is hair-raising, spine-chilling, real & it tells the stories of how those migrants from a remote or big town in Pakistan, India or other economically challenged economies, came to be on those cursed boats headed for doom.
In 2023, the Greece shipwreck has everyone talking again. If you ever, truly want to know what urges these people to make these life & death decisions, watch Zinda Bhaag. It will tell you everything you don’t want to listen to.
Zinda Bhaag is the story of humanity’s collective failure
The most unfortunate part? The film screened in 2013, submitted for Oscars but never made it to nominations. That too a fail – because the story still screams out to us from the rooftops … 10 years on.
When governments point fingers at why the Greece shipwreck happened, perhaps give Zinda Bhaag a watch – the answers lie in the narrative. It is not in who exploited desperate lives, but what made the victims do it in the first place.
Rising inflation, petrol prices, failing economic times won’t help the migrant crisis in coming years. There are wars across borders & then there are economic wars citizens wage daily at home. Both create migrants. Both risk lives. Both dream of a better future.
Both die while doing it.
Watch Zinda Bhaag and you’ll know this story is not new
It just got exposure because those who died did so in the open seas, in broad daylight, and the media told their story. There are many more who never make it, and no one tells their story. Perhaps, just perhaps, these deaths will help protect some lives. But for how long? As long as people lose hope, they will try to seek ways of escaping their present in search of better economic opportunities. They will be sold those dreams in the form of opportunists who will exploit their hopelessness and sell them those dreams, either in the form of secret flight in a cargo container or an overloaded boat with fake life jackets.
The migrant crisis is not new. But every time an event is brought into the spotlight, a disaster, an unfortunate loss of lives, fingers are pointed at various organisations, laws, law makers and then … nothing really happens … till the next catastrophe…
Illegal Migration Is the Story Of Citizens Waging Economic Wars In their Country
The migrants who met their death in the Greek shipwreck this year, and those portrayed in Zinda Bhaag didn’t need a war to flee their country. Just poverty. Which is a kind of war that never ends. So before we ask why no one took them in, ask also why they had to leave in the first place. Ask about our literacy rates, global economic imbalance, trade deals, politics, that keeps some economies subservient to others, and also, of course, international law.
What makes a human being willing to lose all on the toss of a die? What makes humanity so desperate to throw away life and the same humanity so insensitive as to not save that life.
The Swimmers is another great movie to educate yourself in modern day refugee dynamics. I have posted about it earlier. And Zinda Bhaag is a story that is, unfortunately, still hugely relevant although it was told 10 years ago.
courseWatch now and stay informed!
Zinda Bhaag is a film by ARY Films.
The narrative follows the journey of three young men trying to escape the reality of their everyday lives and succeeding in ways they had least expected. Cast: Naseeruddin Shah as Puhlwan Amna Ilyas as Rubina Khurram Patras as Khaldi Salman Ahmad Khan as Chitta Zohaib Asghar as Taambi Ibrahim Rauf Khawaja as Himself Samiya Mumtaz (Cameo) Rahat Fateh Ali Khan as Himself Directed by Meenu Gaur & Farjad Nabi
News Sources: Al Jazeera Reuters
