We are a country that is known to be
mad over films and crazy about cricket. No wonder Lagaan was such a
big hit with us. But more than a decade later, Stevan Riley's Fire in
Babylon – a documentary on the West Indies' Cricket team of the
seventies is causing a ripple among the audience. The first question
on everyone's minds – why the name Babylon?
To that, Riley says,
“Babylon is a Rastafarian term. It was the lifestyle - a sort of a
religion that Bob Marley followed. Babylon, to them, is a place that
symbolizes prejudice and oppression. The fire, hence, is a
representation of the quest for the right and the fight against the
wrong.” This makes the film more than just a cricket film, or a
sports documentary. This is what makes it a great story of the
triumph of the under dog.
Riley, having grown up in England in
the 1980s, was captivated by the West Indies' performance in the 1984
'Blackwash' series. It was a time of tremendous racial prejudice in
Britain and what that team did made a statement that they are equal
on all levels. “That is what inspired me to agree to make this
film. If it was any other team, I might have not made it. Because
although this was a film about a cricket team, it goes beyond the
sport.” he says.
After compiling the interviews and the stock
footage within a year, the film was added the extra dimension with
the music. Riley adds, “It was the Caribbean. I was spoilt for
choice with music. Bob Marley was necessary and the rich folk
tradition in these islands also provided a lot of material. It adds a
Calypso flavour to the film.” The local folk artists singing songs
in praise of the game and in the glory of the legends of their
favourite game give the film a rhythm.
Fire in Babylon is one of the very few
nonfictional films to be released theatrically in India but Riley is
confident of its success. “It's a great story of an underdog's
victory. It is about a cricket team from a colonial country that
rises against the oppression of its colonizer. I think the Indian
audience will relate to this. Atleast I hope they do.” he says. But
the fact that Indian audience is relatively new to the genre of
documentaries, being an advocate of non-fictional story telling, is a
cause of concern for Riley.
He urges the Indian audience to change
their perspective and says, “It's a shame really if Indians are not
that much into documentaries. There is so much rich life to catalogue
here. The perception that documentaries are just a factual record
needs to change. It's a form of story telling and people need to see
it that way.” He also comments that it is a vicious circle and
adds, “It is a financial thing. If a documentary is a hit, the
distributors start to trust the makers, and once the platform is
available, the audience gets created.”
Riley was in India for a week and had plans
to spend some time in Himalayas before going back for the premiere of
his upcoming documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story
of 007 which releases in the UK
in the first week of October.
Unedited Version
Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on September 25, 2012
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