Nero's Guests- Documentory Review

“Nero’s guests” is a documentary that spoke about the overwhelming number of farmer suicides and the Agrarian crisis in India. Nero’s guests was directed by Deepa Bhatia, a renowned Bollywood film editor and features Palagummi Sainath, an eminent columnist and journalist, who has been known to speak against poverty, caste discrimination, farmer struggles and structural inequities. At the time of filming and release of Nero’s guests, P Sainath worked as the rural affairs editor for “The Hindu”.

The remarkable documentary draws a parallel between the tyrant Roman ruler, Nero, and the prominent reigning classes, who pay no heed to the deplorable conditions of the farmers. When The Great Fire of Rome took place, it caused widespread destruction before being brought under control over several days. Tacitus, the Roman historian, who wrote extensively about Nero believed that he was scared that his people blamed him for starting the fire. To distract the Romans, he decided to throw a magnificent party and opened up his gardens for the spectacle. He invited all the elites in Rome. However, he faced the issue of "nightly illumination" for his party. The problem was solved by burning the "low lives" - prisoners, locals, poor and criminals, at stake around the garden, while the acclaimed guests did not raise any objection at all to such a gruesome and barbaric act. The documentary compares the happenings of the garden with the current situation in India, where farmers are falling into debt traps and committing suicides at a spine-chilling rate. Meanwhile, the ruling class, the mainstream media and the people of the country choose to ignore reporting and discussing these events. This documentary schools us about several untold stories of the families of dampened farmers who resorted to suicide.

As of 2009, in India, 60% of the population is still dependent on agriculture, and 836 million Indians live on less than 50 cents a day.  200,000 farmers committed suicide between 1997 and 2009 driven by debt and distress. In the documentary, we see extremely capable farmers who have won awards committing suicide, for example, Tasi Vishveshwara Rao who had won the "Progressive farmer of the year" award took his own life. The reason is the exorbitant cost of farming with meagre returns. In the film, farmers are seen stating that, suppose they invest a lakh on their crop, they receive only about 25,000. A young man who is relatively new to farming is seen saying that, for all the years that he has been farming, he doesn't remember treating his family once, he hasn't been able to buy new clothes for them over many years. It is simply heartbreaking to see how the people who generate food for such a large demographic like India, are failing to provide for their own families. This documentary makes us contemplate the toil of hardworking and sincere farmers. One such gut-wrenching story is of Shikuroy Tende, a farmer who committed suicide because of the mortgage on his land and the bank loans which amounted to Rs. 50,000, an average spending of an urbanite on a vacation. He left behind two sons who were pursuing degrees in Bachelor of Arts. These boys were forced to quit their education due to lack of funds and get into farming to provide for their family. So the cycle of poverty and injustice continues. Not only are farmers not getting the profit that they so rightfully deserve, but the masses are starving too. There has been an exponential rise in hunger in India. The country exported 20 million tons of food, just for it to be turned into fodder for the European cattle, when Indians are dying of hunger. According to the State Of The World Food Insecurity report, hunger fell in India and rose in India. There has been an acute scarcity of food and a rise in the malnourishment of the poor in the country. Sadly, inequality and injustice is the fastest-growing sector in India. There is not much we can do about it till our media, though seemingly politically free but imprisoned by profit brings it to light.

After 13 whole years, is this documentary still relevant? Yes, it is. And it is only getting worse. Just this month, I came across an article which states that "Karnataka farmer gets Rs.8 for 205 Kgs of onions after travelling 416 Kms". It is revolting how the Agrarian crisis is just getting worse, and we are doing nothing about it. So, who were Nero's guests? It is us. But, we have a choice, not to continue being Nero's guests, to indulge in excesses while others burn at stake, to raise a voice against injustice that is being meted out to the poor of our country, and to contemplate our actions.