‘Borderlands’: Migration and cross-border kinship lie at the core of this film

National Award-winning filmmaker Samarth Mahajan on the making of ‘Borderlands’ that explores the everyday lives of people along India’s geographical margins

In Nargaon, a town in West Bengal that borders Bangladesh, a stick plays Santa Claus. Like the legendary herald of good cheer, the stick delivers gifts from families and friends, travelling across the barbed wire fence that separates the countries. At the ‘milan’ bazaar held here often, barely 10 metres from the boundary, an impromptu shandy springs up with people selling wares, clothes and toys. They are bought, wrapped in black plastic bags, strung on sturdy, long sticks and then extended over the fence, past no-man’s land into the eager hands of families on either side.

This is how Dhauli, a Rajbanshi living in Nargaon for 15 years since she crossed over for her wedding, greets her family in Bangladesh. An uncle from across waves at her children, her sisters and she exchange notes, even as the crowds surge and vigilant border police on both sides keep an eagle eye on the proceedings.