Photographer Sunil Gupta’s latest film paints a wider canvas on the HIV issue

If he had his way, photographer/filmmaker, Sunil Gupta would have had the usual measure of risqué moments in his 39-minute film I want to live . However, given that the film is funded by the Human Rights and Law Network, Gupta had to button down and make a film bereft of his usual quirks and statements. “I had this mental image of a naked man on a white horse that I wanted to use as a metaphor in the film, but that will be for another film for another audience,” says Gupta with a smile.

The film in its current avatar is a documentary that could be used as an advocacy tool to garner rights for the HIV-infected in India — a number that tots up to over 3 million. The film captures the testimonies of rights activists and those infected with HIV.

Stylistically, Gupta has combined his prowess as a photographer, using still images with innovative music and ambient sound, with footage shot in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Delhi and Punjab.

A telling line in the film goes: “They told you that HIV will kill you. I found out that it won’t. It’s people’s attitude that will.” And we learn through the interviews and oral statements (Gupta has taken care not to force victims on screen) that stigma is one of the biggest battles on board. We see a woman tell us how her husband died and then her child was infected. The response of her in-laws was to throw her on the streets. It was only then that the woman reached out to advocacy groups. “Since women are restricted to the home, they hardly have exposure to literature or rights. Sometimes being rejected by the family and left out in the world is the best thing that has happened to them,” says Gupta. A gay man fighting a battle with HIV, Gupta’s empathy moves toward the plight of men, women and children. One of the most moving segments in the film is where Gupta focuses on abandoned or orphaned kids living in homes. Still photographs of a child sleeping with its back to the camera and a stuffed toy as its only companion bring tears to one’s eyes.

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