India’s Shardul Bhardwaj Picked Garbage For ‘The Scavenger of Dreams’

Shardul Bhardwaj plays the lead role in Suman Ghosh’s The Scavenger of Dreams that premiered at the Busan Internmational Film Festival 2023. In an exclusive interview, Bhardwaj reveals his prep for the film, the lessons that he learned while preparing for his role in a dumpyard in India, and much more. Directed by Suman Ghosh, the film is also set to be screened at the ongoing MAMI Film Festival in India’s Mumbai.

Bhardwaj recalls shooting the film in real locations, and how it took him sometime to get used to the stench prevelant in garbage yards. “I made friends with them (waste collectors) while researching for the film. Most of the ragpickers in the film are non-actors and they were not even aware of the camera when we shot, because we spent quite some time with them before the shoot and made them comfortable enough.”

Asked about going to shoot without much of a concrete description of the scenes, Bhardwaj says, “Most of our preparation was that. We had a rough idea about the scenes but the depth had to come from our research which we did beforehand. I must say, there is an immense sense of dignity and grace that we found in the ragpickers of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata). And we found this man – Sanjay – he is also seen in the film, he is the one who talks about his elder brother’s death. That incident was a true one!” The actors adds that a man had indeed lost someone due to the conditions in which they work. He also recalls how they even witnessed a man losing his leg during their research in the dumpyard.

“About six months before filming, we visited these spaces, lived there. The whole film was done in six days and we did the research for around one month. I would do garbage collection and research with Sanjay and he graciously took me around everywhere.”

Talking about the lesson that The Scavenger of Dreams taught him, the actor says, “What have we done to a large section of the society in our society? And, (the worst part is that) we are absolutely okay with it. Now (after the film), I’m aware of how waste collection happens. Sanjay once told me ‘These people want us to pick their bags of sugar, but they will never let us taste it’. And there was this other time when he said ‘We garbage collectors are like teeth – until it doesn’t hurt, you don’t realize there is a tooth.’. It is invisible labor.” He adds that he realised how the rich easily throw away items that the poor deem as a treasure.

Bhardwaj also confirms that real alcohol was used in the film shooting as well because “the amount of human feces, period blood, food waste” and such stuff that the ragpickers see and smell, they are unable to eat without being intoxicated.

Reveling in the response that the film got at the Busan International Film Festival, the movie’s cinematographer Ravi Kiran Ayyagari says, “People usually talk about performances, and set design, etc are rarely talked about. But, people here actually discussed all of that after the screening. There were discussions around how the film uses documentary-style image making and makes it look authentic. I really enjoyed it and that the audience could see it.”

Bhardwaj adds, “The shots were mostly set on the spot, but also very much designed. I make sure that I speak in between the dialogues so that the thing can happen. So, we were like, it was almost like a documentary kind of a space yet very designed.”

(This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.)