Paik (Messenger) - an ethnographic film exploring an inter-faith tradition in an Indian village

The documentary film, Paik (Messenger), explores an approximately 150-year-old tradition of ‘Paiks’ in a remote village in India in which thousands of men from different castes and religions adorn a unique attire and walk together barefeet for four consecutive days in the Islamic month of Muharram for the fulfilment of their mannat (wish/invocation). Through expository and poetic mode of filmmaking, the film presents personal accounts of two paiks, Shivam (Hindu) and Irshad (Muslim), and members of the Muslim community who organise and manage Paiks, and sheds light on the concept of inclusion, religion and identity in the twenty-first century India. When Paiks walk together, eat together and have conversations about their lives, they see each other as fellow human beings. The Paik tradition fosters inclusivity and helps the community in forming a united front making it a shining example of communal harmony and inter-caste unity. At a time when the political and social discourse in India is being pushed towards Islamophobia and the discrimination and marginalisation of Muslims is seeing an unprecedented rise, this film shows how an assuming tradition of walking together can, at the grassroots level, unite two communities that have historically been pitted against each other by people in power.

Alongside documenting the tradition of Paik in the hinterlands of rural India, the film also captures the current practice of Muharram rituals and records different forms of local poetry written in Urdu, Persian, Bhojpuri and Awadhi languages.

Directors: Sana Amir and Farhan Aqeel