Union Leader (film)

Union Leader is a 2017 Indian drama film directed by Sanjay Patel and starring Rahul Bhat and Tillotama Shome. The film follows the story of a chemical factory supervisor who raises the issue of worker's health and safety against an unsympathetic management.

Union Leader
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySanjay Patel
Produced bySanjay Patel
Written by
  • Sanjay Patel
  • John Winston Rainey
Starring
CinematographyNilip Deb
Edited by
  • Aurelien Brentraus
  • Brock Roberts
Production
company
Dimlight Pictures
Distributed byPVR Vcaao
Release date
  • 24 September 2017 (Canada)
  • 19 January 2018 (India)
Running time
105 Mins
Country
LanguageHindi

Plot

Jay Gohil (Bhat) is employed as supervisor at a chromium sulfate factory of Apollo Chemicals in Gujarat. The workers there are experiencing deteriorating health conditions; respiratory diseases and cancers and five eventually succumb to their illness, all because of the poor working conditions at the factory. Leader of their union is in cahoots with the factory management and turns a blind eye to their problems. Reluctantly Jay becomes the voice of his colleagues and demands wage hike and medical insurance. Angered by the workers' demands, factory owner decides to shut it down.

Jay's son Harsh (Tirth Sharma) believes in Gandhism and plays a key role in raising the workers' issues.

Cast

Production

Patel had worked as chemical engineer in Gujarat before moving to Canada. He based the film on his observations of the workers in chemical factories in Gujarat. The project began under the title Kamdar Union and marked Patel's maiden attempt at making a full-length feature film.[1][2] Costumes worn by actors in the film were bought from a local market and were "age[d]" using "herbal colours and other products" in 11–12 days each.[1]

The filming took place at Vatva, Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat and it was wrapped up towards the end of December 2016. Patel cast Indian actors for his film and managed the finances himself. However, the post-production work was done in Calgary, Canada and the film's title was changed to Union Leader.[2][3]

Release

The film was released in theatres on 19 January 2018.[3] A special screening of the film was held at the Suncor Energy Centre, Fort McMurray in November 2017.[4]

Reception

Though critical of the film, Anna MM Vetticad in her review for Firstpost praised Bhat's performance and gave the film a 1.5/5 rating. He opined that the film's "[commitment] to its cause" was its strength and that Bhat had brought an "X factor to his performance" which exceeded the screenplay's limitations. He, however, felt that the supporting characters had not been used "effectively" which robbed the film of its "emotional stirrings".[5] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in was appreciative of the film's "sympathetic portrayal of the workers", noting that the "convincing cast of supporting actors ... actually look like blue-collared representatives rather than Bollywood extras". She wrote that the remaining cast "works better" than Bhat who was "passable".[6]

Pallabi Dey Purkayastha of The Times of India gave the film a 2.5/5 rating, noting that although the film showed "pragmatism" but "crumbles towards the end because of poor execution".[7] Ravi Bule of Amar Ujala wrote that Shome did justice to her role, while rating the film 2/5.[8]

Accolades
Award Category Year Result Ref.
AMPIA (Rosie Awards)
  • Best Dramatic Feature Made for TV Movie
  • Best Director (Drama Over 30 Minutes)
  • Best Editor (Drama Over 30 Minutes)
 2018 Nominated [9]
St. Louis International Film Festival Best Movie 2017 Nominated [10]
10th Colombia George International (Angaelica) Film Festival Legacy Awards — Best of Fest 2017 Won [11]
17th Kansas International Film Festival Best Film 2017 Nominated [12]
13th Utopia Film Festival Best Film 2017 Nominated [13]
18th Ojai Film Festival Best Film 2017 Nominated [14]
32nd Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Best Film 2017 Nominated [15]
51st Hof International Film Festival, Germany Emerging Director 2017 Nominated [16]
24th CineSol Film Festival, Texas Best Film 2017 Nominated [17]
11th Red Rock Film Festival, Utah Best Film 2017 Nominated [18]
7th Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival Best Feature Film 2017 Nominated [19]
48th International Film Festival of India Cinema of the World 2017 Nominated [20]

References
  1. Chhatwani, Deepali Prakash (12 December 2016). "'Kamdar Union' to showcase worker's plight". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017.
  2. Bird, Cullen (8 September 2017). "Local filmmaker releasing Hindi-language feature film". Fort McMurray Today. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017.
  3. Nathan, Archana (6 January 2018). "Economic growth is at the cost of workers, says 'Union Leader' director Sanjay Patel". Scroll.in. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. Thurton, David (19 November 2017). "Bollywood comes to Fort McMurray with homecoming for Indo-Canadian filmmaker". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  5. Vetticad, Anna MM (19 January 2018). "Union Leader movie review: Rahul Bhat, Tillotama Shome's film is simplistic but heartfelt". Firstpost. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  6. Ramnath, Nandini (19 January 2018). "'Union Leader' film review: The chains slip off too easily in this labour drama". Scroll.in. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  7. Purkayastha, Pallabi Dey (20 January 2018). "Union Leader Movie Review". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  8. Bule, Ravi (20 January 2018). "Film Review: बुलंदी के नारों के बीच देखिए 'यूनियन लीडर' की लाचारी". Amar Ujala (in Hindi). Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  9. "2018 Rosie Finalist List" (PDF). Rosie Awards. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  10. "Union Leader". St. Louis International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017.
  11. "2017 Festival Angaelica @ Big Bear Lake". Angaelica. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  12. "Attend KIFF". Kansas International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017.
  13. "Utopia Film Festival Schedule – 2017" (PDF). Utopia Film Festival. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  14. "Union Leader". Ojai Film Festival. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  15. "Fliff 2017 – Union Leader". Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017.
  16. "Internationale Hofer Filmtage 2017 – Programm" (PDF) (in German). Hof International Film Festival. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  17. "24th Annual Film Festival Schedule". CineSol Film Festival. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017.
  18. "Films at the Red Rock Film Festival". Red Rock Film Festival. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017.
  19. "VISAFF 2017". Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017.
  20. "Official Catalogue – International Cinema – IFFI 2017" (PDF). International Film Festival of India. p. 145. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
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