Pain and Hopelessness among Indian Farmers: An Analysis of Deepa Bhatia’s Nero’s Guests

Abstract

Nero’s Guests (2009) is a documentary film directed by Deepa Bhatia on farmers’ suicide in India. It documents the suicide of farmers harvesting cotton crops. Sainath P, journey across villages in India, to investigate the motive behind farmers’ suicide. Sainath mentions the shortcomings of the Green Revolution — the use of HYV seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides results in higher costs of crop production and so the profit declines and debts escalate. This hopeless situation of the farmers prevail all over the country and force them to end their lives. The pain of farmers is incomprehensible due to debts, lack of water, rapid urbanization, and insurmountable pressure to run the family and farming despite losses. This paper focuses on David Klonsky and Alexis May’s Three- Step Theory (2015). The theory identifies four important factors such as pain, hopelessness, connection, and capability for suicide. This study aims to bring out the overlooked state of the farmers and the agrarian economy of India in the light of pain and hopelessness in David Klonsky and Alexis May's Three Step- Theory (2015).