Can you imagine sharing your home with the dead? Well, it’s definitely not an easy task. But the Madeira family, which runs a mortuary, L. Madeira & Co. Undertakers on Bow Street, Kolkata, has been doing so for 200 years. The company can preserve a body for six months. It was started by Henry Joseph Madeira and Joe Charles Madeira 200 years ago.
Come November 11 and the story of the Madeira family will come alive on screen in Utpal Das’ documentary Living with the Dead. A practising civil engineer, this 57-year-old Kolkata-based filmmaker’s second documentary will be screened at the 22nd Kolkata International Film Festival, which starts on November 11.
The filmmaker, who lives with his 80-year old mother in Kolkata, has known the Madeira family since 2013. As a travel photographer, he came across the Madeiras and was enamoured by their business.
“The company makes coffins, digs graves, preserves bodies and also carries out the other rituals when a person passes away. Interestingly, the family and the staff live in the same home, which houses dead bodies. The children too are habituated with this surrounding. Though they share space with the dead it doesn’t imply that they don’t have any feelings. I found this subject interesting enough to make a documentary,” says Das.
{{/usCountry}}“The company makes coffins, digs graves, preserves bodies and also carries out the other rituals when a person passes away. Interestingly, the family and the staff live in the same home, which houses dead bodies. The children too are habituated with this surrounding. Though they share space with the dead it doesn’t imply that they don’t have any feelings. I found this subject interesting enough to make a documentary,” says Das.
{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, Das developed an interest in travel photography at 50. At 55, he made his debut documentary, My Father Namgyal, which was shot with a DSLR. The documentary was screened at KIFF 2014 and also at 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 2014. His photographs have been published in various national and international magazines.
This time, too, the 26-minute documentary on Madeiras has been shot by Das with a DSLR.
Meanwhile, 35-year Florence Madeira, the eighth generation from the family, is elated that their “untold story” has been filmed. She is looking forward to watching the documentary at KIFF with 15-member family. “Utpalda has become a part of our family now. We led a normal life though we see dead bodies every day. The children are also accustomed to the environment,” says Florence.
Das recalls the day when one of their employees passed away. The Madeiras completely broke down.
“It’s not that we don’t have feelings. In fact, since we live with the dead bodies, we feel more attached to them,” says Florence.
Actor Barun Chanda, who is best known for his role in Satyajit Ray’s Seemabaddha, has done the voice over for the documentary.