Fast & Furious

Manjuben, Truck Driver focuses on a woman's struggle to defy stereotypes and succeed in a man's world

- Vidyarthy Chatterjee

IN Sherna Dastur's documentary Manjuben, Truck Driver (2002), the protagonist Manjuben is a picture of hard work, self-sufficiency and a strong drive to be rich so she can call the shots in her professional relations with men. Manjuben says that she had once owned as many as eight heavy-duty, long-distance trucks, which carried several types of cargo from Musa or Vadodara in Gujarat to Delhi and other destinations in north India. She would drive her truck in the day and at night for long stretches, accompanied by an experienced, elderly man who would take over when she needed to take a nap. She says she has, of her own choice, reduced the scope of her business, currently content with just one truck that needs to be repaired once in a while. In the film, the way she gives orders to male mechanics to attend to the vehicle before she heads to a nearby salon to get a face massage speaks volumes about how she has decided to assert her rights to an unconventional, independent existence in a patriarchal society that shows little or no signs of change.

Manjuben wears 'men's clothes'—a loose-fitting, full-sleeved bush-shirt, comfortable trousers and leather chappals. She sports a tilak on her forehead, her hair is cropped short and she wears a kara in the manner that many Sikh truck drivers do. She consumes gutka with a flourish. When she stops at wayside dhabas for tea and snacks, she is quite at ease with the men she comes across there. Much of the 'action' in the film takes place on the highway, which is understandable since the film traces the trajectory of a unique truck-owner-cum-driver. Shot largely in the