In this powerful review, critic Utpal Datta examines The Untold Agony, revealing how Jayram Waghmode’s forty-minute Marathi short merges fiction with documentary realism to expose systemic exploitation, human suffering, and the fragile endurance of dignity.

The Untold Agony is a powerful Marathi short film blending documentary realism with fiction to expose systemic exploitation and the brutalisation of migrant workers. Through disciplined cinematography, restrained storytelling, and an unwavering ethical gaze, the film emerges as a vital social document in contemporary Indian cinema—essential viewing for anyone interested in human rights, labour injustice, and meaningful political filmmaking.

In contemporary film studies, it is increasingly acknowledged that the boundary between documentary and fiction cinema need not remain rigid or impermeable.

When documentaries adopt specific narrative and dramatic strategies of fiction films, they tend to become more accessible and engaging for viewers. Conversely, when fiction films draw on the realism, factual integrity, and observational discipline of documentaries, they acquire greater truthfulness and credibility. This interpenetration of forms has become an important aspect of modern cinematic discourse.

Documentary Realism and Fictional Form
The Untold Agony, a Marathi short film written and directed by Jayram Waghmode and screened in the Indian Panorama section, offers a compelling illustration of this approach. With a runtime of forty minutes, the film is based on a real incident. While drawing on a news report, the filmmaker consciously avoids sensationalism and instead constructs a narrative grounded in documentary realism. The result is a film that quietly but powerfully portrays deception, exploitation, and the gradual erosion of human dignity.

The film begins with a group of young migrant workers setting out in search of employment. Like countless others in similar circumstances, they are driven by modest yet urgent hopes—regular wages, minimal security, and the possibility of a dignified existence. These hopes, however, prove fragile. The workers soon fall into the trap laid by a labour broker who wins their trust through reassuring words, promises of higher wages, and false contracts. What appears to be a rational and safe decision gradually reveals itself as the first step in a carefully designed system of exploitation.

Through the broker, the men are taken into an entirely different world: an illegal worksite and torture camp controlled by a ruthless contractor. At the heart of this camp lies a dry well. This space functions not merely as a physical location but as a powerful symbolic site—representing the depths to which human beings can be pushed when exploitation becomes institutionalised and systemic.
Inside the camp, the workers are stripped of their humanity. They are chained, beaten, starved, and forced into relentless labour. Their individual identities are slowly erased. Real names disappear and are replaced with humiliating labels meant to destroy self-respect and suppress any remaining sense of selfhood. In such conditions, time itself loses structure. Day and night blur into a continuous cycle of suffering, leaving behind only fear—raw, overwhelming, and ever-present.

Survival, Observation, and Moral Courage
As the system tightens its grip, one worker, Bhagwan, refuses to surrender inwardly. Physically weakened and scarred by repeated violence, he nevertheless remains mentally alert. He observes the guards' behaviour, the camp's daily routines, and the small but significant cracks within the system. A sudden moment of disorder, born of desperation, gives him the chance to escape.
Bhagwan’s escape is not merely an act of personal survival. Injured, barefoot, and pursued by the constant threat of death, he runs towards a deeper moral responsibility. After navigating immense physical and psychological obstacles, he finally reaches the authorities, setting in motion a rescue operation that brings long-delayed intervention.

Towards the end, the film inserts a few newspaper photographs to establish the factual basis of the narrative. However, the sense of authenticity does not depend solely on this concluding device. From the very beginning, the director maintains a documentary discipline marked by restraint, sincerity, and ethical seriousness. The visual compositions are carefully planned, yet they resist exaggeration in favour of an investigative and observational tone.

Significantly, the film's final moments do not offer a triumphant celebration of freedom. The rescued workers do not erupt into loud victory. Instead, the film closes on a note of quiet resilience, capturing the emotional vacuum and lingering trauma that follow release from prolonged suffering. This understated conclusion strengthens the film’s moral and emotional impact.

Aesthetic Discipline and Ethical Vision
In terms of theme, The Untold Agony is uncompromising and severe. Cinematographer Abhijit Ghule approaches this world with a rare balance of sensitivity and detachment. Early visual motifs, such as the use of an iron cage accompanied by metallic sounds, create an atmosphere of dread and subtly foreshadow the violence that follows. The film’s pace is deliberately slow, allowing the camera to dwell on the loneliness and terror embedded within the contractor’s domain.

Although the film is structured as a work of fiction, the visual language retains a strong documentary immediacy. The director’s decision to handle the editing himself emerges as a major strength. While the repeated depiction of suffering occasionally risks slowing the narrative momentum, the emotional weight of these scenes, combined with restrained editing, prevents monotony. The sound design by Avinash Sonavane and Siddhant Ravindra Yadav further deepens the realism of the cinematic experience.

The performances deserve special mention. The actors convincingly inhabit the lives of migrant workers, lending the film an ethical authenticity. Apart from Bhagwan, individual character development is deliberately minimal. The workers are presented as a collective, united by shared suffering and experience. This choice does not weaken the narrative; instead, it reinforces the film’s central argument that exploitation is systemic rather than incidental. Similarly, the oppressors are portrayed collectively, shifting attention away from individual villainy towards structural violence.

Overall, The Untold Agony stands out as a restrained, responsible, and deeply humane work of cinema. With a clear and committed vision, the director transforms a real incident into a film that foregrounds human experience without allowing technical finesse to overshadow its ethical concerns. The creative team's sincerity and discipline are evident throughout. For these reasons, the film transcends the category of a short film and emerges as a significant social document in contemporary Indian cinema. The Untold Agony – a film with a soul.