“On His Last leg” Story of the Hand pulled
Rickshawalas in Kolkata
Photographs & Story: Dilip Banerjee

The documentary seeks to narrate the story of the hand-drawn rickshaw pullers of Kolkata who have, for years, dotted the landscape of the city, becoming an iconic symbol akin to the Howrah Bridge or the Victoria Memorial. These barefoot men have been seen carting the young and the old in local neighborhoods through rain, winter and summer.

This photo story is about the lives of these men, who today stand at cross roads of giving up the only profession they have known so far. This short print documentary brings out the paradox of struggle between the hopes of these men to clutch on to their only means of livelihood and the growing voices against such inhuman practices where a man is forced to carry the load of his fellow beings to earn his daily bread.

These rickshaw pullers who have made Kolkata their home for years now, are reluctant to adopt any other occupation as this is the only skill they have imbibed since generations. Not just that, negotiating the by lanes of Kolkata that even today reflects a complex web of transportation, is an expertise that perhaps, only they can boast of, which many citizens of Kolkata would testify.


These rickshaw pullers, primarily migrants from various neighboring states of Bengal, in some cases, are almost a part of the extended support system for many households of North Kolkata as they ferry little children to schools unfailingly over generations.

A subject of many a creative minds and film makers; from Late Bimal Roy where Balraj Sawhney portrayed the life of such a man in the famed Do Beegha Zameen (1953) to Om Puri in the City of Joy (1985) a film based on a novel by Dominique Lapierre; these men had characterized Kolkata even as they continued leading their inhuman lives, demeaning at times as modern transport took over Kolkata.

Today, the municipal corporation and the state government have launched programmes to phase out these rickshaws. But it is no easy job, for this is fraught with several socio-economic issues. It is not just about rehabilitation or introducing alternatives like electronic rickshaws, it is about human lives and livelihood.