Naayo (Women), A diploma film on a tribal women and a mother...
Your films reflect a lot about your
culture and its people. Please tell us something about
yourself.
I am from the Santhal tribe. My
village, Bhurkundabari is a lovely and lush village in the district
Purulia of West Bengal. It’s one of the biggest villages situated
on the banks of Damodar river and is also known for the huge DVC (
Damodar valley Corporation) dam which was inaugurated in 1959. My
village is surrounded with lots of greenery and has more than 100
houses along with the Bengali community.
Tribal people are naturally very fond
of music and dance. This is in our blood. When I was very young I saw
a very rich and vibrant tradition of our tribe but as I grew up it
began to gradually fade. In its heydays our community used to come
together and celebrate the harvesting festival “Sohrai” but with
time and as a result of industrialization the interest of Santhal
community and culture also changed. Television and other forms of
entertainment became the major influence in changing the culture.
Through my short animation film I have tried to capture the essence
of my village, the livelihood and culture of our Santhal tribe which
is now disappearing in the age of globalization.
Now my family lives
in Dhanbad, the coal capital of India. The dark and dusky city. I
have seen many coal mines in Jharia and Dhanbad. The smoke and fire
rises towards the heaven and landslides towards the hell. Here people
are so strong that they are still living and surviving. I have seen
the laborers toiling from early morning to dusk everyday. They get up
and run for the mines and construct buildings for their livelihood. I
was pursuing post matriculation in those days. I have seen poor
labourer women stand beside the market road for their livelihood. In
rainy season they cultivate their lands and during rest of the year
they have no option but to resort to labour jobs.
My mother is the central character and
inspiration for my story. The woman who appears at the end of my film
is my neighboring sister. She had to get married when she was very
young. Since she was still a child she would tell her husband to get
her toffees. After a month of matrimony she decided to away from her
father in law’s home and since then has been living in her own
home. Whether a woman is married or unmarried bothways it is her who
is supposed to take the responsibilities of a household and so did
she.
At
home we speak Santali language, but with others we communicate in
Hindi, English and in Bengali. We use the Bengali, Devanagri and Ol
chiki scripts. Santali
belongs to the
Astro-Asiatic family of languages.
-What were the thoughts that went
behind the ideas of the film? What inspired you to make a film based
on the Santhal women and their journey?
“Naayo”,
it means in Santali (Tribal Language) woman or mother, the lady who
is a wife or mother carrying the responsibility of the whole family
on her shoulders. This poem is based on Santal woman and her tragic
journey, but at the end of my film she is celebrating her life.
“Naayo
” is a poem which I had written first in the Hindi during my Post
Graduation in BHU. At that time I had studied lots of poems written
by Ranjana Shrivastava, one of her book is “Machhaliyan dekhati
hain sapne”. It’s a collection of poems and it deals with the
dreams of women and tales of a housewife. I have been inspired by a
lot of her poems and wrote this poem “woman” while thinking of my
mother. It could be a hypothetical poem also, on a tribal lady who
has dedicated her whole life to her family but is not repaid.
She
has such a tough life, which I realized only after going through a
phase in my life when I was in BHU. At that time I used to stay
outside the campus and used to cook for myself. The experience that I
had was not a pleasant one. I had just known how to eat, but after
coming from Dhanbad to Varanasi I had learn cooking, purchasing
vegetables, lighting the stove, cleaning utensils, sweeping and
cleaning the room. I felt like this is the job of a girl. Why the
hell am I doing all this? But soon I realized that no job is
classified for man and woman. It’s culture, place and time that
decides who should do a job. If the time says that you are hungry,
you have to cut vegetables and feed your hungry stomach. I realised
that the journey of a girl or woman is very painstaking.
-What planning
was involved and where the references taken before beginning work on
the film?
In
the beginning my poetry was in Hindi then got it translated in
English and Santhali. I have written my project brief and budgeted
the whole project, hence my film is self-sponsored. It’s cost was
around 1 lakh. I made the schedule the entire project from concept
finalizing, Character designing, Background designing, medium
exploration, pre-production, production to post-production etc.
I
had already imagined some scenes which were later realized into
backgrounds and even some Photographs and videos that came handy as
references.
Why did you
choose the watercolor and fountain ink technique? Did you think of
using any other medium?
Based
on my past work and interests I was aware that a realistic approach
will work for me. I am confident in handling ink. This medium is
quite easy for me to handle as I have worked on it from a long time
So, I feel very free while working with it. This medium can also
convey the monochromatic emotions of people in village who are always
in constant struggle to manage a little happiness among their grief.
It flows to give more life and rhythm.
The frames are
drawn spontaneously one after another on the same paper. Please give
us a short insight into your production process?
It was very challenging to maintain the structure and volume to the
character each and every time. Since I was using brush and ink, as a
result every time application of brush was giving a different result.
I have tried to control my application and managed to finish my film.
-Which were the challenging scenes? How did you deal with it?
My entire film was
very challenging, though I can say few shots were particularly very
difficult for me to pull off especially the Raining shot, Rice
plantation shot, dancing shot, village shot and the earthen lamp
shots etc.
What were the
tricky moments in production?
It was very difficult for me to visualize the final result. Some
times our work give us surprises. I had never thought of this kind of
treatment and final outcome. But I began with two-three shots to see
the look and the feel. I found it very interesting and continued.
Every single shot was very new for me. I am not a musician but I had
a tune in my mind that I needed, a certain kind of music to evoke the
right emotion through my film. I went to my hometown where i met
musicians and asked them to play at their best. They played what they
could. But when I put it in time line it did not work like i had
imagined, the voice over was hardly matching with the images. I was
not satisfied with my music or sound. I went thrice and recorded the
final track. Sound was also a major issue for me. I recorded all
kinds of music which I could probably need to use. And this is how i
could finally see my project coming to the finish line.
-How did you work
with your composer for the music score of the film?
I somewhat had an
idea about music for my film because it is based on a poetry and
Santhal culture. For that reason I was sure of my vision and did not
want to use modern music, instead I preferred a very primitive
stringed instrument “Banam”, which is disappearing very fast and
has practically no one left to preserve and learn it. Eventually,
this small love of mine culminated in the form of a hearty tribute to
my cultural heritage and music.
I myself worked on
the recorded music from musicians and later a couple of my friends
and colleagues like Rudro Bhandary helped me to level it for the
final film.
-How much time
did it take to complete the film?
Two
year and two months.
-What was the primary software’s used?
Adobe
Premier Pro CS4
Adobe
Photoshop CS4
Adobe
After Effect CS4
Cool
Edit Pro
-Last thoughts on
the work?
This
film has made me experience the richness of my tribal culture. I came
very close to my roots. I also got to study the emotions of women,
what goes through their minds when they work in the paddy fields in
the peak of summer under the scorching sun and in the muddy fields
under heavy rains and humidity. They collect fire wood, feed the
cattle, they look after children their husbands and the entire
family. They are the real soldiers. This film has helped me realize
my strength.
Also
it has given me a lot of experience. I
learnt how to use resources and interact with people and empathize
with them. My batchmates were very supportive throughout my journey
and helped me broaden my thoughts.
