Naayo (Women)

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

Adobe Illustrater CS5

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.