Two filmmakers, Nidhi Kamath and Keya Vaswani, went across Tripura to document the craft of the weavers’ community. The self-reliant women surprised them, they tell Asmita Sarkar
Preserving a community’s arts and traditions can be better achieved if the community is self-sustained and doesn’t try to cater to the larger market, staying away from the inconsistencies the market leads to.
Breaking pre-conceived notions, female weavers of Tripura are self-possessed and independent, said filmmakers Nidhi Kamath and Keya Vaswani from Storyloom Films, who went across villages filming them.
“We have travelled across the country. We live in cities and talk about women being independent. But the women in Tripura are much more independent than us. They put their children on their back slings and are ready for work. They do everything, sending kids to school, cooking, farming and take care of the home and cattle. They are super talented weavers as well, which is something they do when they have the time. They’re feminist in the true sense, “ they said.
The filmmakers, who have been making films about weavers for half a decade now, said that they have been to Banaras and Gujarat and yet found the traditions best preserved here. Not just that, the female weavers’ ability to preserve their art has also left them impressed.
“These women help us break the conventional meaning of education. In one of the films, Chandrani, talks about herself. Her parents told her to study so she never learnt weaving but later she was not able to find a job and there the traditional craft came to her rescue. Because of the craft she was able to become independent,” they said.
The five films, Weaving – the lost tradition, Pardita – weaving threads through tradition, Risa – the sacred cloth, Shonda – giving flight to dreams, and Chandrani – the pasra weaver, are a documentation and a digital archive, in case these traditions are ever lost, the filmmakers feel.
They travelled to several clusters, starting with Tripura Adivasi Mahila Samiti clusters in villages called lefunga and Gamchokobra, Shankhla Handloom Cluster in Simna that is run by the government, and a tribal village called Bhilaihum. It was the only village where they wore the clothes how it used to be worn.
“There are some villages that are independent and they made it for own consumption and also there are few NGOs there. The market influences are only just starting to come into those places. Currently, they’re not making for the bigger market and are not struggling with the market problems, “ said they.
They also attribute rituals like the Mailuma puja where the risa is used to cover two pots full of rice to pray to the fabric to the self-contained nature of the community. To be able to get their personal stories and those of their traditions, they spend a good amount of time connecting with the weavers instead of barging in with big cameras.
Risa is the part of the dress which covers the upper half of women.
“We were invited into their homes. One of us gave us sweet papaya to eat and we wondered that we might think that those in rural settings are worse off but they have good food, environment and no pollution,” they said. The films, made in collaboration with the British Council and IMG Reliance, were presented at the lakme Fashion Week.
“They have good basic skills of traditional motifs, if they get input from designers it would help them understand how to develop colours or different types of patterns for the urban market and a project like the BC’s will help those who wanted to do full-time weaving,” they said.
