Rare Language Indian Cinema section of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival cherishes good cinema made in lesser known languages.
The journey of the section Unheard India – Rare Language Indian Cinema was started in 2015 at the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF). The veteran filmmaker Gautam Ghose, who is also an active member of KIFF, has always encouraged it and took the great initiative to approve the proposal of the Unheard India.
In our childhood days, around late 80s, every Sunday afternoon there was screening of films made in regional languages, like – Assamese, Bengali, Odiya, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi on Doordarshan, the only available TV channel at that time. Once in a while, films on Konkani, Bodo languages were also shown.
Language always fascinates me and the diversity we see in the Indian languages is amazing. It is sad that many languages are going to be extinct due to lack of patronage and the influence of other languages. Besides the literature, it is also important to describe the local folklore and fables to be documented in audio visual format. So, it is my effort to convey the due respect to all the Indian languages through cinema.
Days after I chose Film Festival Curation or Programming as my profession, I discovered that many filmmakers were making films in various lesser known languages. There are some languages which are spoken only among some small communities or in a very small region, like – Mising, Sherdukpan among several tribal languages from Arunachal Pradesh. Filmmakers from the northeast are making short and feature length films in many languages like- Rabha, Mizo, Khasi, Garo, Nagamese, Dimasa, on a regular basis. In the southern part of India, Karnataka states presents a bouquet of Bayri, Konkani, Tulu, Kodava, Banjara languages apart from Kannada, from Kerala Paniya, Irulu and Adivasi languages are also there. Jasari from Lakshadweep is another example.
In north India filmmakers are making films on various dialect like Haryanvi, Rajasthani, from Uttarakhand -Kumaoni, Garhwali, from Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh region- Dogri, Kashmiri, Ladakhi, Gaddi, Pahari, etc. From the tribal part of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh – Santhali, Kurmali, Rajbanshi, Chhotanagpuri, Chhattisgarhi etc, are regularly making good quality feature films to tell their stories and trying to keeping alive their art – culture – rituals – traditions and of course their dialect and language. So many good quality films are coming from these invisible parts of India, but very few of them get their due recognition. Unfortunately our system is not allowing those incredible creations to reach the film loving audience. Some of the filmmakers are not even aware about the procedure to participate in film festivals. Phalke is considered as a piece of history then why not “Tanyabi Firti” as the first Chakma language film in the history of Indian Cinema?
The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has been very supportive since the beginning, she has requested the audiences to come to watch the Unheard India section at the Opening Ceremony of KIFF. Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt particularly mentioned about the Unheard India section. As he described how important the section is. “Through the feature length cinema made in the rare or aboriginal Indian languages, one can preserve their own mother-tongue, literature, culture, heritage,” Bhatt said from the stage where the galaxy of stars were present - from the legendary Amitabh Bachchan to iconic Kamal Hasan to the heart throb Shah Rukh Khan, as well as the stars of Bengali film industry.
In the bouquet of the Unheard India: Rare Language Cinema of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival this year there will be three aboriginal languages - Rajbanshi, Kurmali and Santhali from host state West Bengal itself, other languages are Maithili, Byari, Sanskrit and Rabha.
The Rajbanshi film Mansai directed by Ashutosh Das, Kurmali film Tusu by Biswajit Roy, Shishir Jha’s Santhali film Dharti Latar Re Horo (Tortoise under the earth), Praatiek Sharrma’s Maithili film Lotus
Boom, Aditya R. Chiranjeevi’s Byari film Dharya,
Yadu Vijaykrishnan Parameshwaran’s Sanskrit film Bhagavadajjukam and National Award-winning filmmaker Hiren Bora’s Rabha film Nasimai (Darling) the only representation from the North East would also be screened.
Interestingly three films made in the rare languages - Deepankar Prakash’s Rajasthani film Naanera, selected for the Indian Language Competition Section, while Kodava film Pommale Kodagu (Incredible Coorg) directed by Kottukattira Prakash Kariappa, produced by Yeshoda Prakash and Tulu film Munni directed by Ismail Moodushedde and produced by Venkat Gowda has been selected for the prestigious Asian Select NETPAC Award section of the forthcoming 28th Kolkata International Film Festival to be held between 15 & 22 December 2022.
The writer is a Film Festival Curator, filmmaker, producer and freelance writer. He is the Curator of the Unheard India: Rare Language Indian Cinema section of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival. The views expressed are personal.