A full-length movie based on the lives of tribal people of Ambujmad region of Bastar is being made in Muriya language, giving a much-needed boost to the lingo existence of which a very few are aware of.
It will be the first movie made in Muriya language.
The main lead of the movie, Dinesh Nag, himself is a tribal born and brought up in Bastar’s Narayanpur. The film’s director is also a native of Bhilai but has been living in Mumbai for the past 15 years.
Dinesh spoke to The Pioneer about the movie which is about to be completed.
“We have not used artificial lights to shoot the film. Even the night shots were recorded under a full moon,” Dinesh said.
“We wanted to give our audiences the real feel of Bastar, this is why we chose to shoot movie in Jagdalpur and not in some other places,” he added.
The film was shot near Chitrakot waterfall about 40 km from Jagdalpur town.
“We had performed location recce several times in advance. So we were sure which way moon will travel on the full moon night. Accordingly, we had set up our location set,” he Stated.
For maintaining raw-natural feel in the movie the set was also locally resourced.
“The set designer was the only person from Mumbai. The entire set was locally resourced. The local tribal artists, tribal houses and other tribal artefacts were used,” Dinesh said.
Dinesh, who speaks Muriya language, informed that out of 20 to 30 people who acted in the movie, only three were from outside Bastar. Rest were all locals, including children.
On the idea that convinced him to come and make the film, he said, “This idea came to me while seeing works of legendary Indian directors like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and others.”
“While seeing their movies, I realized that they portrayed the rural life in its raw form. So, I thought we had a similar kind of unique culture in Bastar. So why not make a film on it”.