Tribal dialect — Kurukh — finally gets global attention and the credit goes to 27-year-old Niranjan Kumar Kujur. Kujur, who hails from Bero block of Ranchi, has made the first short film on this indigenous language of Jharkhand.
The film was screened at South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Film Festival held at Colombo, the capital of Sri lanka from May 20 to 24.
Kujur, who is at present completing his Post-Graduate Diploma in direction and screenplay writing at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata (SRFTI), made the film as part of his course curriculum but after being appreciated by his institute’s faculty he took it for various film festivals.
Sharing the details of this special journey, Kujur said, “My 11-minute short film Pahada was picked up by GoI for screening in this year’s SAARC Film Festival. Overall four films from India, including two feature films and two short fiction films were selected, fortunately, I was the only Jharkhand resident to come into this genre.”
“Since there are no accomplished actors here speaking Kurukh language, I followed the tricks of prominent Directors who portray their family members as artistes in a movie. Involving family members makes it easy to explain the script details and character roles. My aunt, cousins and tribal scholar Mahadev Toppo were casted for supporting and lead roles,” Kujur added.
The movie was shot at Kolkata in a tile hut wherein Kujur had to create the ambience of Jharkhand by carrying all the basic film set up materials from Jharkhand.
“My movie represented the country and our State in Indian Panorama of 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa last year. That was my first step to success,” Kujur said.
Before joining SRFTI, Kujur was associated with ShriPrakash, the National Film Awardee Director of Ranchi for a year and had then covered a lot of tribal movements involving some of those led by noted activist Dayamani Barla.
“After staying here I realised that not many films on our languages have been made to promote the local art and culture. Though I always had a knack to make films but after joining SRFTI, I learned the purpose on why films should be made. So, I am determined to continue my film making on the languages of Jharkhand,” he maintained while focusing on his future plans.
His latest film Mother shot entirely in Taiwan produced by National Taiwan University of Arts and SRFTI has been selected in the 8th Signs Film Festival, Kerala, 2014. Kujur is mulling to shoot another film in a tribal language at Ghatsila on behalf of his institute.