DN Singh
What the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo could not do through his political decree to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Orissa, the latter's state head has done through his celluloid weapon. Yes, Prashant Nanda, a noted Oriya filmmaker and the NCP state secretary, through his latest venture in Oriya, Jianta Bhoota (Living Ghost), a national award winner, has landed a scary blow to the UK-based Vedanta Group's project in the Niyomgiri Hills of Kalahandi.
Nanda's 90-minute-long film deals exactly with the issues of Niyomgiri Hills, which have already ruffled the pshyche of the Church of England leading to the selling of its stake in Vedanta worth 3.8 million pounds. The Church triggered the panic button amid allegations that the NRI billionaire's venture aims to go ahead in total disregard to the eco-diversity and the life cycle of the Dongria Kondh tribe inhabiting the hills of Niyomgiri for generations.
Nanda's film showcases the exact theme to narrate an onscreen chemistry of love on test against a barrage of odds from modernity and the local ordeals driving the duo to accept a make-believe death drama and float above the pitfalls of mundane intrusions and live happily as never before as ‘ghosts’. The filmmaker made subtle attempts to expose the frivolous acts of middlemen on the prowl in these pristine hubs to exploit the local people, economy and at last plunder the environment. Nanda's message may have had a pounding impact on the ongoing protest, ranging from Lanjigarh to London, against the project.
The storyline is not bereft of the usual airtight trapeze that moves down the romantic gullies, unusual in the hills of Niyomgiri, but the film speaks a lot through the tongue-in-cheek monosellables that can be read as a homage to the dying spirits there. Coupled with the filmmakers (AK Parija) there is the master touch of the no-less-a-cinematographer-like AK Bir, who can rule on any light condition. This has produced the imagery serving as metaphors to make it more realistic. Brilliant job Mr Bir.
Shooting on such locations was no small challenge for the director who prides his sentiments for the tribals and hard work made his efforts appear more radiant with the right support from the artists who stood to the tests the script demanded.
The film has somehow pitch forked itself to a state where it portrays a social message now so directly relevant to the inferno scaring the virgin hills of Niyomgiri. Incidentally, after the Church of England, the Amnesty International has already triggered a sentiment in favour of the aborigines and nearly pilloried the people behind the project for their alleged role in "human rights violation in Lanjigarh". With Nanda's Jianta Bhoota perhaps one issue has come to life again.
Having been screened at quite a few national and international arenas, the message is growing stronger day by day. Good for the makers but bad for those who stand solidly behind the Vedanta venture at Lanjigarh. Nanda, who had made a re-entry into politics as a legislator of NCP, in alliance with the BJD, was a crest-fallen man when his plea for a ministerial berth was consigned to the BJD backburner. With his film already bagging a national award, Nanda is now a poised man after donning the garb of a protagonist of Niyomgiri and paying back the BJD with the same coin.
First Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 12:37