There is a scene in New Delhi-based Tamil filmmaker, RV Ramani’s new documentary, Santhal Family to Mill Re-call , which demands your undivided attention. A woman screams at the top of her voice. “God of death calls us all in the same way. Today, they are taking me across the river alive. Neither was I destined to be married nor will I have a wedding song. I am merely the bridge to lower depths,” and breaks down into a wail. It is a part of the play that aims to re-read a work by Ramkinkar Baij, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture, called Santhal Family .
The sculpture makes a working class couple, their child and a dog the heroes. There is a definite political stand the work takes by making the most marginalised section of the society, icons in a land accustomed to seeing only deities, film stars and politicians in such huge statures. And, in the play, the actors echo this strong political stand through their performance that aims to discomfort its audience rather than offer him a “pleasant” watch.
And, this is also what makes Ramani’s work, which won this year’s Best Long Documentary Film Award at the National Competition in the Mumbai International Film Festival (2018) political. The sculpture is revered as one of the iconic figures of modern Indian art. Ramani’s film records how it is being re-interpreted by contemporary installation artist, Vivan Sundaram, an eminent contemporary artist.
Sundaram conceives the multi-genre project 409 Ramkinkars , a retake on the life and works of Baij, in collaboration with theatre practitioners and writers such as Anuradha Kapur and Santanu Bose. In this project, we see installation artistes and theatre practitioners come together to offer the audience an immersive experience of Baij’s work.
And, one cannot help but notice the camaraderie the camera captures between the theatre artistes. “Everyone was trying something new, questioning themselves. Kapur’s engagement with her actors was a delight to observe. Bose was creating, evolving choreographic designs along with the sculptures and paintings, representing Baij’s works. I especially loved the sculptures of Santhal Family and Mill Recall, recreated by Sundaram with the found materials, a trademark process of his works.”
In one scene, you also see a frame of a Ritwik Ghatak film called Komal Gandhar playing in the background. Ramani’s lens acts as a mirror to reflect such multiple perspectives through the visions of different creative souls.
The preparations for the project by Sundaram had started two years ago. Ramani joined the process as a filmmaker, when they had started rehearsing with actors and when some of the sculptures made in the studios were ready to be shifted to the venue before the event. “The shoot was for about 50 days. The challenge for me was at various levels throughout. There was a need to narrate the event in the way it was conceived by Sundaram, in collaboration with theatre professionals such as Deepan Sivaraman, Belinder Dhanoa, Bose and Kapur. Then, there was also the need to develop a perspective of mine, my take on the whole event, just like everyone was having a re-take on an artistic process with their respective preoccupations.”
CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 17/01/2016: Documentary filmmaker and cinematographer R.V. Ramani at the Hindu Lit for Life 2016 in Chennai on January 17, 2016. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
In the film, his camera goes back and forth between the rehearsals and the actual enactment. “The performance event in itself may not have lent to the possibility of the film. The intention was to engage with the whole process, the people and their concerns; especially in my perspective. I did not just want to look at the final product. The rehearsals add a lot of raw texture to the meaning of the process. It blends the preparations with the final performances, adding various nuances both to the performances and the rehearsals, thus giving rise to multiple perspectives.”
While watching the film, one hardly feels the camera is a third eye. It blends with the subjects, giving us a feel of being one among them; especially the hand-held, shaky shots.
Says Ramani, “My camera work is always an engaging device rather than an objectifying one. I also draw a lot of motivation from my subjects. Sundaram and Baij are amazing artistes. I reciprocate with so many nuances I observe. And, I constantly seek relationship and participation through my images.”
To know more about his works, visit ramanifilms.com
