Watching the 18-minute film Satat (Continued) which has been written, scripted and directed by Devi Prasad Mishra, is a different experience. The tale, its presentation and filming are simple but it has layered text and sub-text with deep and hidden meaning. All that is left to the viewer is to interpret and understand.
Featured in the Cannes Film Festival in Short Film Corner, the film is about two Adivasi children playing gulli-danda on a dusty village road, interspersed with sound of birds and rumbling of mining at a distance. The game goes on with pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists passing by. “It is metaphor of continuing despite interregnum and intervals depicting continuity of life entailing commencement of the game, its suspension, postponement and resumption. It conveys the message of hope and revival of good things,” observes Mishra.
ADVERTISEMENT
The film came into being accidentally. On the way to the border of Madhya Pradesh-Orissa to make a communitarian documentary, Mishra observed Sardar and Balchand playing. “The landscape of life, the soulfulness of being – though not visible – and the real throb of existence triggered the decision to make the film. I thought there was something to be explored which is not there in the urban space,” he explains, with the story forming as he watched them play.
“The narrative was sketchy but there was a beginning, middle and an end,” he says.
Refusing to attribute it to chance, he claims, “This kind of cinema is present everywhere. It is not mundane and requires perception to sense it. Being a poet, I feel that making it is like writing poetry.”
It is noteworthy that Satat is devoid of dialogues and narration except a couple when one boy tells the other to return quickly to resume the game. This according to the director is deliberate to enable the images to speak for themselves. And they do so albeit gently and subtly.
See the boys, obviously poor, playing in a harsh and desolate setting, to realise the significance of what it conveys. “They represent an island of innocence drawing our attention to the fact that though draped in simple clothes the boys, devoid of desires and needs, enjoy the life as it is, through their game. They take life as it comes without demanding anything from it.”
The music is minimal and the background score, a Western classical piece in the Adivasi setting is composed by Mishra’s son, Udbhav.
Emoting by Sardar and Balchand, both without any experience, is natural. Mishra told them to keep playing while he filmed. Initially their body movement was stiff and not natural but the boys came into their own subsequently. “I being a stranger coupled with the fact that they suspect and are sceptical of city dwellers did not help. But once the rapport was established they got into the groove and became playful without any artificiality.
Incidents like the mother of one boy calling him, not the script, helped in making the film realistic.”
Mishra has recently completed a feature film Mahabhinishkramana (The Great Going Out”) featuring non-actor Adivasis which busts the primary education system.
The game, oops, life, goes on.
ADVERTISEMENT