F rom the horns they sport in their headgear to their attire in the unique dance form Kommu Koya (bison-hunt dance), a lot about the Koya community intrigued Hyderabad-based documentary filmmaker Narendher Goud, who has made a documentary on them, titled Art at Heart , which was shown at several regional film festivals recently. Initially, he had no books or other referential material to assist him. He says he could’ve easily invited them for a performance in the city and got speaking to them, but that would’ve only meant a hush-hush job. What he truly wanted to know was the prominence of dance and music in their lifestyles by living with them. He packed his bags along with his eight-member team to meet the few men they knew from the community in Khammam, who’d later connected them to a tiny Koya group that lives across the Andhra Pradesh-Chattisgarh border.
“Dance is connected to every part of their daily life, from marriages to the time a child is born, the time people wake up, come from work, celebrate festivals, drink palm wine (kallu) and even die. I didn’t want to make the documentary only on the dance form, but observe their life as a community. We shot the film over a week’s span,” reveals Narendher, whose documentary is equally informative and emotionally-arresting. ‘Art at Heart’ has traced the form’s roots to the times of Indus Civilisation, where the dances were believed to be performed by Lord Shiva himself. And things weren’t easy for a start, given the precarious political situation around the Edugurallapalli area (near Khammam), where the cops once suspected their identity as well. “We were once asked to show our footage to prove that we came here for a documentary.”
Currently, a section of Kommu Koya dancers look for performances in terms of livelihood and not as an integral part of their lives. In fact, Narendher mentions us that even the way they look (the Koyas who are mostly civilised now) is similar to any person in the city. “The soul that comes across in the form as they lead their lives is obviously lost. One needs to accept that the dance form is slowly fading into oblivion and they’re losing their identity. The reasons are attributed mainly to civilisation and mass-religion conversions.” he adds. Art at Heart has been filmed in two versions, Telugu and English, the latter’s production work was done at Indianapolis. The documentary produced by Govt. of Telangana has gone onto receive several nominations in the film-fest circuit.
