The Living Ghost – A film with a difference

We had the opportunity to see The Living Ghost, last evening. A movie which was intensely thought provoking and one with a difference..

As the movie was screened, there was complete silence while all the attendees took in the meaning and substance of what the movie stood for. As Akshay Kumar Parija, the film’s producer had already introduced it, “It shows how in the name of industrialisation, a peace-loving community is exploited economically, physically and emotionally As it progressed, it soon became clear why. For it certainly managed to “capture the inner conscience of the modern world.” And how.

On one level it is the story of a simple villager Bangaru, of the Dongriya tribe who lives in up in the hills. Yet on another level, it also succeeds in capturing the pain of all that is good and innocent in this tribal community, and one which will steadily be eroded by outside influences which will eventually succeed in ending the way things were at another point in time. All under the guise of ‘modernization.’

The movie opens with a powerful scene, where a man with a drum is announcing to all concerned, that the hills of that district have been sold by the government to private companies who will henceforth be taking up developmental activity throughout the area. In a hair raising shot, we see the dhoti clad lot of hill people menacingly approach this announcer and throw away his drum in a show of rage and dissent. That drum then rolls down the hill, while he camera follows it faithfully, right till it falls with a loud splash into the river waters.

The next scene is even more interesting showing the elopement festival that young men and women are participating in. Just as Bangarau lifts up and attempts to run away with the girl he wishes to marry, there is a sudden intrusion as the villagers who inform him that his father had been mauled and killed by a tiger. Bangaru has to leave the scene and rush to manage his personal affairs while the girl gazes wistfully at his departing back.

Since the elopement did not take place, Bangaru now has to find another way of marrying the girl he likes, Singhari. This means raising money that is demanded by her father as the bride price. When nothing else works, a friend suggests that he start working as a bonded labourer with the village landlord, who will then give him the necessary funds to pay for the marriage. What follows thereafter,forms the crux of the movie.

Successfully capturing the myriad range of human emotions- greed, lust, pathos, innocence as well as the recognition that times are indeed changing, the movie manages all, in a span of a mere ninety minutes. Noteworthy performances are given by the mother, the lawyer, the district magistrate, the landlord, Domb and of course by Bangaru and Singhari. The acting at times, is so realistic that one feels drawn into the movie, and intertwined with the characters lives.

In an exclusive chat with the writer and director of the movie, Prashant Nanda, who himself has been a legend of the Oriya screen not so long ago, I learnt that this movie made at a cost of about one crore Indian Rupees, was actually shot in the hills about 600 kms ahead of Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. The more interesting detail was that all the main characters in the movie are trained actors, who spent about three months in sheer preparation time for their roles. With this movie, Nanda hopes that he will succeed in bringing some complex issues to the forefront, and that there will some successful resolutions to the same in the long as well as the short run.