Spotlight on the Adivasis by filmmaker Niranjan Kumar Kujur

A moment from Ghatak’s Ajantrik. Pics Courtesy/Niranjan Kumar Kujur

If you ever grew up as a fan of pulp Hindi cinema, or RD Burman's music, there is a chance that you would have heard the phrase ‘Jinga la la hoo' being sung. The chorus of the song, Hum bewafa from the 1970s camp action film, Shalimar, might seem like an embarrassing but funny memory of childhood for many. For many, it is not. Filmmaker Niranjan Kumar Kujur recalls, "It made things difficult for about six or seven years in school."

This unconsciously patronising and occasionally disturbing portrayal of indigenous life on screen will be part of Kujur's online talk, Adivasi Image in Indian Cinema, today. The talk is hosted by Jehangir Nicholson Arts Foundation (JNAF) with the Tribal Design Forum as part of the exhibition, A Forest In The City.

Simi Garewal in Satyajit Ray's Aranyer Din Ratri

Growing up in the Oraon community in Lohardaga in Jharkhand, Kujur often wondered whether the world he grew up in would show up on the big screen. This found further expression at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata where he was encouraged to tell stories from home.

One of the first films where this echo of home found its way on screen was in Ritwik Ghatak's Ajantrik (1958). "I remember when the first echoes of the tribal songs come through, even before you see the visuals of the community. I felt that they were familiar," he shares. Ghatak's film featured songs and visuals inspired by the Oraon tribes.

Members from the Oraon community at a gathering

Kujur's 2016 non-feature Edpa Kana (Going Home) won him the National Award for Best Audiography, while another of his works, Pahada, was selected as the official entry for the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Today, the filmmaker will use this personal lens to look back at portrayals in Indian cinema; few of which stand the test, he admits.

"Even the most admired films made on tribals and tribal issues don't feel satisfying when viewed from the Adivasi perspective," he says. An example he points out is Satyajit Ray's famed Aranyer Din Ratri (1970). "The film remains quite popular among Bengalis. But when I watch it, to see Simi Garewal in a black face as she plays a tribal woman; they do not feel right," the 37-year-old remarks.

A scene from Joram by Devashish Makhija

They are not always purposely so. He notes Devashish Makhija's Joram (2023) saying, "It is a good film, and one of the few that tells the story from the perspective of an Adivasi protagonist. But the ornamentation and costumes often feel like they come from a popular notion of the Adivasi." Then, there is the infamous Shalimar with its portrayal of a dark-skinned, dancing and superstitious tribal community.

Niranjan Kumar Kujur

The talk will underline the communities viewed through the films. "We will discuss the films mentioned, and also what we are looking for in cinema, and the facets that are absent," Kujur reveals. Ask him for a film that does a good job, he points to Ghatak's Ajantrik. "The images you see in the film, with the Adivasis speaking in Oraon dialect, feel like a natural part of life. The framing and compositions also portray them in a very majestic way rather than as an oddity," he notes.

ON Today; 6.30 pm
AT Online/Zoom
REGISTER @jnafmumbai on Instagram