27 November 2018

"National Film Award is a pat on the back for us, which motivates us to move forward. Wining & losing awards doesn’t differentiate superior movies from inferior ones. Every film maker has his / her own art & craft and personalised way of telling stories.  Awards assure you that you are in the right direction. It also opens a lot avenues for collaboration, coproduction & many other things", said Praveen Morchhale, Director of the national award-winning film, Walking with the Wind.  He was addressing a joint press conference at the 49^th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), in Panaji, Goa today November 27, 2018, along with Abhaya Simha, director of another national award-winning film Paddayi.

Walking with the wind is a Ladakhi language entry in the Indian Panorama section, competing for ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal for this year.  Sharing his idea behind filmmaking, Praveen Morchhale said that Ladakhi people are the most beautiful, humble and content people on the earth.   Living with limited resources, rough weather & facing four months of snowfall, they maintain a happy mood.  We did beautiful exploration of Ladakh for choosing the cast.  We chose non-actors for our script. Role of carpenters, poets & other professionals were performed by local people in the region who were involved in respective professions, he added. He also pointed out that no background music was used in this film. Surround sound along with other natural sounds of winds & water breeze alone were used.  Even then, it won national award for Best Sound Design and Best Sound Mixing.      

The story of the film revolves around 10 year old boy Tsering who accidentally breaks his friend's school chair & then decides to bring the chair back to his village through terrains. During these 4 days of philosophical journey, the boy explores social and political realities of adulthood, informed Praveen Morchhale.

Paddayi is a film made in Tulu language whose dialect is spoken by only 2-3 lakh people of the fishing community. Sharing his idea behind the film, Abhaya Simha said that his film focuses on the perishing community system in India.  People survive on community living for their livelihood. With the growing ambition & greed in every community, the cracking of community system is reflected in the film. They lose their livelihood in changing political and cultural scenario. Paddayi (meaning western direction) symbolises the westernisation of culture eating the local culture. Involving emotions of ambition & greed, the story is a modern-day adaption of Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth & is applied to Tulu culture of fishing communities in South India.

Abhaya Simha, while emphasising on Tulu language, also informed that there are many films made in Tulu language, this year 100^th film will be made. We have tried to understand the dialect of Tulu by living among locals in fishing community while filming for Paddayi. 

Replying to a question about importance of National Award, he said that National Awards bring the focus on our films amidst many commercial films.  

BACKGROUND:

Paddayi

Paddayi is a Tulu language film (a Dravidian language spoken mainly in the south west part of the Indian state of Karnataka ) directed by Mr. Abhaya Simha. It is the story of Madhava and Sugandhi,  a newly married couple from the fishing community in India. Driven by ambition, they bring upon themselves an epic tragedy. It has won award for Best Feature Film in Tulu language at the 65th National Film Awards.

Madhava and Sugandhi is a newly-married couple from the fishing community of south India. Their lust for better life is ignited by the prophecies from the spirit that wander the land. Dinesba, owner of a fleet, gives them new dreams. But when their life was on a new high, he betrays them. Now the couple is determined to take a bitter revenge. The story soon turns into a tale of murder and regrets.

Abhaya Simha , FTII  alumnus & film director and screenwriter from Karnataka, won the National Award for the best children's film for the year 2008 for his debut venture Gubbachchigalu. 

Walking with the Wind

Walking with the wind directed by Mr. Praveen Morchhale is a Ladkahi language entry competing in the Indian Panorama & ICFT  UNESCO Gandhi Medal for this year IFFI. The film tells a story of a 10 year old boy’s spiritual journey across the difficult terrain of the Himalayas. The film has received  many awards at International Film Festival circuit, from India to Eastern Europe, winning top prize at Rome’s Tertio Millennio Film Festival in 2017, and three National Film Awards– for Best film in Ladakhi, Best Sound Design   and Best Sound Mixing  at the 65^th  National Film Awards.  

The story of the film revolves around 10 year old Tsering living in the difficult terrain of the Himalayas. One day he accidentally breaks his friend's school chair. When he decides to bring the chair back to his village, the 7 kilometres long journey back home in mountainous landscape on a donkey, becomes even more arduous than usual. Chair is the metaphor for the awakening journey, quest for inner truth and reality, which people aspire to find in the adult world.

Praveen is a Film Director & Writer, National Film Awardee, and Photographer & has directed Feature Films - Widow of Silence, Barefoot to Goa.

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ED/DW

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