Where villages are lonely

Sarika Sharma

A few years ago, filmmaker Gurvinder Singh made the small village of Bir in Himachal Pradesh his home and opened a little cafe in the hills. Little did he know then that he would make his next film there, in that cafe, with the people around. Khanaur (Bitter Chestnut) seems to tell the story of every other home from the Himalayas, torn between love for the land and the aspiration for a “better life”. As he returns to the city, he reflects on the film that he is taking to various film festivals and the many lessons life in a village brings.

What prompted you to tell this story?

It was a recurring theme in every house where I was living in Himachal. Boys not really interested in education or traditional livelihoods like farming and animal rearing, and wanting to go out and work in places like Goa or make a living around the tourist infrastructure coming up; girls studying till as long as they can as it was a means to postponing marriage; selling or leasing out land to ‘outsiders’ was another easy way of earning.

How and when did you come to understand this?

Outsiders like me, who could afford to give up living in the city, are attracted by nature and try spending some time in the mountains, hoping to live a life closer to nature. At the same time, the locals, who do appreciate those natural bounties, now also see the tremendous hardships in their lives. The younger generation sees no worth in the hardships their parents and grandparents have lived through. So the better life is now symbolised by having a concrete house with tiles on the floors and walls. Ironically, outsiders want to come and build the traditional mud and stone houses! I do see a sense of regret that the old way of life is changing rapidly, but also an acceptance that all the changes are for the better. And migration is seen as temporary, to go away and earn and return to the roots. Some never return, but many do as they are unable to adapt to different kind of hardships in the cities.

When you shifted to Bir, you would say that people who don’t have regular jobs should stay away from cities. What brings you back to the city?

Reverse migration is an idea worth exploring for many of us. Our cities grow huge, tearing apart at the seams, while the villages are shrinking. We are brought up in the city aspiring for jobs or businesses possible only in a city life. Our education treats sectors like agriculture and related rural industries not worth exploring or learning. The agrarian and village economy has a lot of scope and innovations there can sustain and provide prosperity to village lives. But the government policies make people flock from the villages to the cities and inundate the cities with cheap labour, to make rural people see no scope and prosperity in their traditional livelihoods. Mere sustenance is no longer worth considering for them...  I’m back to make a film in Punjab. It was never the idea to permanently settle down in the mountains. 

What are your takeaways from life in the village and making a film on it?

It takes remarkable strength to live the life that people in the mountains do. It’s not rosy or exotic as may seem to many city people. It’s admirable to specially see the women carry on with their daily work, day after day, from early morning till evening. I never see them resting. Every season brings its own rigour and demands and they are preparing for the life ahead all the time, working in the farm, cooking, taking care of home and animals. And often drunk husbands!

Does your protagonist Kishan battle the fear of being away from home, yet feels drawn to “comfort” in their chosen lives?

That is what the film is about. About the ghost of leaving home and yet being drawn to its cosiness and familiarity. The unfamiliar looks attractive and comfortable in comparison, but lacks the warmth of the community. It is about the struggle to draw this balance.

Like your earlier films, you have once again chosen to work with non-actors? Do they lend themselves to the characters each time? What are the challenges of working with them?

This time it’s different in the sense that earlier I chose non-actors or actors based on the script. This time the script has been written based on the people who play themselves in the film. So in that sense this is almost like a staged documentary or ethnographic film. It had its own challenges because a lot of it was not strictly scripted and the people in front of the camera had to improvise a lot. But the improvisation was with things very familiar to them or part of their life. So they could carry its essence.

You are taking the film to Busan first and then MAMI. You have been to Venice, Cannes and MAMI before. What would you say about the Indian moviegoers vis-a-vis audience in these places?

The festival world is completely different from the average moviegoer. It has its competitive demands, which are not always to one’s liking. For all the films shown, there are many more ‘rejected’. So it’s pre-chosen what the festival goer will get to see or not see. Certain films are already put on a pedestal while others are merely there to fill up the festival programming. These are big festivals you have named and get highlighted by the media. There are many more smaller dedicated festivals to promote cinema as an art form about which nothing is ever written about. The audience is different in every part of the world. For example, at Cannes, many people watching the films are not even an ‘audience’ strictly speaking. They are only there to see if the film is worth considering for sales or distribution. So it’s a combination of market forces and some genuine audience.

What is your next film about?

I am back to making a Punjabi film based on a novel by Gurdial Singh, on whose novel, Anhey Ghorhey da Daan, I had made my first feature. This time it’s his novella, Adh Chanani Raat. It’s about a man’s journey to restart life after serving life imprisonment for a murder to avenge his father’s humiliation. It’s about feudal Punjab and how struggle for land can turn even brothers into sworn enemies. I see the same happening in cities over properties and inheritance.