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By Ashok Gopal Activist-filmmaker Shriprakash's honest, powerful documentaries attempt to capture the struggles and aspirations of local communities in Bihar and Jharkhand
Tribal and village artists differ from their modern, urban counterparts in one important way: They capture and recreate the main struggles and aspirations of their people, for their people, in a self-effacing way. The audience is apparent but the artist is invisible. Shriprakash from Ranchi, Jharkhand, is one such artist. Over the past 10 years he has made several attempts to capture the struggle for basic survival made by communities in Jharkhand and Bihar. It is these very people, and others in a similar socio-economic condition, that form his main audience. But Shriprakash is no traditional artist. A science and journalism graduate, he uses a very modern instrument: a video camera. Shriprakash belongs to the minuscule tribe of activist-filmmakers. His mode of art is the documentary film, but he differs from most in a fundamental way. "I do not impose my views," he explains. "I am only the instrument that takes the camera to the place of struggle. It's the people participating in the struggle who actually make the film. They live out their lives and voice their concerns in their own words. I only record." Shriprakash's approach is best seen in Kis ki Raksha? (In whose defence?), a controversial documentary made in 1994 on the tribal movement in the Netrahat region against the army's decision to extend its firing range into land and forests occupied by the people. The film starts with a bare title. There is no well-scripted form that guides the viewer to a conclusive end. In fact, the film has no script. It is a patchwork of images and voices that bring out the key points, modes and events of protest, recorded over a period of six months. There is no commentary, no external music, and no build-up towards a climax. The film starts as it ends, almost randomly as it were. If this suggests a crude and haphazard work, you're wrong. Though Shriprakash and his associates have no formal training in filmmaking, and they shoot in the VHS format used by amateurs, Kis ki Raksha and other Shriprakash documentaries cannot be faulted on technical grounds. They have been screened and acclaimed at a number of international film festivals. It's this impact on audiences that enables Shriprakash to make his kind of films. He doesn't use grants or loans (who would give one for a film without a script?). He relies on food and transport provided by the local communities themselves, who use his finished film to strengthen the resolve of their own people and lobby their cause in different fora. Post-production funds are raised from well-wishers and by selling CD copies of the films to NGOs and activist groups who use the films as motivational and training tools. As for the initial investment on a video camera, it was raised through a potentially attractive business model. Shriprakash and some like-minded friends formed a group in Ranchi to run a business of video-shooting marriages and other functions, to pay for the kind of films they wanted to make. "It didn't work," he admits without bitterness. After most of the original group members pulled out, Shriprakash moved to Delhi, where he works on making video films for NGOs. But the desire to faithfully and unobtrusively record the struggles of people who have no voice in the mainstream media and politics, remains strong. "The camera is a very powerful instrument," he says. "That's why the visual medium has always been in the hands of government and big businesses. But with modern technology like video and audio cassettes, we can break into that monopoly." Shriprakash's films: Kis ki Raksha? (In Whose Defence?), 1994; Hindi with English subtitles; 52 minutes The film captures the spirit and determination shown by tribals, drawn from 245 villages in Jharkhand, in opposing the government's plans to extend an army firing range in the forest area of Netrahat that they have occupied for centuries. The people's movement forced the army to abandon its plans. Screened at: - International Video Film Festival, Thiruvananthapuram, 1994
- Video Film Festival, Buenos Aires, 1995
Addo Miyad Ulgulan (Another Revolt), 1995; Hindi with English subtitles; 40 minutes A film on the struggle against the Koel Karo hydel project in Jharkhand, which threatened the lives and livelihood of thousands of tribals living in the area. Screened at: - Mumbai International Film Festival, 1996
- Video Film Festival, Buenos Aires, 1996
Do not I have the right to live?, 1998; Hindi with English voiceover; 18 minutes The story of a woman displaced by a coal mine. Serenj Sakub, 1995; Mundari; 10 minutes A docudrama on the Birsa movement. Buddha weeps in Jadugoda, 1999  Jadugoda is India's only productive uranium mine. Almost 30 years of mining have resulted in excessive radiation and contamination of water, land and air. The film is an attempt to record how the lives of the people of Jadugoda have been turned into a veritable hell.
Screened at: - Mumbai International Film Festival, 2000
- Hong Kong Film Festival, 2000
- Earth-Vision International Film Festival, Tokyo, 2000 (Grand Prize)
- Vermont Film Festival, USA, 2001
- Thunder Birds Film Festival, USA, 2001 (Best Film Award)
- Film South Asia-Kathmandu, 1999 (Third Best Film Award)
- Earth-Vision Environmental Film Festival, CA, USA, 2002 (Second Best Film Award)
- International Film Festival, Istanbul, 2001
- United Nations Association Film Festival, USA, 2000
- Broadcast by NHK-Japan and Free Speech TV, USA
Buru Sengal (The Fire Within), 2002; Hindi with English subtitles; 57 minutes
The film draws a painful portrait of the transformation of the land of the Tana Bhagats (a sect of the Oraon tribe who were believers in non-violence and Gandhian philosophy) into a land that endures a violent Naxalite movement today. At the same time, the film talks about corruption, the power of the mafia and the displacement of tribal identities in an area where coal mining is common. Screened at: - Earth-Vision Film Festival 2002, USA (Special Jury Mention)
- Film Festival in Asian Social Forum, 2003, Hyderabad
- XVIII Black International Cinema, Berlin, 2003
- 9th Energy Film Festival, Lausanne, 2003
- Documentary Film Festival, Istanbul, 2003
To order CDs of Shriprakash's films contact:
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(Ashok Gopal is an independent writer and editor based in Pune. He has worked with several publications, including Imprint and The Times of India. He specialises in corporate communications, technical writing and writing for CD-ROMs and websites.)
InfoChange News & Features, July 2003
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