Shot to fame

Filmmaker Bela Negi is back to her roots with her debut film, Daayen ya Baayen, which was entirely shot in Uttarakhand with an almost Uttarakhandi cast. The movie, which was released in October, will be screened in the state on January 14 for the first time:

Anjali Nauriyal

She is a die-hard Uttarakhandi at heart. And now as a filmmaker she has decided to dedicate her talent to showcasing her home state through her films. So it's no wonder that her first film, Daayen ya Baayen, has been based in the state.

"As a child I often visited the village of my parents in the remote hills of Uttarakhand. What stayed with me was the unique flavour of life there - the simplicity of the people compounded with their complexity; the sadness of the hills peppered with the spontaneous joy in small everyday things; the desperate struggle to make ends meet offset by a wise philosophical view of life; the high rate of literacy but a severe lack of opportunities; the desperate reality mixed with the desire to dream of utopias; the small gossip peppered with weighty discussions on world politics; the big egos mixed with a lack of self-confidence; a stinginess giving way to generous excess; a practical rationality mixed with superstition; its amazing beauty offset by haphazard development; its mythological importance dulled by administrative neglect of several years," reminisces Bela Negi, born in Nainital and educated at Sherwood College and Indrapratha College, Delhi.

She specialized in film-editing from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, and later assisted renowned editor Renu Saluja in a number of feature films. After that she produced television shows before setting up her own production house, Nitric Films, which produces ads, corporate films and has also co-produced and line produced Daayen ya Baayen (DYB) her debut feature film. It has been written, directed and edited by Bela.

Recalling the making of the film, she states, "In the past few years I worked on a number of scripts. I have worked hard on all of them but somehow DYB was destined to be my first film."

Bela points out that the year 2000, when Uttarakhand was made, was a turning point in the lives of the people of the state when their dream of a better life germinated. The film is a social comedy set in an Uttarakhandi village. The essence of the story is a man's search for dignity, in a state that, like him, is coming into its own.

"When I began thinking of a story for my debut film, it was natural that it would express the unique world view that had evolved in this corner of the world - my homeland. But at the same time it would have a universal appeal because after all the struggles of men are the same everywhere. The story is set in a small village in Uttarakhand, which has recently been formed and the protagonist, Ramesh Majila, returns from the city to the village. He is an ordinary man like us, a man who wants to hold on to a dream of better hills. This reverse migration is looked upon with scorn till he wins a car in a television contest and becomes the hero of the village. His red luxury car in its incongruity to the landscape personifies the contradictions that exist in the hills. Till finally the car takes him on an unexpected journey," says the director, who shot the entire film in Uttarakhand, with an almost entirely Uttarakhandi cast.

Deepak Dobriyal, an award-winning actor, plays the lead role while late Girish Tiwari (Girda) is also seen in a special role. The film was released in Mumbai and Delhi in October to a fair amount of critical acclaim, informs Negi excitedly. "However for me the journey was not complete till I had shown it in Uttarakhand too. So now I am distributing the film here myself. I also hope to take the film to villages in Uttarakhand if I can have some logistical support with that," she says.

The film will be screened in Doon on January 14. A special show will be held at Raj Bhawan after which the film will show at Digvijay Talkies.

"It is a great pleasure to see the film finally releasing in Uttarakhand, where it truly belongs. I hope to take the film to the rest of Uttarakhand in the subsequent weeks. And I hope the journey of cinema in Uttarakhand will go a long way," states Bela before signing off.