Telling unique stories

On a recent visit to Kochi, one of India’s leading documentary-filmmakers Chaitali Mukherjee talks about the joys and pitfalls of the profession

Pics: Chaitali Mukherjee. Photo by A. Sanesh. Chaitali with Varghese Thomas, the founder of Affluenz

By Shevlin Sebastian 

It was 9.30 p.m. on a Monday sometime ago. Documentary film-maker Chaitali Mukherjee was travelling through a forest moving towards Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh. It was pitch-dark on both sides. Inside the Qualis, Chaitali was sitting along with a few crew members, apart from the driver. And even though they were travelling for a long time, no vehicle had come from the other side. Chaitali was feeling apprehensive. Already, in a village where she had been shooting, the locals had warned her that it was not safe to travel at night due to the presence of Naxals. But the driver had shooed away their worries. And so, they had set out. 

But the warning had turned out to be prescient. In the distance, several men and women stepped out onto the road. They were wearing Army fatigues and held AK-47 machine guns. They waved the vehicle to a stop. Chaitali told them who they were.  

They told her to wait. At one side, in a clearing, the Naxals were giving a speech to the villagers. It was only after the meeting was over, three hours later, that they were allowed to leave. “I felt so relieved. It was a close shave. Anything could have happened,” says Chaitali, at her hotel in Kochi. She had come to conduct a workshop titled ‘Eyedeology’, for mass media students, aspiring filmmakers and professional videographers at Sacred Heart College, Thevara. This was conducted by Artfluenz in collaboration with SH School of Communication. 

Chaitali is the right person for this. She has been one of India’s leading documentary filmmakers for the past 20 years. So far, she has made 30 films, out of which 15 have been stored in 400 film libraries worldwide.   

Chaitali won the 2013 Asian Pitch for her documentary ‘My Land is Burning’, and the New York Films and Video Award for the film ‘Himalayan Tribes: Pure Love Pure Sex”. This is a film about the system of polyandry and polygamy among the Kinnauri, Gaddi and Jaunsari tribes. 

“The Kinnauri tribe practises polyandry,” says Chaitali. “One woman has two or three husbands. This system exists because people want to keep the land within the family. The Jaunsari tribe, on the other hand, practise polygamy (many marriages), and polyandry (one man, many wives).”  

All these practises are coming to an end because the people are getting educated. “The problem is that the children do not know who their parents are,” says Chaitali. “It is a system where women are at a disadvantage. Sometimes, they do not live long because of too many children with many husbands. There is also a lot of jealousy and in-fighting among the wives. Also, the man can walk out at any time. So the burden to look after the children falls on the woman.” 

Some of the other subjects which Chaitali has tackled include human interest, anthropology, environment, rural lifestyle, sports and personality-based documentaries. The personalities featured include Magsaysay Award winners Mahabir Pun, Ela Bhat, Kailash Satyarthi, Prakash and Mandakini Amte. She has also done a documentary on Everest climber Santosh Yadav.

Her films have been shown on the National Geographic, ARTE France, France 5, Al Jazeera, and MediaCorp channels. But she bemoans the fact that documentaries are not shown on Indian channels. 

“We are still watching Nat Geo and Discovery,” says Chaitali. “Why don’t we have an exclusive Indian documentary channel? Everybody comes to India, shoots and goes back with our stories. We Indian filmmakers don’t get funds. Most of the time, we have to fight to get something. Foreigners easily get permission to shoot anywhere, like inside Tihar Jail. The authorities don’t think we are as good as the foreigners.”  

Meanwhile, when asked about the qualities that a good film-maker needs, Chaitali, who has M.Phil in Modern History, says, “You have to be knowledgeable and be curious about the world. You have to look out for unique stories that people do not know if you want to get a world audience. Many Indian filmmakers choose subjects, like poverty, which have already appeared in the media.” 

If the idea is not unique then it is difficult to get funding. “Apart from that, you need to make a captivating five or eight-minute short film about the project,” says Chaitali. “Thousands of people are applying from all over the world. The funds are given by the Britdoc fund, Sundance Festival. AsianPitch and many others.” 

As for her future plans, Chaitali says she is planning to make a film, in association with Artfluenz, on Kochi and its rich history, heritage, cuisine, important cultural festivals like the Cochin Carnival and Kochi-Muziris Biennale, as well as the Royal family of Cochin. “I will probably start shooting in December when the next edition of the Biennale starts,” she says, with a smile. “I love Kerala.”