BAZAAR

Nila Madhab Panda, a Padma Shri and award-winning director of I Am Kalam,in which a young boy draws inspiration from the former president, puts the focuson the stories of children once again, in Halkaa. But in doing so, he addresses alarger issue: Open defecation in villages. It’s a technique he’s mastered,highlighting social concerns through the way they afect people—from Jalpari:The Desert Mermaid (2012), which centred on female foeticide and won theprestigious MIP Junior Kids Jury Award at Cannes, to Kaun Kitney Paani Mein(2015), a satire that looked at caste discrimination and honour killing. His latest,Halkaa, a musical that won the top award at Grand Prix de Montreal earlier thisyear, is soon to release in India. What made you become a storyteller? I grewup in an environment where there were no luxuries of surfing the internet orwatching television, and I was no student of the year. The only time I was trulyhappy was when my grandparents narrated stories. Another joyous instancewas when an uncle of mine bought a small-screen television in 1984—I was gluedto it for the daily Doordarshan telecast of two hours. I realised how this ‘idiot box’was a force that brought together families, friends, and even an entire village.What inspired you to make films on social issues? We forget our history andlook past the matters relevant to society. I take inspiration from my struggles,the way I’ve come from a small village and now live in a metropolitan city.I’ve complied with the norms of the society, the aggressive rules it bestows uponchildren—how they are instructed in villages to defecate in open grounds—which they wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable with. It makes me stronger,to be able to create a platform where I can project what the real matters are andbring them to light. How did the title come about? I was ruminating on thebest way to describe relief in Hindi since first, this is a children’s movie andsecond, it is centred on the concept of defecation. The proverb ‘halka hona’popped in my head, and we had a name for the movie. What are the challengesyou faced on set? Every piece of art is a challenge. One of the toughest partswas conducting continuous long shoots in high temperatures in Chambal Valley.The problem of sanitation—which is the crux of the film—was another majorobstacle since we were shooting in and around four-year-old dump-yards.What’s next for you? I am working on a story about the Indo-Pakistani war of1971, trying to include untold instances of that period. ■ By Prableen GujralFILM``````DIRECTOR’S CUT``````Storyteller extraordinaire PadmaShri Nila Madhab Panda onceagain makes a compelling pointon social issues in a way thatwins both hearts and awards