Cultural Study of “Yarwng” Film: A Review
Sashanka Debbarma
M.A. (English)
Sharda University
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
&
Dr. Prachi Priyanka
Assistant Professor of English
Sharda University
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Abstract:
Yarwng is a short film directed by Joseph
Pulinthanath in the Kokborok language a real based story. The film is a
powerful exploration of the challenges faced by the Indigenous tribes in the
Northeastern Indian state of Tripura where the film is set the title Yarwng
means “Roots” in the Kokborok language and the film delves deep into the themes
of identity, tradition and culture. The film is beautifully shot and features
visuals of the lush forests and rolling hills of Tripura. The use of Kokborok
language and the local music adds an authentic touch to the film, immersing
viewers in the culture and traditions of the Indigenous communities. The film
serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving cultural heritage and
traditions in an increasingly globalized world.
Keywords: Tragedy, culture, relationship
Introduction
“Yarwng” is a significant film in the context of preserving and
promoting Indigenous cultures and traditions. The movie serves as an excellent
example of how cinema can be used as a tool to promote cultural diversity and
create awareness about indigenous communities. The films critical acclaim and
success have helped to bring the unique culture and traditions of the Tripuri
people to forefront and have played a vital role in preserving and promoting
these traditions for future generations. “Yarwng” is a 2008 Kokborok feature
film produced by Don Bosco Sampari Pictures Tripura, written and directed by
Joseph Pulinthanath. The large scale of displacement happened in Tripura state,
when the newly built Dumbur Dam (1970s) had submerged huge areas of arable land
in the fertile Raima valley about 40 years ago. The film story is of 95 minutes
and the film also won the first National award for Tripura at the 56thNational
Film Awards in 2008.
The film beautifully portrays the intricate
relationship between the Tripuri people and their natural surroundings,
depicting how their lives are deeply intertwined with the forest, hills, rivers
and lakes that surround them. The movie showcases the traditional Tripuri
customs including the rich colourful attire of the community, their unique
music and dance forms and the indigenous cuisine. Through the story of the
couple’s journey, the film also touches upon social issues such as caste,
gender roles and superstition prevalent in the society. It provides a poignant
commentary on the importance of respecting diversity and celebrating
differences. The history of cultural suppression and marginalization faced by
many Indigenous communities in India and the ongoing struggles to maintain and
revitalize endangered languages and culture. “Yarwng” also addresses
contemporary issues facing the Tripuri people such as land rights,
environmental degradation, and the pressures of modernization. It portrays the
tensions between traditional ways of life and the forces of globalization
and development swell as the conflicts between generations and social class.
Culture
The Tripuri people have very rich cultural heritage which includes the
unique customs, traditional clothing, music, dance forms and cuisine as
portrayed all of this in the film “Yarwng” beautifully. The language of Tripura
is Kokborok, in which the film is made, as it is the official language of
Tripura, an important culture identity. The people celebrate variety of
festivals and ceremonies throughout the year associated with agricultural
rituals and worship of deities by (ochai) priest, and worship of God made of
bamboo as shown in the film. The Tripuris inherit a bright tradition of folk
culture and folk literature. Kokborok folk literature and folk songs embrace
all aspects of life, taking all events and occasions of birth, death, marriage,
love dreams, frustrations, achievement and failure. It is all shown in the
film, the rich culture owned by Tripuri people performing rituals on festivals,
marriages etc., and the priest plays a very important role in all these
occasions. The traditional colourful attire worn by the women, a long skirt (Rignai) which are
draped around the waist and (Risa) for covering the upper part of the body,
generally weaved in handloom, colourful and embroidered by flowers on it and
the traditional jewelry including necklaces, earrings and bracelet made of
silver etc.
One of the most prominent aspects of Tripura
culture is its music and dance forms. The Garia, Hojagiri dances are popular
among the tribal communities and are performed during the festivals. The state
is known for its unique musical instrument, the sumui or flute which is made
from the Bamboo and has a distinctive sound. The handicraft and handloom
products are also integral part of its culture. Intricate bamboo and cane work.
Tripura tradition reflects a unique blend of tribal traditions. Its music, dance
handicrafts and cuisine offer a unique glimpse into state rich. Religion also
plays an important role in Tripuri culture with majority of the people
following Hinduism. The main source of income of the Tripuri people is farming
in jhum cultivation, Wakhirai in the film mentions, “planting harvesting and
again planting.” This is how they keep themselves busy and occupied throughout
the year working all season in farm , and the festivals, fair “mela” is the
only way to break their monotony of life, the Hojagiri dances are performed in
the fair, which is famous dance still in Tripura, the houses are made of bamboo
fence and dried lemon grass as roof.
Awang is a traditional delicacy food made in every festival and occasion by
grinding the sticky rice into powder or cooking the sticky rice in many
different ways, mud pot are used to carry water from the lakes or river for
household purpose for cleaning, drinking etc. The rice wine (chuwak) are drunk
in bamboo, as shown in the film Agurai sells the wine and fermented fish in his
shop, the fermented fish are used basically in every curry of the Tripuri
people, the banana plants are also consumed as a food and their leaves are used
for eating food on it and also it is used to pack food while traveling or
sharing food with the neighbours. Foods are cooked in bamboo curry and rice.
Both pork and chicken are also main source of income for Tripuri people, as
these meats are enjoyed as traditional meats in every festive season.
Everything is portrayed beautifully in this film “yarwng,” the lifestyle and
the rich culture of the tribal Tripuri people.
Relationship
The relationship in the film is about the love between two lovers who
are about to get married but get separated on the night before the wedding. The
relationship between Wakhirai and Karmati love story was very romantic. They
meet and spent their time in the jhum cultivation discussing their life after
they both get married, and also in the starting of the film it can be seen how
Karmati’s father and mother were expecting a beautiful marriage of her daughter and they will be blessed with
grandchildren, all their dreams turn out to be in vain. The two lovers always
have dreamt of getting married and live together a happy life but on the night
before the wedding when the preparations were taking place, the administrative
police had attacked their home and told them to leave the place immediately, by
leaving behind the marriage ceremony preparations as the water from the dam was
rising above and about to submerge the whole village. They all got scattered
traveling to hilly areas, new places looking for settling down tears in their
eyes, some of the family members died on the way while traveling, some left
their pregnant wife, as seen Debra left her pregnant wife in the middle of the
night leaving her behind, Karmati’s brother left his parents on the way to
avoid poverty and Wakhirai’s ailing
father died on the way, many left their family members on the way as they all
have left their properties and land behind which are swallowed by water and
looking for places to settle by migrating, which will lead to poverty and die
out of hunger snapping the relationship between the family members .
Karmati settles in another village, she was
forced and preached by her mother and aunt to forget the past and move forward
her life with Sukurai and she gets married. Sukurai learnt later that his wife
Karmati had once been the fiance of his jhum companion Wakhirai, as Wakhirai
also happens to settle in the same village
after a lot of struggle and traveling and when his wife Karmati explains
the whole story of the catastrophe that made their life apart and miserable,
Sukurai feels pity and suggests his wife Karmati to reunite with Wakhirai
personally so that they can share their emotional feelings after so much loss,
and when Karmati finally goes to Wakhirai’s house, finds him missing, the poor
woman was traumatized with her past life and she blames her destiny by crying.
The relationship one has with their own home and place, connection to community,
it can be place where we feel safe, secure and comfortable, homes can be
repository of cherished memories and source of comfort during difficult times,
homes and places have physical impact on health and wellbeing, relationship
with their home and place was deeply personal and unique to each individual
because the houses that they had been living for ages and from childhood is all
under water.
Tragedy
Tragedies that involve leaving one’s own home place or land can have a
profound impact on individual, families and entire communities. Forced
displacement due to political decision, that caused natural disaster in the
film Yarwng have submerged the whole village, which was traumatic and cause
significant disruptions to people’s lives . “Yarwng is based on true events of
displacement and resettlement of Indigenous Tripuri people caused by the Dumbor
Hydel power project commissioned in 1976 by Indian Government. About 80,000
tribals were ousted in 1976 when the Dumbur Hydel Project was commissioned and 30
meter high gravity dam was constructed across the river. The displaced tribe
was not rehabilitated by the government and most of them were compelled to
settle in the hill ranges and continue their struggle for survival through jhum
cultivation. The trauma and the displacement and its aftermath provide the
human drama that unfolds in the lives of characters. The film is based on the
real narratives of the people.
The village people do not understand the
meaning of current as shown in the film, only a lamp of fire is used by the
villagers at night when they were told to move by the administrative people
they ask, “where will we go, this is our home” and the reply of the police was
that it was not their duty, they are only instructed to remove them from the place.
The villagers repeatedly ask in the film that what if don’t get place to settle
down? What about their homeland, paddy field that was their ancestral place,
they question so much to the police when they are forced to move by breaking
their houses with the help of elephants to chase them away. When people are
forced to leave their homes, they often lose their cultural traditions and a
sense of shared history and identity. The loss of connection to one’s root can
be particularly devastating for indigenous people and other groups of
communities who have strong cultural attachment to their land. For the people
in the Yarwng film the land is not just a place to live but is also a source of
spiritual and cultural significance. The loss of cultural and social
connections, forced displacement can also have significant economic impact, and
when people are forced to leave their homes , they often lose their livelihoods
and may struggle to find work and support themselves and their families, which
is why we see a lot of characters in the film leave their family behind and
make their own way to avoid poverty and hunger. The villagers were not ready to
adapt the change of development. They were not educated enough to understand
the notice of development as shown in the film. The government didn’t even
think to make them understand the need of removing them from their inhabited
place by communicating and helping their needs properly. It was a shock for the
villagers to be destroyed all of sudden, not knowing where they will end up
their life, once they left behind their homeland and property, they were only
instructed forcefully to move in some other hilly part and settle their lives.
Overall tragedies involving leaving one’s
place or land can have far-reaching and long lasting effect on individuals and
communities. The government organization and individuals should have recognize
and support, those who have been affected by forced displacement and to work
towards finding solutions and respect people’s rights and dignity. But the
people who had suffered were not supported nor given any rehabilitation act.
Conclusion
Yarwng is a critically acclaimed film in the Kokborok language directed
by Joseph Pulinthanath. The film explores the themes of identity, displacements
and cultural preservation. Through the story of this film Yarwng portraying the
characters of Wakhirai and Karmati love story and showing the governmental
actions of development without any help to tribal people had lead to
destruction of their mental health and loss, struggle finding place to settle,
lost their loved ones and other characters of leaving family behind and
choosing way of their own, scattered all over, show the painful chapter that
had occurred, as no one was ready to hear them, or help them but to chase them
away from their own ancestral village by breaking their huts with elephants.
Tragedies that involve leaving one’s own home land forcefully was a devastating
and traumatic experience, the continuation of the song in the movie repeatedly
means “Roots have snapped leaving the traces behind” tears filled in eyes
unable to express pain makes a reminder to the audience of the film after each
minute, still today the Dumboor lake story is spoken and watched by people as a
tourist place. The film’s ambiguous ending is intentional, as it reflects the
ongoing struggles and uncertainties faced by many Indigenous communities in
India. It also invites the audience to reflect on their own perspective and
assumptions about identity, culture and choice we make in life.
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