On World Tribal Day, here’s a look at some films based on indigenous people and their rights

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Every year on August 9, World Tribal Day, known as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, is observed to recognise the significance of indigenous communities around the globe and protect their rights. So, as we celebrate these people by listing out films based on and around them, we also ask celebs whether they do justice to their individual identities.

Taking centrestage

Yesteryear films such as Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Nagin, Ye Gulistan Hamara and Madhumati have characters from the indigenous community. In the modern era, Vidya Balan’s Sherni, Haathi Mere Saathi, starring Rana Daggubati, are in the same category. Actor Himanshu Malhotra says, “I liked the film Raavan and Abhishek Bachchan’s portrayal of Beera Munda, a tribal who kidnaps the wife (Aishwarya Rai) of a police officer, played by Vikram. It had great songs and displayed tribal culture very well.”

Adds actor Mohit Malhotra, “Veer, starring Salman Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff, Zareen Khan and Sohail Khan, had a tribal hero as the central character. As far as I remember, it showcased the Pindari tribe, which exists for real, but the story was fictional.”

Right & wrong

The recent hit movie Jai Bhim, in Tamil and also available in Hindi, talks about the brave activist-lawyer Justice Krishnaswami Chandru (played by Suriya), who fought against police bias and state violence against a marginalised community. The 2002 film Lal Salaam also talked about police brutality, and had Nandita Das and Sharad Kapoor turning into rebels.

Newton, starring Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi, and Anek as well as Article 15 with Ayushmann Khurrana in the lead roles, are other recent films that talk about voting rights of tribes, addresses disputes, and uncovers caste and tribe-based exploitation, respectively. Big-budget movies like RRR and Baahubali: The Beginning also have shades of tribal communities.

Whereas in RRR, Jr NTR’s character of Komaram Bheem belongs to a Gond tribe. In two scenes, the film highlights the problems that the tribals face — one where Jr NTR asks for education from Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan) and the other where he calls himself a jahil gawar (a tribal) at one point.

One & only

The biopic of Mary Kom is perhaps the only movie that had a central character from a north-eastern tribe. In the film based on Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, played by Priyanka Chopra, there were subtle references to the tribe the boxer hailed from. Actor Amal Sehrawat shares, “The film’s director, Omung Kumar, and his wife, Vanita did not go highlight Mary Kom’s identity or misrepresented it. In one scene only, she is wearing a tribal dress under the India blazer after winning a tournament.”

Small, yet significant

References in big-ticket films, such as Chak De! India (2007) and 3 Idiots (2009), although bare minimum, had an everlasting impact. In 3 Idiots, the identity of a guy from a tribe in Ladakh, named Phunsukh Wangdu, was revealed only at the climax.

In Chak De!, which was about Indian women’s hockey team, girls from different regions of India were highlighted. One can remember the Jharkhand girl who only says ho for yes and how the team manager compared it to Ram Leela Wali girls due to their attire. Then there was the iconic scene where girls from north-east were teased and the entire team fought back as a united unit.