Bhagole and Prabhata are farmers without land. Their son works in a brick factory, built with the ashes of human sacrifice. One night, they find themselves alone in a forest, as Bhagole wants to surrender his life to a tiger, to save their family. Prabhata refuses to leave him. The entire forest holds their memories of 40 years together, and is transformed into the setting of a supernatural, surreal final night together.
This film is inspired by a news report that has haunted me for the past five years. A 55-year-old woman was reportedly found at the edges of a forest, suspected of sacrificing herself to the hands of a tiger to save her family from their debts.
The speculation surrounding her reported death suggested that the village was sending its elderly into the forest to be killed by the tiger, a nationally protected animal, in the village’s reserve in order to claim government compensation that would allow the remaining members of their families to survive.
While writing and making this film, I lived in that village and worked to tell the story of the farmers I met. I cannot verify if the reported incident is true, but I met many families who, like the protagonists of this film, no longer own land due to their debts, and who are left to desperately seek out alternative ways to die in order for their families to have a chance of survival.
Speaking to the soul of India, my film uses Indian ythology to tell a deeply personal love story designed to put these invisible lives at the centre of national and international consciousness.
For the past five years, I have been haunted by these stories. Now, it is my hope that this film can help change these families' destiny.
Siddartha Jatla
