Documentary Film Making on Tribal in India

By Dr. Harendra Pratap Singh

Documentary Film Making on Tribal in India is a book that attempts to document the lives of the most vulnerable tribes of Madhya Pradesh. It also provides new knowledge about documentary films about these tribal groups to people all over the world. The authors have done significant research work in the field by visiting the actual places of residence of the tribal groups, and have extensively studied and interviewed various representatives from each tribe. As both authors come from the Management & Mass Communications stream, they bring a new perspective here. Until now, this has been the domain of sociologists and anthropologists, but a management & marketing communication perspective will help readers see things differently. The book is divided into six chapters. The first chapter, "Documentary and Understanding the Tribes," introduces both the tribes and the documentary. It is primarily intended for those who are unfamiliar with tribal groups and what they mean by terms like "most vulnerable groups." The chapter also introduces the meaning of documentary. Chapter two is about the reports, studies, and works done by other scholars in order to clarify what other scholars think about the present topic. The authors also have developed their own research based on the work done by other scholars. Chapters three and four are the crux of our book.  These chapters focus on the Tribal Documentary films and Documentary films on Most Vulnerable Tribal Groups In Madhya Pradesh (Baiga Bhariya and Sahariya) with Culture, living styles, and everything about the lives of these tribes. A comparative study will show that although all three groups are from the same location, many differences exist between them. For example, while some aspects of their daily lives are similar to one another—such as education and culture—others differ greatly: the way they worship, their houses and tattoos, Forest, agriculture, migration, education, culture, dance, their food preferences, etc. Chapter five addresses the challenges and opportunities connected with the making of documentaries about these tribes. The chapter is organized so that readers can understand the basic terms of promotion and making documentaries. Chapter 6 explores how we feel as researchers and makes some suggestions based on the four years we have spent working on this book. These suggestions can help the MVTGs to get what they want by not using the term “included in the mainstream.” So, we conclude that this book can be an effort to start the debate from a very new perspective. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Nov 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9789357041430

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Documentary and Understanding the tribes

Documentaries can be useful in changing people’s opinions. It gives varied messages. Social welfare programs are not only useful for the goods and services offered by the private sector but also for government programs. People want to learn more about the culture, thoughts, and traditions of different people. People want to identify themselves, get involved in the color of natural beauty, and pursue technology, so they can affect every aspect of their lives. The change has been observed in the documentary world for some time now. An image documentary is an experience where people, establishments, communities, possessions, services, movements, rallies, agendas, published materials, written material, spoken words, pictures, and votes come together. Documentary attracts people who are concerned about the new goods or services by providing information, usefulness, and importance. So that customer becomes intrigued by it, and a sense of trust develops. New trends have entered the culture; the demand for products has changed; consumption and use has increased. Documentary films play with the emotions, activities, and inspiration of people, their hobbies, culture, advice and size, color depth, and speed. Documentary initiates curiosity in the viewers ’minds and creates interest in knowing oneself and the aspect related to oneself, learning something new to find something new, and understanding the world. A viewer has a judgmental feeling about the Documentary, that whatever is shown in Documentary is true. If asked what a documentary is, the answer will usually be the one that isn't a movie or doesn't entertain. The documentary is a serious program. Many filmmakers want to be known as a storyteller and not journalists. A documentary is about real life and isn't about reel life. In which truth is shown without manipulation. However, some experts think that documentaries cannot be made without them, but others disagree. It is the way to tell information with editing. True stories are always revealed by documentary films. However, honesty is never a matter of absolute certainty. Some experts believe that documentaries cannot show the pure truth because no one was there to witness it. A documentary is an honest representation of someone's experience. The maker can only strive to be as close to the truth as possible. When 19th-Century documentaries started, they weren't called documentaries, but the people referred to them as educational, actualities, or actuality, travel films, etc.

Non-fiction films have been a prominent feature of the public sphere for over a century. This project will investigate the intersection between cultural texts and social change through an examination of contemporary activist documentaries. Social movements have collectively developed a wide range of tactics and strategies to persuade people to change their behavior. Documentaries are one of the most under-researched texts.

Documentaries that reflect the interests of political movements are important, but to which end, and in what rhetorical situations are these strategies most effective? This study will not challenge the importance of cultural texts such as documentaries, but rather how they constrain or help the instrumental goals of contemporary political movements. This project will explore the commitments of early activist media, theories of social change, the second wave of activist media, and finally, the function of contemporary activist documentaries in making.

Much remains to be learned about the relationship between activist cultural texts and social changes. The manner in which the term activist is used in theoretical literature or in movie reviews primarily refers to the intentions of the filmmaker and his her ideological commitment other than filmmaking. However, there is another tendency to label documentaries as activist films based on their content. If the film mediating political or moral controversy is labeled an activist film, then the inclination is for it to be called an activist film. However, such labels are useless if the film, doesn't actually intervene in a larger political space to create active political actors who will extend and execute the work initiated by the film. Documentary films don't just be activists, they must be active in helping to create the space for activism and invest in producing material and cultural changes. This book will explore the rhetorical and theoretical questions of this assumption.

A documentary is a pictorial representation that shows logical, factual knowledge arranged in a good way. A documentary is a type of film that includes facts, figures, voiceovers, dialogues, documents, dramas, conversations, meetings, discussions, and other forms of sharing. The objective of documentaries isn't like movies, which entertain, but rather to inform, and share information with a specific message. So that it can become a pure public medium. A documentary film includes advertisements, pictures, short films, fine films, and informational films. A documentary is based on documents of a certain subject's research, advice of expert built on facts.

The telecast of the documentaries of Lumiere brothers started on 7 July 1896 in India. The first Indian movie was telecasted in India on 1st January 1898. The subjects were Imambara of Lucknow, Our Indian society, and train arrival at Mumbai station. These three films were factual and realistic. The founder of documentaries in India was Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar, who is known by his nickname Save Dada. He was a good cinematographer. He made his first Documentary on wrestling in 1899 in Mumbai's hanging garden. He had also made a movie on a jumping monkey, which was a proper Indian Film. Sawe Dada also has the credit for making the first news video. At first, he made movies on the social atmosphere, marriages in the king's palaces, and the festival of Diwali. After that, he started making movies on daily life in India. Dada Saheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, also produced a factual film on a subjected matter in 1918 called Film - How did a movie get made? A news video was made at the funeral of Bala Gopalkrishna Tilak, covering his final journey in 1920. After that, many newscasts were made at the Congress Conference at that time. The process was simple. The scene was captured by the cinematographers, improper scenes were deleted, and new ones were added.

Lumiere brothers wanted to utilize their invention before the other competitors would understand it to send their agents to every country. Their job was to show movies, attract people, and earn money. Agents have been told not to share any secrets or ideas with anyone else. Wright (2010), twenty-first-century propaganda has more advanced production tools, types of equipment, organized plans, strategies, or a communication program in producing documentaries. It's best to tell a story about something that happened in your own life that was beneficial and non-profiting in good faith. However, the perspective might be different. Real-life stories are the best examples of good faith, and they take an oath to maintain the credibility of their organizations using the devices they operate. It also covers the use of narrators and the realistic portrayal of daily life, cinema application, statistics, and interviews with experts. If such a documentary becomes a feature of political debates, it causes sensational media attention and mass communication.

Tribal have thousands of hidden stories waiting to be discovered by researchers. Tribes have been the evidence of a conversation with the natural world for thousands of years. Tribes mean people who cannot live without nature. Tribes mean those people who can communicate with plants, animals, and wildlife. Tribes mean people whose souls wander, the biggest hunters.

Tribal society of Madhya Pradesh

The tribal society of Madhya Pradesh covers a region of Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, and Bhopal as its capital. Geographically, it is the second-largest state after Rajasthan, which wraps around 3,08,000 sq. km. The state has the most tribal population in the country in terms of ethnic groups and tribes. According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribes population is 21.1% of the total population of the state. From which, Madhya Pradesh has 46 Schedule tribes. The Schedule Tribe population in Madhya Pradesh constitutes 14.7% of the total Scheduled Tribe population in India.

To understand the tribal society, tribal traditions and recognitions have been divided into two categories: (1) family ethics (2) social ethics. Family ethics includes tribal families and their lifestyles like naming, marriage, etc.

Social ethics include the social structure, culture of society developed by traditions.

Most vulnerable tribal groups in Madhya Pradesh

Before the creation of the new State of Chhattisgarh