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Filmmaker Rakhi Varma's documentary on witch hunting was declared Best Film at the ShowReal Asia 2 Awards, and has premiered on the National Geographic channel. A report on the film, and an interview with the filmmaker
 It's the middle of the night. A practitioner of black magic and his three women accomplices chant a heady mantra. They are all witches, initiated into the art of using their powers to save or to destroy through the benevolence of the one they worship -- the dain . As the chanting reaches a crescendo, Baba Ramashankar, the tantrik, begins to dance around the fire with a live goat kid hanging by his teeth. Moments later, he has a chicken in his mouth, the neck of which he snaps with his teeth. The rituals go on for a long time. Everyone appears to be suspended in a psychological state that is far beyond the ordinary. Then comes a sexual orgy...
All this and more form the captivating visuals of US-based documentary filmmaker Rakhi Varma's film titled The Indian Witch Hunt which was declared Best Film at the ShowReal Asia 2 Awards held in Singapore on April 29, 2005. The film premiered on the National Geographic channel. Varma's film is a smooth and constant switch between two aspects: one, the practice of black magic and an exploration of whether there is any truth in what those with a scientific bent of mind would dismiss as mere mumbo-jumbo; and two, an investigation into the gruesome murder of Mania Mardi in the state of Jharkhand, who was beheaded by her nephew Gurudeo because he believed she was a witch who had brought on the death of his father and brother. In the early part of the narrative, Varma interviews so-called witches who have been tortured by villagers and even forced to eat human excreta. She focuses on the activities of Baba Ramashankar who claims to have supernatural powers that can bring about the death and destruction of anyone he should choose to cast his fury upon. For the murder trial, Varma uses journalist and author Sohaila Kapoor to conduct an on-camera inquiry of sorts that questions Gurudeo's real motives and arrives at the conclusion that he had wrongly assumed that his relatives had died as a result of a spell. Medical records showed they had contracted tuberculosis. Witch hunting is a huge issue in many Indian states. Varma chose Jharkhand because of the 500 or more cases of witch hunting reported there in the '90s. "It is a disturbing trend and we wanted to find out what really led to the killing of women after branding them witches," she says. In most cases, the brutal acts were the fallout of property disputes or were instigated by witch doctors. Yet, for all the logical explanations, Varma remains a little dazed by what she saw and experienced. "It's been a few months since we completed our project and I am still trying to answer a single troubling question that I was asked repeatedly on the shoot: Now that you are making this film...have you found evidence that these powers really exist? I was troubled by the question...mainly because I had no answer. Black magic, like miracles, falls in the realm of what cannot be proved...it's a matter of faith," she concludes. A graduate of Stella Maris College in Chennai, Varma got her diploma in mass communications from the Sophia Polytechnic before studying for a Master's degree in film and television at the American University in Washington DC . So far she has produced and directed several 15- and 30-minute films and segments for the National Geographic channel, for the series Crocodile Chronicles and Taboo . She has also worked on various shows for the award-winning Ultimate Explorer series that airs in the US . The Indian Witch Hunt is her first one-hour documentary. In terms of logistics, the film turned out to be one of those demanding the highest levels of physical and mental tolerance. "We were shooting during peak summer when the temperature in the shade would be around 45 degrees. Further, since the subject of witch hunts was a sticky issue, most people we met did not want to talk about it. Many times, witnesses disappeared on the day they were supposed to show up. It was a tough job lugging around heavy cameras and tripods for several hours, waiting for something to come our way. And when we shot Baba Ramashankar's rituals, it was the scariest experience because we never knew what he would do. He would dance, rip off a chicken's neck and leave the body on the ground for its headless run, claim to invoke unbelievable powers and all this in the isolation of an island," Varma recalls. But the best part of the film is a tree that turns into a statement of sorts. When Baba Ramashankar tries his black magic on a healthy tree and says that it will die within a few days, Varma and her team return to the spot after the proclaimed period to find it still living. Does black magic exist? Maybe, maybe not. But witch hunting does and that disturbs Varma a lot. 'We cannot truly progress if our cities march in one direction and our villages in another' Rakhi Varma on the making of her film Apart from the newspaper reports, what else prompted you to choose this subject?
What initially intrigued me was the fact that even as an Indian I had never really heard about these witch hunts before. Unlike other issues like dowry, child marriage, caste wars, etc, which we are all aware of, witch hunts seem to be a problem that's not on the national radar. It raised my curiosity and I was tempted to dig deeper. Why did you limit yourself to Jharkhand?
Sadly, these incidents take place in other tribal regions too. Assam , Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal are just some of the states that have reported incidents of witch hunting. I have also heard of witch hunts taking place in the Bastar region (except there the witches are mostly men). But for the purpose of this film I decided to restrict myself to Jharkhand so that I could personalise the story and thus help the viewer connect emotionally with the issue. Were the witchcraft practitioners forthcoming during the shooting process?
It was a roller-coaster ride with Baba and his three students. Akash Mishra, my fixer for this part of the show, has spent considerable time with aghoris, naga sadhus, tantriks, etc. So he knew his way around them. But it still took some time to find people who were willing to open up. Most days we had no idea what we were filming. Baba would just do these pujas night after night and we would film them with little idea of what was going to happen in them and how they were going to begin or end. The nudity during the ritual was filmed by a female camerawoman. It was the only way they would let us shoot the scene. All the men in the crew were asked to leave. What kind of reaction has the film evoked among western audiences?
I am not sure. To the best of my knowledge, the film is yet to air in the US . I am as curious as you to know how western viewers will react to this subject. Does the film not portray a negative image of India ?
The reason I made the film was because I felt this was an issue that needed greater visibility. To me it's not about the message we send out as a country but about looking at a very human issue that concerns all of us. After all, witch hunts have taken place in both the US and across Europe and are still taking place in Latin America and Africa . Which is why I have mentioned both US and European witch hunts in the film. As for our image in the world, there is all this talk of India striding forward and perhaps becoming a world leader in the future, but we cannot truly progress if our cities march in one direction and our villages in another. If we are embarrassed about projecting our problems to an international audience, then we should sit up and do something about it. Sweeping it under the rug is not going to stop the witch hunts. Why did you feel the need for a journalist to anchor the narrative?
I did it largely because I wasn't sure how much people were going to open up to us during our shoot in Jharkhand. The people out there are normally very closed when it comes to discussing witch hunts -- the law has them scared. I thought it was better to follow a journalist and see what turned up with the investigation. That way, if people clammed up and refused to talk we would still get a sense of what happens in these villages once a witch hunt takes place. I felt it would help the viewer connect with the character and follow the story through their experiences. Sohaila Kapoor seemed a great choice because of her experience both as an investigative journalist and as the author of a book on witchcraft in India . At times, the focus seems to be too much on the journalist. Was this a conscious decision?
Hmmmm...if you felt that, then maybe that is a weakness in the film. I guess I chose to tell the story through Sohaila, and in trying to make her the conduit I may have overused her in parts. It was definitely a conscious decision, perhaps not the best one. Do you believe that dramatisation of certain events is a necessity in a documentary of this nature?
I normally hate re-enactments. I find them a disturbing trend in documentaries these days. Often, they are just a convenient way of filling visual space. I have had to include re-enactments in my earlier films and I have always done so reluctantly. However, having said that, I did feel that we needed re-enactments in this film to illustrate the exact sequence of events that led to Maina's murder. It would have taken much longer to give people a clear idea of what took place otherwise, and even then I would not know if all the viewers remembered the details I pointed out through the interviews. It was important to make sure that every viewer was on the same page -- seeing the chain of events as it unfolded that morning. |
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-- Huned Contractor InfoChange News & Features, July 2005
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