Off the beaten track

Voices of the Land takes viewers on an unhurried, picturesque tour of the Northeast, spotlighting the region’s rich biocultural diversity

The Northeast has constantly been othered by popular culture," says filmmaker Megha Ramaswamy, when we ask her the reason behind the focus on the region in Voices of the Land, a new documentary series on JioHotstar that she has directed and co-written.

"In popular cinema, when it comes to the Northeastern tribes, we're used to clichés - to Naga headhunters, tattoos, certain kinds of food or festivals," says Ramaswamy whose show journeys through some of the states in Northeast India to spotlight their rich biocultural diversity. "It's only now after a hundred years of cinema that films from the Northeast are gaining some kind of relevance. In that too, they've had to prove themselves through awards at film festivals."

It's time, she believes, for filmmakers to steer the narrative away from a marginalising lens and take "responsibility for the kind of India we choose to represent". Moreover, at a time when, globally, cultures, languages, and identities are in flux, the director "felt the need to preserve this moment in time and these beautiful ancient cultures".

Megha Ramaswamy

The six-part series takes viewers into regions like hilly Khonoma in Nagaland to meet the Angamis, a warrior tribe known for their anti-colonial resistance in the 1879 Battle of Khonoma; and to the river island of Majuli in Assam to learn of the riverine existence of the Mising tribe.

"A lot of the tribes have been reduced to storytelling via Instagram Reels," says the director, citing Kongthong in Meghalaya, known as the "Whistling Village" after its tradition of assigning musical melodies to newborns. Access to many places was restricted owing to the region's political volatility, Manipur, for instance.

Ramaswamy tells us of the directorial decision to strike a balance between dedicating episodes to more studied ethnic groups like the Khasi and making space for indigenous communities that haven't been documented at all like the Biates of Thingdol, a remote village in the Dima Hasao district of Assam, who have a rich tradition of folk music. "The Biate live in the least populous district of Assam and are a very small tribe, and so obviously, have not attracted the attention of the regular content creator," Ramaswamy tells us, "We realised that we will be meeting and documenting the last generation of Biates with a certain musical and linguistic knowledge."

Tribes are constantly negotiating identities because of the hardships they go through, explains Ramaswamy, who was moved by the way the Biates have chosen to preserve their identity. "Their musical legacy is being passed on to the younger generations who are interpreting it in their own manner. Similarly, the elders have preserved their formal language in a dictionary so that the younger Biates who have gone to the cities to work don't forget their roots."

The series is hosted by Adarsh Gourav. She mentions the actor's 2020 stint in Kaziranga where he volunteered with the Wildlife Trust of India, working with rhinos and participating in leopard rescue efforts. "He is a curious person whose observations are respectful and responses nuanced. Building a point of view around his observations in the documentary created a meaningful writing process for us," she says.

"Actors are given scripts and asked to perform within the parameters of that script. None of that happened here. He was given written situations. But what he did with those interactions was up to him."

At the same time, the tribes had the final say, she tells us, when we mention that the trope of the city person from the mainstream visiting indigenous pastoral communities and learning their ways runs the risk of exoticisation. "That lens of fetishisation is a very uncomfortable one," she says, "but there was no place for that here because in a way, our bosses were the tribes of the Northeast. There were rites of passage that they bestowed on us, where they allowed access but set rules for us. At no point did we make Adarsh take over."

Observing the tribes of the Northeast brought new insights for the director who was struck in particular by their attitude of self-reliance, commitment to the environment, and community-led conservation efforts. "We really need to mobilise ourselves into well-performing communities. Somewhere along the way, idealism has been looked down upon. But human beings are supposed to live [in communion with] our environment, and not be against it. We're supposed to be in harmony."