Ladakhi filmmakers have very little going for them except their passion for cinema

Living amid Ladakhrsquos breathtakingly beautiful landscapes is a group of locals whose life stories donrsquot always reflect the regionrsquos glamour Even today only a handful of Ladakhis are keen on filmmaking yet none of them are fulltime filmmakers They simply canrsquot afford to be Left to right Ladakhi filmmakers Chaten Angchuk Tashi Digar Tashi Dawa Dorjai Namgail Jigmet Angchuk andu00a0Stanzin Dorjai Gya Take Tashi Dawa for instance So far he has made more than a dozen films mostly documentaries and shorts but is yet to make profits from his ventures ldquoMy wife runs a mobile accessories shop and her surplus earnings are what I spend on making films Needless to say shersquos not fond of what I dordquo Therersquos no such thing as a spot boy or an attendant while Irsquom shooting Almost everything is done by me except the actingrdquo muses the filmmaker who doubles as a labourer Lzadol won the Best Feature Award at the recent Ladakh International Film Festivalu00a0 Dawa is not alone For films made at an altitude above 11000 ft multiplex releases are a distant dream and the available auditoria are in terrible shape Last year a movie ticket cost Rs 50 This year it costs Rs 60 but the rest of the situation remains the same In simpler words the Ladakhi artists receive no support whatsoever from the government To add to that the state capital shifting from Srinagar to Jammu as per season only adds to the bureaucratic hurdles The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council shells out around Rs 1012 lakh per annum on the promotion of culture but cinema is not a part of it Awardwinning filmmaker Stanzin Dorjai points out that money is scarce and the discriminatory laws add to the hurdles ldquoTherersquos no entertainment tax in Jammu and Kashmir but we in Ladakh have to pay entertainment tax in forms of donations to Red Cross Itrsquos ridiculousrdquo he says The acclaimed documentary Behind the Mirror is an IndoFrench collaboration The small but thriving film industry here canrsquot be overlooked Over the past decade there has been a steady rise in locally produced films Interestingly the first ever Ladakhi film was made back in 1990 by Chaten Angchok Shot on VHS format his debut venture was a rehash of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak ldquoI had to start somewhere and this Hindi film was such a huge hit then So I decided to borrow some plots from it and make my own film with Ladakhi elements in it My second film Chespay Khachat was inspired by Pyaar Ka Vaadardquo informs the 50yearold These lsquoinspirationsrsquo however are a thing of the past Though the overall budget of each film can vary between Rs 3 and 5 lakh the Ladakh Film Industry Associationrsquos president Jigmet Angchuk feels the kind of stories that are being told today are undeniably fresh ldquoWe may lack sophistication in the technical department but we have so much to say Itrsquod be a pity if we donrsquot express ourselves History shows us that so much happens to the smallest group of people in the world For instance after the 1971 war people who slept in Pakistan woke up in India The border just crossed them overnighthellip Donrsquot these stories deserve to be toldrdquo Incredibly the filmmakers showcase their films in the winter unbelievable as it may sound for a climate like Ladakhrsquos Summers here are too short and people are way too busy making money for the winter by catering to touristsrsquo needs Itrsquos as if everything is working against cinema including the weather Fortunately events like the Ladakh International Film Festival and filmrelated workshops have brought some change in approach Most local filmmakers have basic training and prefer nonlinear editing Not very long ago they were content with their methods But not anymore ldquoWe plan to touch the universal chord of humanity and produce films that show how we are different as well as similar We canrsquot go on aping others We might be hidden behind the mountains but we are connected with the rest of the worldrdquo smiles Dorjai lsquoPeople who scorned me now ask me to cast their daughtersrsquo Dechan Phyang is a rare personality in Leh Apart from being an accomplished actress shersquos one of the two living Ladakhi women filmmakers The other is Diskit Shay whorsquos more of a cameraperson than a director Starting out as a folk dancer Dechan eventually moved to theatre and then finally to films The 40yearold had her share of detractors too ldquoPeople raised their eyebrows at my work while others questioned my lsquocharacterrsquo for reaching home late at night I never bothered to answer anyone because I was doing what I liked and I wasnrsquot doing anything wrongrdquo says the director who could not study beyond grade nine As a director she has helmed two telefilms so far One was against dowry and the other against the repulsive tradition of wifesharing ldquoI donrsquot do the writing Irsquom better off behind the camerardquo adds Dechanwho is a single mother of a 15yearold daughter Dechan has appeared in 15 films so far and her eyes brighten up when she mentions the change in peoplersquos attitude towards her ldquoThose who once scorned me now meet me and ask me to find a role for their daughters in my filmsrdquo gleams the effervescent lady In the marketplace a slightly discouraging attitude surfaces Youngsters who keep track of the latest Bollywood fads donrsquot sound very enthusiastic about local films ldquoWe like Bollywood films morerdquo is the common refrain For the record in the last two summers 15 features were made in Ladakh And according to Indrani Bose of Directorate of Film Festivals not a single film from the region has won a National Award till date One can only wonder why