Our film Jhing Chik Jhing is up for release in June.

Based in rural Maharashtra, with the backdrop of agrarian debt & farmer suicide, the story is that of a boy – Shyam (Chinmay Kambli – best actor MaTa Sanman, Maharashtra state awards) whom dares to hope for a better future, his never say die attitude.

Director Nitin Nadan – who also won the best story award at Zee Gaurav – shares his vision of the film

Jhing Chik Jhing is a phrase that the protagonist Shyam naturally uses to express joy; when he feels something positive has started happening for him. He is full of dreams and a go-getter just like many other children of his age. What makes his story unique is the fact that he has the audacity to hope even though he is surrounded by poverty, because his father is a farmer in debt.

I believe that only those people rise in life, that have absolutely nothing to fall back on – nothing to lose.

The dichotomy in my country baffles me. When the Indian economy witnessed a sharp rise in the last decade, ironically more than 10000 farmers committed suicide due to indebtedness in Vidarbha, Maharashtra (State in India). It was a phenomenon that took India by storm. They swallowed pesticides, hung themselves from trees, set themselves on fire or jumped down wells. Most of them were plagued by debt, poor crops and hopelessness.

I thought of this story when I came across more than 50 children in a remote village school. We were shooting an environment series for India’s national channel, in the interiors of Vidarbha, Maharashtra. These children surrounded our car looking very excitedly inside. That is when the forest officer told me that this was the area where the maximum number of farmers had committed suicides. I was sure at least one of those boys wanted to own a car when he grew up. My mind was flooded with questions –

What if one of these boys has dreams?

And what if his father wants to commit suicide with the whole family?

How will the boy survive? Where will he derive strength from?

There were many stories that I could have chosen for my first film. All entertaining and commercially viable! But I debated within myself as to what was more important – a film only for the sake of a glamorous career or a film based on the issues that I have deeply felt for, for years?

I picked up few real instances and weaved them into an imaginary story. To elaborate, in my personal journey from a small nondescript tribal school in rural India to Mumbai, the City of Dreams, I have survived by sheer ‘HOPE’. So my protagonist’s character is also defined by Hope. Simplicity in expression was my priority. For the same reason the story telling is linear. For me it was important to get the audiences to feel for the characters and sympathize with them. The characters live simple life yet there exists an inherent drama. It unfolds through the characters’ behaviour in situations. Even the solution I suggest is simple and right upfront.

I know for a fact that before my film many films have been made and after my film many will be made. Where I stand as a filmmaker is not the question nor is how my film gets rated. What definitely matters to me the most is how deep an impact my film will create on the people who see it. Whether it will make them want to alter their existing lifestyle (food) to organic lifestyle.

Thousands of farmers for almost 3 decades have been misguided under the pretext of green revolution (inorganic Farming). I as a director feel for it strongly and want to put it across to the consumers who can create a difference because I firmly believe that “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.

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