Nila Madhab Panda: The repercussion of our greed is the curse

Our greed is getting the better of us The rapidly depleting natural resources and global warming are probably the biggest proof of it With The Jengaburu Curse director Nila Madhab Panda attempts to tell a story that depicts the effects of mining and deforestation The National Awardwinning filmmaker who has previously helmed acclaimed films like Kadwi Hawa I am Kalam and Halkaa has roped in the tribal community of Odisha to lend authenticity to the SonyLIV thriller In conversation with midday the creator talks about the challenges of making the series and why it is a burning subject todayEdited excerpts from the interviewWhat does Jengaburu meanJengaburu means red mountain Our show is based on several realities across the world and we wrote the story after a lot of research I put it together with the idea of talking about nuclear power whistleblowing tribal communities displacement and the effects of miningWhat did the research entailIt took two to three years to complete the script because it was a difficult show to mount We have witnessed how climate change has been impacting all of us The destruction can be seen everywhere So it was easy to draft the script but to mount it with nature the hills and rivers adding subtext to all of it was tough The series was shot in Bhubaneswar Konark and Keonjhar in Odisha which is rare to see in cinema We also shot in London and Myanmar India has over 62 kinds of tribal communities I wanted to bring their stories to the foreHave you met the tribal community in OdishaI worked with them in the show so that they didnrsquot feel unjustified when we were shooting there I have used their villages and represented their language and culture I did it so that when people see their lives they understand that this is a life mankind lived before they decided to tag themselves as civilians and them as tribals Tribal people are the origin of civilisation we all come from that root and I feel proud telling their storiesHow did you explain your vision behind the series to themThey are simple people Ultimately the story their culture and beliefs are the heroes When you see the first episode you realise that we are talking about their legend Itrsquos not a fantasy tale that you hear in the Mahabharata This is real The legend comes from the rivers and mountains When people realise that there is something valuable underneath they disturb naturersquos equilibrium for their greed What they donrsquot realise is that the repercussion is the curse That is my storyWhat are some of the things you had to be careful about when writing the storyThere was nothing to be afraid of What is wrong with saying that if you demolish a hill there will be repercussions It was right here for us to see when the Aarey forest was mercilessly destroyed I am not questioning anybody specific or the system I am not raising the question in any assembly or targeting any local leader or administration I am questioning every one of us including myself Every morning you see disturbing news of temperatures rising diseases spreading COVID variants coming and sea levels rising All of this is happening because of our greed Mining industries are uprooting forests and displacing so many peopleHow long did it take to film the seriesWe took about 80 days to shoot It was not easy to shoot the series as we had to go deep into the forest and film the underground and overtheground mining scenes We had about 120 crew members The cast did not complain about having to live in a small town like Keonjhar which doesnrsquot have luxury hotels Everyone was cooperative and ready to push themselves After we wrapped up the shoot we cleaned up the premises and left no trace