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Mrigayaa
Mrigayaa
wife, Dungri. In order to save her, Ghinua kills the moneylender. After this, he
happily goes to the administrator to bring him his game. However, the
administrator has Ghinua hung on the charge of murder. Till his death, Ghinua
wonders why one act is rewarded while the same act by another person is
punished.
The movie evokes tribal imagery in the context of the brutal British attitude
towards it. The British government's approach towards the Adivasi population
was that of hostility, based on the idea that they had come to 'civilise' Indians.
Independent India's attitude towards the descendants of the same Adivasi
groups is only minutely different. The movie tells us about the lives of the tribal
people in their villages and how they interact with their surroundings, their
means of sustenance, etc. It also tells us about their very basic understanding of
human society and its laws and rules. One stark example of this is when Ghinua
thinks that killing of anyone who wrongs you is legal, because the informer kills
Shoplu. Another very subtle and important message that the movie portrays is
that, even though it is set in 1930s it basically is based in the context of a
rebellion that took place in 1850s. The difference in tribal surroundings between
the two time periods is minute. While the whole world was experiencing the fruits
of Industrialisation, capitalism, consumerism, etc, the tribal population remained
where it was. They were kept removed from any kind of progress.
The movie Mrigayaa, tries to give us an insight into tribal lives, while creating a
commercial drama that pandered to the Bollywood audience of the 1970s. For
the deep messages that are portrayed in the film, one has to be aware of the
conditions that the Adivasis of India have lived in, and continue to live in.