By Kasturi Ray
Bhubaneswar: When a child savours a slice of pizza, half eaten by a dog, it shakes the conscience. When a 70-year-old dies waiting for old age pension, with an ailing wife at home, it questions the system. When a lady teacher is traumatised after a village tailor ends life broken by her unrequited love, it speaks of the importance of exercising choices in life. When a young boy and girl take to social media to gain momentary appreciation and adulation, they end up in the cobweb of blackmail and desperation.
Snehasis Das’ latest venture Naali Cha (meaning black tea) - The Taste of Life, a six-part YouTube series in Odia, delves into the intricacies of life in a village, which is in a transitional phase, and hovers in the midst of the dilemma - to be or not to be - in a ‘rurban’ (the term that amalgamates the rural and the urban) landscape.
Often bitter, you have to develop a taste for Naali Cha one day at a time. Experience it as is on one day, add some honey or ginger and make malt-like to suit your taste on another - that is how you enjoy Naali Cha, explains Das.
Picked and chosen, each story treated poignantly in silos and strewn together in a thread, creates a storm in a glass of raw or black tea – Naali Cha - highlighting how the virtual world has taken a generation away from reality.
The series, set in village Kakudia, situated close to Bhubaneswar, establishes every character in their own world different and unique from each other. In a family of three – the mother and the son are so influenced by social media, that while the woman’s world revolves around making cooking reels, her only son is glued to the handset, and influenced by ads, demands having ‘Pijja’. The father, with much reluctance, gets one from the city by coughing up Rs 500 and the neighbours too await the moment it is unveiled. Unfortunately, as the mother sends the son off to have a bath and then have it, a stray dog sneaks in and feeds on it. By the time the child realises, only a slice is left. But the pizza-starved kid makes his mother wash the slice under mugs of water before giving it to him to eat.
Similarly in another story about Dhani Aja, a septuagenarian, who walks to the panchayat office every day to inquire about his old age pension returns disappointed as the sarpanch is busy making a mark on social media platforms. To add to the old man’s woes, his wait for his only son who resides in some faraway place, becomes nothing less than ‘Waiting for Godot’. Though he breathes his last, neither does he get pension nor his son.
"The purpose was to send across the message on how our villages have changed and how social media has played a big and bad role, impacting lives and creating confusion among the gullible or semi-literates," explains Das who shot the entire series in a month and a few days.
On portraying superstitious beliefs in the age of medicines, the filmmaker says, the prevalence of instances is high even today. "Through my characters I have juxtaposed the believers and naysayers. The highlight is how important are medicines and not quacks, who continue to have a sway on the minds of villagers," clarifies he.
In the age of 'dark comedies' which rule the roost, how does he see his series on plain simple villages and villagers doing? "I hope, Naali Cha will be a mirror to those who live in the world of ‘likes’, ‘subscribers’, ‘followers’ and ‘comments’. These words have cast a spell on the minds and sensibilities of people. In the lure for quick success, my characters Mili (Anubha Sourya) and Lakhia (Abhishek Giri) choose ways, without realising that they are in for trouble. There are thousands of Milis and Lakhias, maybe they get the message right," Das adds.
Gargi leads the pack in portraying the character of Mamta, while Somesh Mohanty, Giri, Anubha, and especially Sunil Patnaik as Dhani Aja are exceptional. The lilting title track besides the signature and lone song in the series stays with you long after watching the episodes.
The first experimental venture of Das, Naali Cha comes as a fresh whiff of air. It premiered in the second week of February, and the episodes went on air on YouTube a week later.
Das has earlier helmed Mu Sei Kalinga, Kokoli, The last kick, Ghar jaana Hai to name a few under his production house The Naked Eye. His creations have earned him critical and global acclaim.
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