Santali cinema, also known as Sollywood, has its presence in the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, and parts of Nepal (especially Jhapa District and Morang District), where Santals live. Santali films are made in the Santali language.
Although some initiatives have been taken to support Santali cinema, [1] [2] allowing it to prosper, only three films managed to make it to the big screen as of 2013 [update] : Chando Likhon , [3] [4] [5] [6] which was released in 2001, was the first film to be made on 35 mm movie film; second in this series was Sagun Ena Sohag Dular (2003), [7] which was loosely based on the 1982 Bollywood film Nadiya Ke Paar ; Jewee Jurie (Life Partner) (2009) [8] [9] was produced by SBT Movie Craft and released widely in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, and others.
Bonodal (The Change) (2016), [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Nepal's first historic Santali feature film, was produced and directed by Kiran Khatiwada. [18] [19] [20] [21]
Santali cinema has not been able to create an identity as a film industry like most other cinemas in India. Every year about 8 to 10 films are made and released directly, on CDs only. None of them are released in cinema halls, due to low budget and least support of state government in development of the cinema. Music albums are preferred over video films, as the budget is very low and production cost is easily recovered. The number of these ranges from 10 to 20. Santali cinema has a good scope in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha the majority of its viewers reside in these regions.
As there is no film development corporation in Jharkhand, the Santali film industry is in an unremarkable position, and due to this, films and music albums are made less in number and distributed inefficiently, due to cost and other reasons.
In Jharkhand, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and their surroundings, don't have proper cinema halls and ticket prices are very low compared to multiplexes all over India. So releasing a film in cinema halls is not very profitable.
Santali, Bengali: সাঁওতালী, Odia: ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ, Devanagari: संताली, also known as Santal or Santhali, is the most widely-spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal by Santals. It is a recognised regional language of India per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is spoken by around 7.6 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, making it the third most-spoken Austroasiatic language after Vietnamese and Khmer.
The Ol Chiki script, also known as Ol Chemetʼ, Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santhali alphabet invented by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in the year 1925, is the official writing system for Santhali, an Austroasiatic language recognized as an official regional language in India. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. It has 30 letters, the design of which is intended to evoke natural shapes. The script is written from left to right, and has two styles. Unicode does not maintain a distinction between these two, as is typical for print and cursive variants of a script. In both styles, the script is unicameral.
The shapes of the letters are not arbitrary, but reflect the names for the letters, which are words, usually the names of objects or actions representing conventionalized form in the pictorial shape of the characters.
The Santal people are an Austroasiatic-speaking Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and Assam. They are the largest ethnic minority in northern Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. They have a sizeable population in Nepal. The Santals speak Santali, the most widely spoken Munda languages of Austro-asiatic language family.
Godda is a town with a municipal Council in the Godda subdivision of the Godda district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the headquarters of the Godda district.
Tulsi Ghimire is a Nepali film director, screenwriter, film editor, cameraman, actor and lyricist known for his works in Nepali films. Regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Nepali cinema, he is known for his romantic and masala film that dealt with social issues of Nepali society, portrayal of deep human emotions and masala films. He has directed some of the iconic Nepali films like Kusume Rumal, Deuta, Laure, Chino, Dakshina, Balidan and Darpan Chaya. Majority of his movies in 1990s were blockbusters and two of the movies Kusume Rumal and Darpan Chaya went on to become the highest grossing Nepali film of all time.
Most of the languages of Bihar, the third most populous state of India, belong to the Bihari subgroup of the Indo-Aryan family. Chief among them are Bhojpuri, spoken in the west of the state, Maithili in the north, Magahi in center around capital Patna. Maithili has official recognition under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The official language of Bihar is Modern Standard Hindi, with Standard Urdu serving as a second official language in 15 districts.
Jasidih–Dumka–Rampurhat line is a single 5 ft 6 in broad gauge track from Jasidih in Deoghar District in Santhal Pargana division of Jharkhand state to Rampurhat in Birbhum District of West Bengal state. The line connects the cultural capital of Jharkhand Deoghar to the subcapital of Jharkhand, Dumka. The Jasidih–Dumka section falls under Asansol Division of Eastern Railway and Dumka–Rampurhat section under Howrah Division of Eastern Railway.
Pandit Raghunath Murmu Academy of Santali Cinema & Art, is a cine academy and is formed to promote and develop Santali films.
Chando Likhon is the first Santali film to be made on 35 mm released in 2001. Bengali film-maker Umesh Mardi and late actress Malho Mardi, who earned acclaim for her performance in Chando Likhon, were jointly honoured with the AISFA special award.
Yuba Raj Khatiwada is a former Nepali politician and economist who has served as the Ambassador of Nepal to the United States since 17 February 2021. As the residential ambassador of Nepal to the US, he was also the non-residential ambassador to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala and was entitled to look after the affairs related to the World Bank, IMF, and the World Bank Group. He was a member of the National Assembly from 2018 to 2020 and was a minister in the cabinet of KP Sharma Oli from February 2018 to September 2020. He previously served as the governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank, as well as the vice-chair of the National Planning Commission.
Kalo Pothi: The Black Hen is a 2015 drama film directed by Min Bahadur Bham and produced by Anna Katchko, Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, Min Bahadur Bham, Debaki Rai, Catherine Dussart and Anup Thapa.
Bijuli Machine is a 2016 Nepali film directed by Navin Awal and produced by Rishav Acharya, Santosh Lamichhane, Bindu Timilsina, Sanjeev Neupane, and Navin Awal. The film revolves around two teenage friends who set out to solve Nepal's chronic “load-shedding” problem with the innovation of a unique ‘Bijuli Machine’. Santosh Lamichhane is also the Science Advisor for the film. The film released on Mangsir 17, 2073 B.S. i..e December 2, 2016.
Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is an Indian writer.
Digamber Hansda was an Indian academic and tribal activist who worked for the social and economic advancement of the underprivileged communities in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha. He was a founding member of the Santhal Sahitya Akademi and was considered a pioneer of Santhali language literature.
Birbaha Hansda is an Indian politician and former actress who currently serves as Cabinet Minister for Self Help Group & Self-Employment and Minister of State for Forests and Consumer Affairs of the Government of West Bengal. She is the Minister of State for Forest and Minister of state for Consumer Affairs, Government of West Bengal and the Member of Legislative Assembly of Jhargram constituency. As an actress, Hansda has appeared predominantly in Santali language films as well as acted in a few Bengali and Hindi language films.
Chhetan Gurung was a Nepalese film director and writer known for his work in Nepali cinema. He has written scripts for Nepali films including November Rain (2014), Classic (2016), A Mero Hajur 3 (2019), and Prem Geet 3. Gurung debuted as a director from Damaru Ko Dandibiyo (2018), his last film, Prem Geet 3 which he directed in 2019 that will be released posthumously. He died from liver problems on 9 September 2020.
Shailesh Shrestha is a Nepalese composer and record producer, known for his work in Nepalese films. Shailesh began his career as a jingle composer, primarily focusing on non-film materials such as albums. He made his debut as a film composer with "Aawaran," and his work gained significant recognition, particularly for his contributions to "Nepalese Dreams" and "Gajalu," leading to him receiving multiple awards, including the Kamana Film Awards. Award, Dcine Awards and the National Box Office Film Award in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Majhi Ramdas Tudu was a Santhali writer and educator. He is the most notable writer in the early period of Santhali literature. He wrote a book on the traditional Santhal rituals, named Kherowal Bongso Dharam Punthi, in 1894. Every religion has its own book about their religion, culture, spiritual thoughts, and their ideas about life. He is the first person who captures the daily life of tribal Santhal peoples in his book. University of Calcutta honored him with the D.Litt title for his contribution to Santali literature and culture.
...The 30-something Marandi, who played the role of director, producer and cinematographer of the first full-fledged Santhali feature film Haire Aricheli (alas! our customs), could barely contain his excitement while speaking about his dream project at a press conference today. ...An ardent Amitabh Bachhan admirer and a die-hard Mahesh Bhatt fan, Marandi already has a band of loyal followers among Santhals. His first offering, Chando Likhan (the script of god) was a huge success in Santhal-dominated areas in eastern India.
The AISFA special award will be given jointly to Bengali filmmaker Umesh Mardi and late actress Malho Mardi, who earned acclaim for her performance in Chando Likhon (first Santhali film made in 35mm). Malho, a resident of Baridih, died recently after sustaining burn injuries at her residence.
Bengali film-maker Umesh Mardi and late actress Malho Mardi, who earned acclaim for her performance in Chando Likhon (first Santhali film made in 35mm), were jointly honoured with the AISFA special award.
The premier of the Santhali film, "Saguna Ena Suhag Dulare (The victory of true love)" at Rajendra Auditorium today was star-studded event with JMM chief Sibu Soren among the audience.
...Much to the cheer and excitement of the large Santali tribal population of the State, Orissa will have its first full-length feature film in Santali language soon.
...Jewee Jurie, a love story written by Pratima Hota, is scheduled for release sometime in October.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)...Madhvendra who is interested in promoting young talents from Jamshedpur, organised career counselling programmes for aspirants from steel city willing to try their luck in cinema in 2003 and 2004. He has also financed two Santhali films, Sagun Ena Suhag Dulad and Hai Re Aree Chaili in 2004.
For the first time, a Santhali movie is going to be screened at an international film festival.Sitanala Re Sagun Supari, which won an award at the Santhali Film Fare festival, would be screened at the second edition of Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival, between June 5 and 8.
"Ranchi is not a Santhal belt. So yes, I had not expected such an overwhelming response to my film," said Dasharath Hansda, director of Sita Nala Re Sagun Supari (Santhali), which was screened at the small hall of Sujata cinema to a packed house in the morning.
"Ranchi is not a Santhal belt. So yes, I had not expected such an overwhelming response to my film," said Dasharath Hansda, director of Sita Nala Re Sagun Supari (Santhali), which was screened at the small hall of Sujata cinema to a packed house in the morning.
"I have been a part of this award ceremony after a gap of two years and now I have bagged an award which proves my calibre in acting. Since there are two award ceremonies simultaneously on tonight, I am also expecting a recognition at Jharkhand Cine Award," smiled Geetam Hansda, a comedian who won an award for Santhali film Poran Porayni at RASCA.
"We'll select films in August and screen them between October and December. We may also take few actors to interact with the audience," Hasdah added. Favourite picks are Bir Manani and Amar Tangi Nind Tangi. Stars such as Dasrath Hansda, Surendra Tuddu and Pintu Soren are favourites among tribals.