Article summary
Abstract
Indian cinema: an age-old storytelling medium that usually reflects the excess of cultural, social, and spiritual diversities of the country. Among various inspirations for creativity, the bind of tribal belief systems and folklore holds a very special and neglected place. This study attempts to explore how Indian filmmakers shaped their films with indigenous myths, customs, and stories, and how such representations invest in larger cultural debates. The paper joins a series of picturing’s of how the tribal worldviews, founded upon nature, spirit, ritual, and oral tradition, get change for the screen through a few films selected from mainstream and regional cinema sectors. It also looks into the ways folklore may be upheld or modified by film in association with those whose cultures are on the edge of extinction; additionally, film may corrupt or alternately commercialise such folklore through stereotyping. The research also entered into how folklore-attributed films help forge identities, question existing cultural hierarchies, and promote appreciation of the diverse heritage of India. Finally, the study stresses that besides being artistic resources, tribal stories are, for the Indian filmmakers and audiences, a sort of vital cultural archive that still exists and continues to survive in India itself.