‘It is mind-boggling that local people are capable of protecting wildlife to this extent’

Huliyappa, a new documentary by writer and poet Sourabha Rao, explores the coexistence of Indigenous people and wildlife.

Rama Devadiga, an inhabitant of Yellapura, recalls a frightening story from his past: how he was attacked by a bear while cycling to a temple. “I’d see bears often, and they were always harmless,” he explains in writer and poet Sourabha Rao’s new documentary, Huliyappa. In this case, he says the bear’s two cubs were sleeping on the path, and he did not see the mother approach him. “It was when she gripped my cycle carrier, and I turned around that I realised she was there,” says Rama, whose head still bears the jagged scars of that encounter.

Rama’s story was particularly poignant for Sourabha, the co-founder of multimedia production house, Owletter Creations, who could not help but notice how matter-of-factly Rama described this incident.

“He doesn’t play the victim card or use the word trauma,” she says. This was someone who had “knocked on the door of death” but managed to be casual and matter-of-fact about it. The stoic attitude, she says, is true of many local people who live in close contact with wildlife.

“There is a sense of dignity to their resilience and endurance that evokes a lot of respect,” she says, something that the film highlights too. “These people do not glorify their tolerance and love for wildlife. There is no sloganeering or chest-thumping.”

Without romanticising the consequences of the co-existence of humans and animals, she still feels that “it is mind-boggling that they are capable of protecting wildlife to this extent. I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

According to her, local people do understand humans need to respect animals as it is their space and have been there for a longer time than people. “They never use words or phrases that can be troublesome,” she says. Instead of saying things like “dangerous” or “beast,” while referring to these animals, they say that the animal took away cattle or a dog, adds Sourabha, who, as a writer herself, is fully aware that “your thought informs your language and your language informs your thought.”

Huliyappa, which premiered at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) on June 7, explores this co-existence of indigenous people and wildlife. Set in the lush green landscapes of Uttara Kannada, which is flanked by the Sahyadris, better known as the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot and a UNESCO World Heritage site, the film is a testament to the natural beauty of the landscape as well as to the people, wildlife and cultural traditions it nurtures within it.