| TITLE OF THE FILM | Tapu Rajee |
| DIRECTED BY | Biju Toppo |
| LANGUAGE | Hindi, Nagpuri (English subtitles) |
| YEAR | 2024 |
| COUNTRY | India |
| DURATION | 62 minutes |
| SPECIAL NOTE | Kolkata Premiere |
PRINCIPAL CREW
| WRITING | Meghnath |
| CINEMATOGRAPHY | Biju Toppo |
| EDITING & LOCATION SOUND | Rupesh Kumar Sahu |
| MUSIC | Cordula Kujur |
ABOUT THE FILM
In 1918, four hundred Adivasis from Chotanagpur were taken as indentured labourers to the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Over the past century, the Jharkhandi Adivasi migrant workers—known as ‘Ranchi Wala’ (Ranchi People) or ‘Ranchiaar’—have toiled to build the infrastructure of the islands.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Biju Toppo is a documentary filmmaker based in Ranchi. He took up photography in 1994 and began making films in 1996. He is one of the first Adivasi filmmakers to have effectively used a camera to counter the misrepresentation of his Uraon community by the ‘mainstream’ media. His films have received national and international recognition. Biju Toppo won the Best Environment/Conservation Film award (‘Iron is Hot’), Best Promotional Film award (‘Ek Ropa Dhan’) and the Silver Lotus Award for Best Biographical Film (‘Naachi se Baanchi’) at the 58th and 65th National Film Awards.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“The Chotanagpuri migrants have Scheduled Tribe status in Jharkhand, which they are deprived of in the Andaman and Nicobar islands where they don’t get any benefits of reservation. Even then, their relationship with the native Adivasis—who do have reservation—is of cooperation and coexistence. This is a paradox, while at the same time a peerless affirmation of humanism, something that I have explored in the film.”
