Pithoragarh woman, 80, who refused to attend Estonia acting award to look after buffalo, now nominated in New York festival
1
2
Pithoragarh
: Eighty-year-old
Hira Devi
, who had initially declined an invitation to a major
international film festival
last year as there was no one to care for her buffalo, has now been nominated for best actor at the
New York Indian Film Festival
, to be held in the US from June 20 to 23. She attended the event in Estonia only after her daughter stepped in to help. Devi and her co-star Padam Singh, also 80, have both been shortlisted for their performances in Pyre, a feature film set in a 'ghost village' in Uttarakhand.
Directed by Vinod Kapri, 'Pyre' chronicles the life of an elderly couple living in an abandoned hamlet in Pithoragarh district. The characters, played by Singh and Devi— neither of whom had acted before — are based closely on their real lives. Singh is a retired Indian Army soldier while Devi is a farmer. They share a home with their goats and a buffalo and earn a living through livestock. Their dialogue in the film is sparse. Most of the performance rests in gesture, silence, and routine.
Last year, 'Pyre' was selected as one of only 18 films from around the world to compete at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, where it won the Audience Award.
The story behind the film began in 2017, when Kapri encountered a similar couple in Munsyari while researching another project. Moved by their isolation, he started work on a fictional narrative that would reflect the reality of rural ageing in India's higher altitudes. Kapri wrote no formal script. Instead, he filmed around Singh and Devi's routines. The result is a film where fiction gives way to presence: a document of two people continuing their lives, rather than performing them.
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The film was produced by Bhagirathi Films, a venture led by Kapri and journalist Sakshi Joshi. Rejected by multiple studios, the film eventually attracted collaborators including Oscar-winning composer Mychael Danna ('Life of Pi'), lyricist Gulzar, and German editor Patricia Rommel ('The Lives of Others', 'The Tourist'). It had its Indian premiere at the 16th Bengaluru International Film Festival, where it received a Jury Special Mention in the Asian Cinema Competition.
"When Hira Devi was told about the New York nomination, she was in the forest collecting fodder," Kapri said. Singh, meanwhile, is undergoing chemotherapy for prostate cancer. Neither actor has yet confirmed if they will be able to travel to the United States for the festival.
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