Private Project

The deer, tree and me

“If by laying our life even if a tree is saved, then our life is worthed”

A common saying in Bishnois

An afraid Chinkara (deer) cried for help in the deep recesses of a cold winter night in the desert. Shaitan Singh Bishnoi, a farmer rushed out to his rescue. Shaitan opposes the hunters but they shoot him dead. The young bride of Shaitan, Pushpa is left to herself with her two children. Pushpa is determined to carry forward the legacy of her husband of environment conservation.
A chinkara dies by a dog bite leaving behind a young chinkara who cannot stay without mother’s care.
Pushpa adopts the baby chinkara and calls him Kishan.
There is sibling rivalry between her two-year-old son Piyush and Kishan.

The film revolves around the existence of Chinkara and the interactions between Chinkara and Pushpa. Chinkara symbolizes the Mother Nature while Pushpa symbolizes the human beings. She belongs to the Bishnoi community wherein people lay down their lives to save an innocent animal or tree.

  • Teenaa Kaur
    Director
  • Teenaa Kaur
    Writer
  • Films Division
    Producer
  • Green Earth Pictures
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Environment
  • Runtime:
    30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 30, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Hindi
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • IAWRT film festival
    New Delhi
    India
    March 6, 2016
    SIGNS Film FEstival, Cochin, Kerala
  • Mumbai International Film Festival
    Mumbai
    India
    January 30, 2016
    Mumbai International Film Festival
    Nominated for Best Short documentary film
  • SIGNS, Kerala, India
    Kochi
    India
    October 30, 2015
    World Premiere
  • Kolkata International Film festival
    Kolkata
    India
    November 30, 2015
  • Think Dk
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    July 29, 2019
Director Biography - Teenaa Kaur

Teenaa has been extensively involved in documentaries and screenwriting for feature films. Her debut independent documentary
‘When the Sun didn’t Rise’ received Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Network and Documentary fund “AND” Fund in 2015. It has been selected for “DOC WOK” of
Doc Leipzig’s International Festival for Documentary and Animated Films in 2014 and DOCEDGE, Kolkata in 2012.

In 2014, she was awarded a fellowship by Time Warner Foundation supported Asia Society, New York, for her first feature film screenplay ‘The Red Autumn’. Recently, the film has been bought by a reputed filmmaker in the film industry.

‘The deer, tree and me’ is a creative documentary, which was nominated for Best Documentary in Mumbai Intl. Film festival, 2016. It premiered in SIGNS Intl film festival, Kochi 2015 and also screened in Kolkata International Film Festival 2015, Int. Association for women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) film festival, 2016. It is the story of a chinkara (deer) and a woman who adopts him like her son.

Her upcoming documentary “The Woods are Calling” is based on an endangered bird called Blyth’s Tragopan and how a community of hunters in Nagaland have transformed to farmers to conserve the Tragopan and their forest.

‘In Symphony with Earth!’ is a documentary based on the communities in India growing natural fiber and leading sustainable lives in tune with nature. It was broadcast on National Geographic and Fox History (2012-13).
Her debut documentary film on a martial art form celebration named as ‘Hola! The Mighty Colors’ was a part of Sikh International Film Festival in Asia Society and Museum, New York, 2012.

She has worked with ZEE TV as a Promo Producer, responsible for writing film scripts,

Teenaa is a Production Engineering Graduate from M.B.M. Engg. College, Jodhpur. She has worked in the Television and Ad films to pursue her dream in independent filmmaking dedicatedly since 2010. She even post graduated in Mass Communication from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Delhi.

She has studied Film Appreciation and Basic Videography from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 2012. She is a self-taught filmmaker.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Communities living in tune with nature have always intrigued me. With so much of construction of buildings happening in the city, human beings are overpowering Mother Earth and the forces of Nature. And I wanted to tell the story of men who live in tune with the Nature. Bishnois from Rajasthan are a community that saves the trees and chinkara along with other animals.

Shaitan Singh fought with the hunters to save a chinkara. I was appalled, awed and inspired. But then I met Pushpa his wife. I was touched to see the humility of the woman who is taking forward the legacy of her husband by adopting and taking care of Chinkara. But I also faced a dilemma of whether what Shaitan Singh did was right? After all Pushpa will have to take care of their children on her own. Whose life is important chinkara or human being? I asked this question to Pushpa.
Chinkara cannot protect themselves, so they have to be saved, she affirmed.
I am still awed and bow myself to the humanity of Pushpa Bishnoi. It is a cultural legacy that she is carrying forward but I am still touched.
The perpetrators are still free as the wildlife act in India is so weak and screwed that anyone can get away with acts of hunting or poaching and in this case of murder. But my hopes are high as till the time we have people like Shaitan Singh and Pushpa with high ideals of conservation, the balance is maintained.