Hatti, we exist
Himachal Pradesh is home of several distinguished tribal communities. One of the Tribal communities that prevail in the district Sirmour in the lower part of Himachal Pradesh is ‘Hatti’. The community is named after their age-old professional practice of selling their home grown crops at small markets called ‘Haat’ in nearby cities. The Hatti community is divided from Sirmour by the ‘Giri’ river which surrounds Hatti with another river called ‘Tons’. Tons river marks the natural border between Sirmour district and Jaunsar Bavar area of Uttarakhand. The latter used to have the Trans-Giri area of Sirmour district under its territory. Both Jaunsar Bavar and Trans-Giri areas used to be part of the royal former Sirmaur state until the separation of Jaunsar Bawar in 1815. This shared history fact makes these clans of lower Himachal Pradesh to exhibit similar culture and common occurrences of inter-clan marriages.
The trans-Giri area displays the social divisions in terms of economy and education from the people living across the Tons River. Over the years Jaunsar Bawar has produced a significant number of government officials and civil servants. On the other hand people across Trans-Giri River live a rather hard life full of struggle and moil.
The film provides a glimpse of the life and culture of Hatti Community. The film commences with a traditional wedding set up in a small village called ‘Mohrad’ situated on the banks of Tons river. The filming picks up its pace with a local girl’s marriage celebrations and follows through the fascinating experience of the rich heritage, culture, traditions and festivals of the Hatti community. The filming covers the wedding that takes place between the girl from Mohrad village and a boy from a village in Jaunsar Bawar from across the river. Throughout the filming, the life of Hatti people is also depicted which is significantly not an easy one.
Nevertheless, the whole village joins hands together and help the bride’s family in wedding arrangements. The groom who is from across the river has to cross a bridgeless river on a makeshift trolly in order to enter the marriage venue. The journey by road would take whole 6 hours which makes it an unpopular option. After the wedding is over, the film shows departure of the bride and groom on the same trolly.
The film also incorporates some political issue where the caste status of Jaunsar Bawar’s Hatti community is observed to be Scheduled Tribe, which was granted to them in 1967. However, the people of Trans-Giri area do-not have the same status despite belonging to the same category as of Jaunsar Bawar’s Hatti people. This has lead to a series of their ongoing demand for the same.
The ST status comes with added benefits for the needy and unfortunate in the area. The dedicated funds are granted under the tribal sub-plan which makes acquisition of ST status vital to these people. In terms of education, more reservations might open up in the ST category in institutions. With such initiation, employment rate will definitely get the much needed boost that will improve the lives of people of Hatti.
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Viveck TewariDirectorClean Paonta Green Paonta, Melodious Eight
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Viveck TewariProducerClean Paonta Green Paonta, Melodious Eight
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:58 minutes
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Completion Date:July 31, 2021
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Production Budget:40,000 USD
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:India
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Language:Hindi
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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EdiPlay International Film FestivalParis
France
August 11, 2021
Best Narrative Feature -
Open Window International Film ChallengeKolkata
India
August 10, 2021
Best Documentary -
Karukrit International Film Festival - Himachal PradeshUna
India
August 29, 2021
Best Documentary Feature -
Mumbai Indie-Film FestivalMumbai
India
August 31, 2021
Finalist -
Noble International Film Festival And AwardsBangaluru
India
September 1, 2021
Official Selection -
International Film Festival of ShimlaShimla
India
Official Selection
Viveck began his career as an assistant director to Mr. Anupam Kher’s directorial Debut Om Jai Jagadish and since then have been part of some major award winning Indian and International projects including ‘Shabd’, ‘Mastang Mama’, ‘72 Virgin and a joke’, ‘Parched’, ‘TE3N’, ‘Bahhatar Hooren’, ‘Tum Milo toh Sahee’ as well as directed and produced his own series “Melodious Eight” under The Ultimate Motion Pictures on National TV Doordarshan. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Blue Waters Motion Pictures which is the production house for the film called TE3N, with an ensemble cast of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Nawazzudin Siddhique and Vidya Balan.
As a supervisor producer, he has been associated with many international projects. His film called ‘Parched’ that had academy award winners Mr. Russell Carpenter and Mr. Kevin Tent, won the prestigious Stockholm Impact Award for outstanding film and was released in Toronto International Film Festival.
Having worked in many films, he was also involved in many Television serials including Sanjeevani, Goonj, Khauf, Say na Something to Anupam Uncle, Milte Hain Break Ke Baad, Hansi ka Tadka etc. as writer and co-director.
An alumnus of New York Film Academy, Viveck has been active in the Indian Film Industry for more than 18 Years.
As the director and producer of ‘Melodious Eight’, Mr. Viveck Tewari set the show as a travelogue which was based on the musical bands of North-East India. The 13 Episode series was shot in the 8 states of North East India and was telecasted on the National TV Doordarshan in 2020-21.
I have been in love with the art of filmmaking throughout my life. I believe films signify the mirrored version of life. I adore and respect this platform that portrays a story with much conviction and holds the power to bring potential change. I find myself rather grateful to have been given the opportunity to tell many untold beautiful stories via my films throughout my filmmaking career.
Stories like ‘Hatti We Exist’ deserve to be told and heard. The story of a kind and ingenuous tribe with a prolific cultural history but sadly been ignored for ages. Plagued with hardships, dearth of resources and daily struggles, Hatti communities are in dire need of economic aid. The progressive generations of Hatti have so much to offer to the modern society but seem to have stuck on the wrong side of the river. They deserve to be saved, they deserve to be known.
People need to know that Hatti exists!