Story of My Village: Sunder Srinivasan Muktha’s Documentary About Truth, Memory, and Unspoken Pain

Story of My Village marks the return of Sunder Srinivasan Muktha to his roots, a sort of homecoming to memory, loss, and an intense affection for the land that nurtured him. Before becoming a director, and long before the American Film Institute or any commercial success, there was the teenager with the camera who roved about in his own village, taking in the colors, the greens, the beat of rural existence. All these linger in him, regardless of how far-flung adventures may take him or how frenetic his career may get. The essence of the rural village will always accompany him.

Although born in the city, he spent much of his childhood in the village. In his teens, Sunder found something there that was always missing in the city: a sense of belonging. Many of the people he connected with became lifelong friends, and the changes he witnessed over time inspired Story of My Village.

Movies have always been a part of his life. In fact, his father was a filmmaker too, so motion pictures seemed like second nature to him. However, the temptations from mainstream movies dampened, and working with documentaries beckoned him. It was an opportunity to weave the story of his own village, and years of experience met childhood dreams.

The celebration of the bond between the villagers and the land was important, as was acknowledging the challenges that shape everyday life. The motion picture wanted to maintain harmony between the lush land of produce and cover photos depicted with the same integrity as the villagers' faces, shadowed by the realities of existence. It took its own challenges to complete, but Story of My Village ultimately came together through persistence and community support. He was assured that the story was worth the risk.

The process of creating these documentaries brought him a kind of satisfaction that commercial cinema could never offer. In fiction, characters are invented; in documentaries, all people are real, including the person filming them. Filming without makeup, in front of real people, without scripting or staging, he found that the power of truthful detail outweighs the power of constructed artifice.

Television series, once a significant part of Sunder’s work, now seemed counter to what this film represented. Story of My Village hailed from real life, where there was no compulsion, and nature was the result of the interaction between people and land. Nature was in everything in Story of My Village. Sunder Srinivasan Muktha wanted to record the memory of a land he loves and highlight the experiences that exist beneath its surface. It was his hope that the audience would absorb both aspects of such land: its beauty and its plight.