Guwahati
As a schoolgirl, Karry Padu wanted to become a journalist. So, after school, she left for —Shillong to pursue Mass Communication and Journalism from Sikkim Manipal University. This entailed internships in media houses. And this led to a new realisation.
“I realised that I was more inclined towards creative writing and that the media houses somehow constrained my need to explore subjects more deeply,” says Karry, sharing her life’s journey with The Indian Tribal. This realisation made her move to Mumbai after her graduation to pursue her diploma in Cinematography.
She lived in Mumbai for four years and freelanced for films like Rock On 2. She also started assisting in ad films and independent films. She returned to Arunachal in 2017 and founded her production house ‘The Wildflower Production’ in 2018.
“The Wildflower Production has birthed from my ardent desire to create content-driven work. Arunachal Pradesh abounds in flora, and wildflowers constitute a significant portion of our floral cover. There is something fascinating about the unbridled nature of wildflowers — they have the capacity to blossom despite challenging situations,” the tribal filmmaker elaborates, citing the reason behind her company being thus named.
“Similarly, through my body of work (supported by a team), I strive to reinforce the fact that there is hope for a better world and for human beings to flourish into their best versions despite all adversities,” Karry, who is now a writer, filmmaker and director rolled into one, avers. Karry is a Galo tribal hailing from from Aalo (West Siang District) in Arunachal Pradesh.
Her production house works on creative content and execution. “It started with a poetry project — The Vivid Project — which was a collaborative work of six poets from Arunachal talking about social issues like racism in the State. The project involved poetry meets across the State. We also worked with Zubaan Books on a podcast revolving around the stories of women in the northeast,” says Karry.
“My documentary film, ‘I AM PROPERTY’, supported by Goethe Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, Panos South Asia and Zubaan explores polygamy and impunity in the context of customary laws in the State of Arunachal Pradesh. Among other accolades, the film has won the ‘Best Short Documentary Film’ in Northeast International Documentary and Film Fest,” Karry lists out.
I AM PROPERTY is also listed as study material (with respect to gender studies) in various universities across the country.
Karry is also an Associate Member at North East Leaders Connect where young change-makers from diverse fields put their heads and hearts together to plan where they would like to see India vis-à-vis North East in the future; plan a roadmap and strategize on interventions at the grassroots and policy level.
Donning several hats, Karry was even instrumental in setting up The Arunachal Film Collective, a grouping of filmmakers in the State. A large part of Karry’s creative work focuses on issues revolving around the tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh.
So what has been the impact of her work? “Sometimes when we as artists put our work out in the world, some changes and discussions start unfurling automatically. This has happened in my case too. Opening of spaces for poetry and of stages for discussions on customary laws in the context of women besides the bill on property inheritance rights being introduced in the Assembly following the screening of my film — we can take pride in the fact that we have had our contribution to these,” she maintains.
“I do feel satisfied but I want to achieve much more,” she asserts.
