A new film shot in Navi Mumbai will change the way you look at donkeys

Pyaara remains obstinate during the shoot of Pyaari Dulhan

Pyaara remains obstinate during the shoot of Pyaari Dulhan

Eighteen months ago, when Sharmila Sankar decided to make an independent short film, she was clear that her protagonist would be a donkey. "I think a donkey's ability to suffer in silence has made it one of the world's most abused animals. I wanted to give them a voice," says Sankar, founder of WilderIndia, a publishing house that releases books on modern Indian wildlife stories for children.

Titled Pyaari Dulhan, the 100-minute film is about a dhobi named Ramu and his beloved donkey, Pyaari. When Ramu falls in love with the village nurse, Pyaari begins to feel neglected. That's when she decides, donkey or no donkey - no woman is going to take her place in Ramu's life. "It's a happy film that aims to make the audience realise that donkeys are highly intelligent than people think they are," says Sankar, who won the Best Debut Director Award at the Mumbai Women's International Film Festival for the film. It has also made the rounds of film festivals in San Francisco and Japan.

Sharmila Sankar

The two donkeys shown in the film were bought by Sankar from Kalwa. While the story is about a single donkey, it was the male donkey, Pyaara that was made to play the role of Pyaari, because he was more responsive of the two. "He would want his neck scratched all the time. The female donkey, Pyaari turned out to be reserved and kept to herself. So we used her for the more stationary shots," Sankar tells us.

It took about eight months to train the donkeys. "It's not very different from horse training, but you must give them time to mull things over. Never rush them," says Sankar. "They can give a lethal kick but that's only if they feel you're bothering them," adds the filmmaker, who admits to being kicked and bitten by the donkeys a couple of times during the shoot. "It was nothing serious though," she says.

Sankar recalls how over time the donkey even developed a liking for watermelon, which the team used as treats during the shoot. "Donkeys are supremely poker-faced. So the challenge was to create situations around it. For instance, there was a scene where we had to get Pyaara angry and pull a cloth down. We kept him hungry for a while, and then inserted carrots in the cloth. When he spotted the carrots, he just pulled the cloth apart, and we got our shot," she says.

The filmmaker now plans to have a theatrical release through crowdfunding on the Wishberry platform. And as far as her four-legged actors go, she tells us that someone in Pali, near Khopoli has adopted them. "They now live on a sprawling farm, and have got stables for themselves. I heard Pyaara even plays with the other ponies," she smiles.