Murmu's 'Angen' wins Best Debut at 72nd National Film Awards
Ravi Raj Murmu, a 33-year-old director from Jharkhand's Santhal community, just made history by winning Best Debut Film of a Director at the 72nd National Film Awards for his short film Angen.
At only 12 minutes long, Angen is the first-ever Santhali-language film to win this honor.
The film explores spirituality and how urbanization is changing Indigenous spaces.
Murmu made 'Angen' as proof-of-concept
Murmu grew up listening to Santhali folktales in East Singhbhum and later studied filmmaking in Pune. After working on Netflix and Amazon Prime projects, he came back home to tell Adivasi stories, making Angen with almost no budget and help from friends.
The film traveled through several festivals, including the Mumbai International Film Festival, before finding national recognition.
Murmu had originally conceived and written the feature version for nearly seven years, and made the short as a proof-of-concept because funding for a feature was unavailable.