Ridham Janve’s The Gold-Laden Sheep & the Sacred Mountain (2018) explores the movement of men and their livestock in the craggy valleys of Himachal Pradesh. Janve’s feature debut explores the culture of the pastoral Gaddi community through the story of two shepherds who set out in search of a plane that has crashed in the mountains.

Janve’s second film Hunter’s Moon (Kaati Ri Raati) takes him back to the Gaddis and the Chamba Valley. The Gaddi-Nepali film is an absorbing, stunning-looking tale of Jarm Singh, a traditional hunter who prowls the Upper Dhauladhar mountain range for meat to keep his family fires burning.

Jarm Singh (Chamel Singh) fiercely guards his turf from perceived intruders. He is one with the forbidding landscape. But the delicate balance is undone when a shambolic thief (Ajay Kumar) enters the picture.

Hunter’s Moon won an award for Janve’s script in the Asian New Talent section at the recently concluded Shanghai International Film Festival. Like The Gold-Laden Sheep & the Sacred Mountain, the new movie has been made in difficult conditions with non-professional actors and a skeletal crew that relied on solar power.

While the films also share ethnographic detailing and metaphysical concerns, Hunter’s Moon is more narrative-led, exploring the consequences of a clash between shifting human values and the unwavering codes of nature.

A National Institute...

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