A Facebook video of a farmer in Thanjavur refusing to let debt collectors seize his trusty tractor, sowed the seed for Ramesh Yanthra’s feature film Tractor. The film, which will hit screens in August, marks the 53-year-old documentary filmmaker’s foray into feature films. “It talks about how a farmer’s innocent ways are spoiled by corporate development,” says Ramesh, about the film that was shot in Veppampoondi village in Salem.
Tractor is Ramesh’s way of offering gratitude to our county’s farmers. “The film starts and ends with maatu Pongal celebrations,” he says, adding that towards the end, instead of the actual bull, what is left is a replica of the same on the bonnet of the farmer’s tractor. Bull replicas, says Ramesh, are found on many tractors across Tamil Nadu. “Although tractors have replaced bulls in agriculture, farmers never forget to thank them,” he adds.
A still from the film | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Ramesh has documented maatu Pongal celebrations to minute detail. “I wanted to record this for the coming generations to understand and appreciate such rituals,” he says, adding that global audiences too might find it interesting to see how maatu Pongal celebrations have evolved over the years. Most of his actors are from Veppampoondi village, where Ramesh is from. “The male lead is played by Prabhakaran J, who gave up his IT career in the US to do organic farming at his hometown,” he explains. The female lead is Sweetha Prathap, who also has an IT background.
The entire film revolves around a farmer, his four to five-acre farm, wife, mother, and son. Ramesh says that he was keen on retaining the local dialect, which is why he roped in the headmaster of a school in the village to write the dialogues. “I moved to Chennai for work many years ago, and my Tamil has long lost the touch of the dialect of my hometown,” laughs Ramesh, adding that it helped that most of his actors were from Salem themselves.
From the film ‘Tractor‘ | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Tractor is devoid of background score. “As this is a story about our land, I wanted it to be realistic; I did not want to enhance scenes or tone them down with music. What you hear and feel is the rawness of the landscape,” he says, adding that the story unfolds to the sound of the wind, cows mooing, and hens clucking.
The film features sync sound, and Ramesh says that despite budget constraints, they brought in equipment from Mumbai to record live sound. The film does have a song; it is rendered by actor ‘Kovilpatti’ Jeyalakshmi, popular for her own compositions of folk songs, particularly oppari.
Tractor is being produced by Jayanth V; cinematography is by Gautham Muthusamy. It is currently doing the rounds in the festival circuit.
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