The Royal Hunt (मृगया)

THE ROYAL HUNT

Hey! Raise the alarm!

Hey! Raise the alarm!

Am I late? Have you started?

Hey! Come, sit down.

How can we start,

until everyone comes?

They will come. Chief, you start.

I called Aser but he didn't wake up.

After last night's incident, what else can he do?

We are fed up with this.

This has become a routine.

Some or other wild animals come

and destroy the crops.

They will keep coming and destroying the crops.

These alarms serve no purpose. Fields will be destroyed anyway.

What's done is done. Now think ahead.

Lets start with you. You are the village chief.

You alone tell us a solution.

What can I do alone? Let's all think together.

That's why we are here.

We will find a way out.

Do whatever,

but solve this problem forever.

We will solve this later,

but there's something more important -

let's think about that first.

What's it?

One whose crop

is already ruined by animals,

what about them?

We can't overlook them.

The one whose crop is safe, will be fine.

Chief, can this ever happen?

That's fine but...

Let me finish first.

Let the animals ruin it or the wind blow it away,

the moneylender will not sympathize with us.

We have taken a loan from him.

If we don't repay the debt, he will take away everything.

- He's going to do it. - That's his job.

Then what should we decide first?

About the animals or the moneylender?

Animals and moneylender. Both are the same.

Who will understand our problem?

Both are poised to ruin us.

Hey, come here! Everyone is here, where are you going?

- To work. - Work is here.

It's important. I've got to go.

Where can you go, apart from the moneylender?

To flatter him and where else?

Yes, I'll do that!

Why should it bother you?

Why are you jealous?

This rascal should be thrown out of the Village.

Yes, that should be done.

Enough of this nonsense!

- Father didn't come. - Why?

He's crying.

What?

He says, the crop is ruined, how will we survive now?

He's crying even though he's a man.

This is unheard of!

Would he laugh if he didn't cry? Go and see for yourself.

What's the situation of the crop? Nothing is left.

I said, what's done is done,

what's the use of crying now?

But he rushed to beat me.

He has lost his mind. He is drunk, right?

Yes.

Losing one's mind won't help.

We all need to think ahead.

Dungri, you go...

Go again...

Tell him I have called.

Go.

Listen...

tell him,

as long as village folks are there,

he will survive.

His daughter-in-law will survive.

His daughter will survive.

Go.

Chief...

She can't do this.

I know she can't do this.

He should be brought forcibly, or else he won't come.

If he doesn’t agree, I'll make him.

Move fast, or let me go.

Where are you going?

To get your father.

Why?

Because you can't get him.

You can?

The chief has asked me.

What did he say?

What?

Go and get him.

- Did he tell you or was it your idea? - Whosoverer.

It's a man's job.

A man's job!

Yes, a man!

If you were man enough, why would the animals have come?

What?

Where was your manliness last night?

Animals destroyed the crop last night.

In daytime you have become a man!

Hey!

What? Look there!

Do you see that perch?

I was not sleeping there but guarding the fields.

I heard the sound and jumped down first.

Yes, from that perch!

Do you understand?

Man!

Babu!

Yes Sir!

What’s this village called?

He's a senior officer! Commissioner Sir!

What's the village called?

Taldanga.

Taldanga, Sir!

Why have you all assembled here?

Last night wild boars destroyed our fields.

All the crops are ruined, hence we...

Yes Sir, that's true.

Same happens every year, it's a big problem.

Do you find any game here?

Yes...

Rabbits, vultures, deer, tiger, leopard...

You can find a lot of game here.

We poach and eat them as well.

A boy from our village is a skilled hunter.

That's him!

- It seems, Sir is a great hunter. - Hmm.

Have you ever hunted a tiger?

Sir is praising you a lot.

He has asked you to come to his house for the hunt.

You'll be rewarded.

Hey! Sir has come.

Go.

I have brought the game, Sir.

Game? What game?

A deer! It's alive, see.

Yes Sir.

The arrow wounded him a little.

Smart animal ran away.

I chased him.

He kept running here and there.

I didn't let him go, and when he go tired...

I captured him.

It's not easy to catch them alive, Sir.

It seems he's a skilled hunter.

It's not captured easily.

Have you forgotten me, Sir?

No, I remember...

You are... Ghinva!

Ghinua Sir!

We met in Taldanga the other day.

Ah! Taldanga! Taldanga!

You are a great hunter.

Yes...

I have got this deer for you, Sir.

For me?

Shall I keep it? Sure?

You like hunting. So do I.

I am happy to offer it to you.

Come.

Take care, it shouldn't escape.

Yes, Sir.

The deer is pregnant.

Look...

Tiger.

You caught him alive?

Hey!

That's you!

That's you!

That's Madame.

Great!

Sir...

Take a look, Sir.

A skull!

What's that?

Where did you find it?

I was working under this tree.

Sir had ordered...

to clean this place.

I was doing just that.

The place was abandoned for years.

???

Yes, when I pulled out this shrub...

suddenly I saw...

along with the soil, this came out.

- From this bush? - Yes.

Sir, this seems to be the same story...

I have heard since my childhood...

my late father used to tell....

a big battle took place in this region....

a fearsome battle!

Santhals rebelled against the British.