Naakewali (The Toll Keeperess)

Naakewaali is an episodic legend of a gang of highway robbers, told in poetry and song. At its core, it is the story of their ageing leader in the titular role (Naakewaali’s literal meaning is the keeperess of tolls), and the perils she faces due to a nomadic life lived on the road. The gang has a reputation for setting up makeshift toll booths in a fictional place in the hinterlands of India, and extorting money from travelers who wander their way. Along the curving, winding, misleading interior roads, covered by forests on either side, cars are often brought to a halt by sudden phataks (gates) coming down in front of them by these wonderful mortals of the night. But aside from robbery, Naakewaali and her motley crew are also known for their sex work and the many road based fetishes and desires that they fulfil for weary travelers. The various roles they take on in their lives culminate in these chapters in the form of a journey on the road, complete with a pit stop. And so the landscape that has come to be known as their territory takes on a personna of its own, and all characters have their own absurd but rhythmical ways of writing their saga. As such, Naakewaali attempts to create a cinematic, lyrical, travel-myth.

“Naakewaali was conceptualized as a non-linear series of episodes from the life of an ageing highway robber and her group of companions she has collected over many years of her nomadic life. Of the characters in the group, there are all sorts, including lovers and cooks and spies, but at its core are also four women of varying ages who are sex workers, living a life on the road. First written in free flowing long form, it was apparent to me that this would be a feminist telling of this woman in the titular role, relayed with all the love and humour living in her flesh and blood in spite of the hardships she faces and because of the life she has made for herself. As such, I was keen that the tonality taken on by the world she occupies also reflects this potency, with rhythms and lyricism taking precedence over social realism as a form. I always wanted to construct Naakewaali as a legend, with the spoken word as its strongest hand. I wanted to create exaggerated proportions through the lyrics, the characterization and the imagery to conceive a cinematic myth. In doing so, it was important to me to convey the strength of the women’s expression- in their sexuality, in their voices, and in other pleasures- the pleasures of companionship and nurturing and their abilities to shake off the burdens of their hardships and to walk on. What excited me greatly is that we could create a different form that could encompass a road myth. We found very exciting locations that we adapted to the story such that they could become a character of their own. We aimed at creating images that could forestall any association with these locations other than that with Naakewaali. So the winding roads and the valleys look very much like an extension of her, and her legend. The process of creating this form has been revelatory, with us discovering many cinematic learnings at every opportunity. For me, the writing was not in the form of a screenplay. It was with the locations and our wonderful actors that we could convert this twisted knot into a free flowing, meandering tale that could take on the cinematic expression in my mind. It was always conceived of as a lyrical story with people speaking in poetry and song. But the musicality in the film has developed slowly and with many backs and forths, and that has also been a truly wonderful journey to be on. I was worried that the idea of this film takes on many odd forms- of a road film, a song sequence, a heist, and a legend, all in 24 minutes. But in pursuing our film, we discovered something else entirely- a form suited to Naakewaali’s legend. I feel thoroughly fulfilled having ventured on this journey and attempting a form that suits her. For me, even if it is still simmering and not fully cooked, the discovery that such a free spirited form could be shaped by any of us has been truly liberating. More than anything, I want to build more on that and create newer worlds.”