A chance encounter in small town Saragur led to this State Award-winning film

Little did filmmaker Karthik Saragur know that overhearing two girls talking in his native town of Saragur four years ago would lead to his State Award-winning

film

Jeerjimbe

. As he readies for a Children’s Day release, Karthik tells us about the surreal story of how the film came into being. “I was on an early morning walk, when I overheard two girls talking excitedly about receiving a

cycle

that morning. That conversation fuelled my imagination and I began wondering what would happen to the girls after receiving those cycles. There was heavy mist that morning and I never got to see the girls’ faces. They probably didn’t even know that I was a around.”

But what is so special about two girls and their cycle? “A cycle is a normal property for anyone in urban areas and distributing them seems like a populist idea, but for girls in villages and small towns, it’s a very special mode of empowerment. During my research, I spoke to teachers, who told me that there was renewed self-belief in all the girls who learnt how to cycle. It also resulted in an increase in the attendance of girl children. And when I spoke to the girls, they said that their perspective of the world changed after cycles,” says Karthik.

He has recreated his chance encounter with the girls in Jeerjimbe. There are several other real-life inspirations that are reflected in the film as well. “It is a feature film, in which each character is a direct representative of the 800-1,000 girls that I met across the four years that I did research for this film. Yes, the film is inspired by real life, but there are a lot of metaphors. It mirrors ground realities and is a case study for any sociologist who wants to find out the effect of cycle as a mode of empowerment,” he says.