When Bhamaa made the Masais angry

The Indrajith-Bhamaa starrer Naku Penta Naku Taka was shot extensively in Kenya. For many of the scenes, African actors were part of the shoot, including members of the African Masai tribe, reveals its director Vayalar Madhavankutty. The director speaks to Kochi Times about his experiences at Masai Mara, Kenya…
Women rule
We had actual actors from Nigeria for many of our scenes, but the most fascinating experience was shooting with the Masais, the African tribe who live in the wildlife reserve Masai Mara.The Masais are a tribe who still follow their traditions strictly; for a man to prove his eligibility for marriage, he has to kill a lion. An interesting feature is that it’s the women who decide everything among the Masais; all communications should be done through the elderly women in the tribe. The men are not allowed to interrupt or even talk loudly to their wives!
Danger in waiting
The Masais are very friendly and loving but if you ever make a change in plans without proper intimation, you will see another side of them. And there's no exchange of words if they get really angry. They just fish out their daggers. In fact, a month prior to our shoot, 35 policemen were killed by the Masais in an encounter. Apparently, the land mafia tried to acquire their land, which they refused. One day, the government sent armed policemen to evict them and they started building fences. In one night, all 35 policemen were hacked to death by the Masais; there were no cases, nothing. And not one Masai got injured. That’s the Masais for you!
Stick to the schedule, or else…
For the film shoot, they had given us specific times. We had planned a song sequence with the Masais, together with actual dance artistes dressed as Masais. Everyone was ready but Bhamaa was more than an hour late getting her in Masai costume on. When we arrived, we found them livid. “You maybe big people but our time is valuable to us, we are leaving,” they told us. I was extremely upset but there was no way we could change their minds. Finally, our coordinator resorted to the only means through which they could be coaxed — emotional blackmail. He told the Masai lady in charge, “That’s our director sitting there, upset. It was his dream to include a Masai dance in his film and now he’s shattered.”
The next thing we see is all of them running towards me. I panicked for a moment but then realised that they wanted to comfort me. From them on, they were totally co-operative.
Naku Penta…
The very premise of the film is that the husband tricks his prospective bride into thinking he works in the US, while he is actually employed in Africa. He tells her that they are just having a stopover in Africa, and reveals only after landing there that they are going to live in Africa.
The real situation is such that Indian men employed in Africa find it difficult to get brides. It is indeed a dangerous place; a few days into our shoot, the infamous shopping mall massacre happened in Kenya. Ironically, the Malayali who coordinated our shoot and stay decided to bid goodbye to Africa and moved back to India with his family, together with us.
Unfortunately, the Masais view Indians with suspicion. Indians secretly look down on blacks but hide it and take advantage of them, they feel. They can be the most genuine of people, but only if you win their trust. But what I felt after my experience with them is that they are a much misunderstood people.