Ekolyo
Ekolyo means Alone/Loner. The story is set in Goa and revolves around Mhaddo – the hunter & Ekolyo the boar. Mhaddo is a loner, an outcast, a wild and reckless man all due to his very disturbed childhood. Ekolyo is the exact juxtaposition of Mhaddo “ the only difference of him being an animal.
The story boils down to the final encounter between the two, where Mhaddo is caught in a conflict of killing the animal“ in turn killing the very same traits that make him nothing less than the wild beast.
The story has a strong Goan flavour written by a Konkani writer Vasant Bhagwant Sawant. It brings to light the Goa that many of us wouldn’t really know about other than the sun kissed beaches & tourist hotspots.
Documenting on video the old village tavern, things that people eat along with their drinks, custom home made hunting equipment, places etc. helped me visualise the story much more. Meeting up with people from the village helped me a lot as far as understanding the mannerisms of the characters. Interacting with the author helped me get a clear insight about the character, the story and their environments.
Although I couldn’t meet a real hunter or see a custom made gun (as described in the story), I met up with Joseph, a butcher, who hunts wild pigs to sell them off in his shop. The hunt wasn’t as spectacular as I expected. But at least it was a perspective on some kind of hunting & also got a good amount of reference photos.
The film is of a duration of around 5 min. and is in 2D. Backgrounds have been handrawn and painted on the computer. The final animation will be done on Animo.