Complete silence for two minutes that felt like an eternity. That’s how Gujarat-based filmmaker Janantik Shukla describes the mood in south Gujarat’s Dediapada taluka when the credits rolled at the first screening of his film, Mulsotan. Shukla’s story dates back to the 1980s, when the Sardar Sarovar Dam project threatened to displace tribal life. The town came together to etch a tale that involves GPS technology, Gandhian principles, and unshakeable determination.

The crew works behind the scenes on the sets of Mulsotan in (right) Dediapada, Gujarat. PICS COURTESY/JANANTIK SHUKLA

“I didn’t think this film would make it out of Gujarat,” says Shukla, who first stepped into the now lush green town in 2021. Tipped off by social workers Trupti and Ambrish Mehta about the movement, Shukla’s job was to bring to screen a story that hadn’t found many readers in a book with the same story. “Tribal youth was not going to read a book to know what their ancestors had been through. We needed a visual story,” he shares.