‘Desi Oon’ and Suresh Eriyat’s dialogue with shepherds

“Oon mera naam hai, oon oon oon; meri kahani zara solar solar solar.” (My title in Oon, oon oon oon; hearken to my story.)

A tuft of uncooked, tangled black Deccani wool with tiny arms and a gap for a mouth bounces throughout the display screen, narrating the story of neglect that desi oon has suffered for generations. The six-minute stop-motion animation movie, Desi Oon, tells a riveting story of how indigenous wool stands forgotten. Its compelling storytelling — depicting the intersection of ecology, dwindling conventional craft, and the menace industrialisation poses to pastoral communities — scooped up the Jury Award for Finest Commissioned Movie on the prestigious Annecy Worldwide Animation Pageant final month in France.

The movie was developed over a 12 months by Mumbai-based Studio Eeksaurus, in collaboration with the Centre for Pastoralism, for the Residing Evenly – Journeys with Pastoralists exhibition in Bengaluru earlier this 12 months. Filmmaker Suresh Eriyat, founder and artistic director of the studio, who had visited a desi oon exhibition in 2022, says all of it started with listening. “We didn’t go in with a storyboard. We went in with curiosity. The richness of what we encountered — the sheep, the wool, the panorama, and the individuals who dwell in that actuality — left a deep impression. What excited us most was that this wasn’t only a textile story. It was a narrative of resilience, of ecosystems, of lives intertwined with the land.”

A woolly story

Almost 30 individuals labored on the movie. Lyricist and singer Swanand Kirkire translated the essence and rhythm of the shepherds’ songs and people traditions into his lyrics and uncooked singing. The catchy people tune was composed by Rajat Dholakia, with out utilizing any digital or digital sources, fastidiously preserving its natural high quality. And the soundscape was created by Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty.

However the star of the present was the desi oon. “We wished the wool to inform its personal story. Wool isn’t smooth. It doesn’t behave. It frays, resists, coils. That unpredictability, normally thought-about a limitation, was one thing we leaned into,” says Eriyat, utilizing actual wool from Deccani sheep sourced in Belagavi, Karnataka. “We let the fabric misbehave. It gave the movie a sure life — one thing past what we had been respiratory into it.”

Making fashions for Desi Oon
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy Studio Eeksaurus

They made fashions and used specialised stop-motion strategies, a technique which Eriyat describes as “gradual, tactile, handcrafted. Similar to the lives and supplies we had been depicting”. Nevertheless it got here with technical challenges, as animating the wool was painstaking. “Cease-motion gave us the language to try this with poetry, metaphor, and a sort of heat that invitations empathy, not simply remark,” he says.

In addition they used specialised stop-motion strategies
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy Studio Eeksaurus

Embracing slowness grew to become a part of the storytelling itself. “It echoed the tempo of pastoral life, the rhythm of herding, spinning, weaving, and naturally their resilience,” he reminisces of the 12 months they spent engaged on the movie. “In an period of quick content material and CGI perfection, this slowness felt nearly radical.”

The spirit of Balu mama

Central to the story of Deccani wool is the story of Balu mama, a revered shepherd among the many pastoralists of the area. Recognized for his quiet management, he devoted his life to nurturing and defending Deccani sheep. The Centre for Pastoralism and the Residing Evenly workforce related the studio to the shepherding communities, to stroll with actual pastoralists, observing their rhythm and routines, and study their knowledge handed on orally via generations.

Balu mama from Desi Oon
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy Studio Eeksaurus

“Watching his followers information tons of of sheep throughout dry, rocky terrain, by no means elevating their voice, simply being current, was profoundly shifting. The land listens to the flock, and the reverence each the flock and the shepherd held for Balu mama was close to worship,” says Eriyat.

His strategy to this collaboration hinged on respect for the craft. “We didn’t wish to simplify or romanticise their lives. These communities are complicated and proud. So, we took our cues from their tales, songs, silences, and humour,” he says. The metaphors utilized in storytelling had been rooted within the land. “A sheep wasn’t ‘cute’ or ‘comedian’. It was central to their financial system, their kinship system, and their survival. Even the songs and lyrics had been crafted with enter from people musicians who dwell this life.”

“ When manufacturers co-opt with out context, they flatten histories. We have to doc not simply merchandise, however processes. Not simply objects, however origins. And we have to inform them with the identical magnificence and innovation that international audiences are used to, however with our lens, our voice, our phrases.”Suresh Eriyatwho believes the time is ripe for India to share her tales earlier than they’re appropriated by the world

A nonetheless from Desi Oon
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy Studio Eeksaurus

Storytelling with craft

The Annecy award was deeply validating for the studio. “Not due to the popularity alone, however as a result of a quiet, rooted story from India resonated on the world stage. It confirmed us that fact travels,” says Eriyat.

Put up the success of the movie, can animation grow to be a potent medium for storytelling for craft-led and even luxurious manufacturers? Eriyat believes it will probably, particularly stop-motion, drawing in audiences gently, with out the defensiveness that typically accompanies advocacy. “It makes room for marvel, and marvel results in curiosity. That’s the place change begins. Desi oon has already sparked conversations throughout sectors, from sustainable trend and tourism to coverage. There have been early inquiries from each luxurious manufacturers and authorities our bodies wanting to grasp how storytelling like this may be embedded into their communication,” he shares.

A nonetheless from Desi Oon
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy Studio Eeksaurus

Eriyat believes animation can grow to be a software for cultural preservation, craft revival, and even rural financial improvement. “We’ve solely scratched the floor. We hope the movie turns into a set off. For younger individuals to ask the place their garments come from. For designers to rethink the provision chain. For policymakers to look once more at pastoralism not as ‘backward’, however as ecologically important.”

The true success, nevertheless, might be when these communities get sustained consideration and help. “When their voices should not simply preserved, however amplified on their phrases.”

The author is a sustainability guide and founding father of Beejliving, a way of life platform devoted to gradual residing.

Printed – July 18, 2025 08:15 am IST