Ningal aranaye kando? (have you seen the Arana?) / Sunanda Bhat.

In a world that has grown more dynamic and uncertain, where diversity and differences make way for standardization and uniformity, the film explores the effects of a rapidly changing landscape on lives and livelihoods. Set in Wayanad, in South India, ‘Have you seen the arana?’ is a journey through a rich and bio-diverse region that is witnessing drastic transformation in the name of ‘development’. A traditional healer’s concern over the disappearance of medicinal plants from the forest, a farmer’s commitment to growing traditional varieties of rice organically, and a cash crop cultivator’s struggle to survive amidst farmers’ suicides offer fresh insights into shifting relations between people, their knowledge systems and the environment. Interwoven into contemporary narratives is an ancient tribal creation myth that traces the passage of their ancestors across this land, recalling past ways of reading and mapping the terrain. As hills flatten, forests disappear and traditional knowledge systems are forgotten, the film reminds us that this diversity could disappear forever, to be replaced by monotonous and unsustainable alternatives.