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The Hindu
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Desi Oon' and Suresh Eriyat's dialogue with shepherds
'Oon mera naam hai, oon oon oon; meri kahani zara sun sun sun.' (My name in Oon, oon oon oon; listen to my story.) A tuft of raw, tangled black Deccani wool with tiny arms and a hole for a mouth bounces across the screen, narrating the story of neglect that desi oon has suffered for generations. The six-minute stop-motion animation film, Desi Oon, tells a riveting tale of how indigenous wool stands forgotten. Its compelling storytelling — depicting the intersection of ecology, dwindling traditional craft, and the threat industrialisation poses to pastoral communities — scooped up the Jury Award for Best Commissioned Film at the prestigious Annecy International Animation Festival last month in France. The film was developed over a year by Mumbai-based Studio Eeksaurus, in collaboration with the Centre for Pastoralism, for the Living Lightly - Journeys with Pastoralists exhibition in Bengaluru earlier this year. Filmmaker Suresh Eriyat, founder and creative director of the studio, who had visited a desi oon exhibition in 2022, says it all began 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 landscape, and the people who live in that reality — left a deep impact. What excited us most was that this wasn't just a textile story. It was a story of resilience, of ecosystems, of lives intertwined with the land.' A woolly tale Nearly 30 people worked on the film. Lyricist and singer Swanand Kirkire translated the essence and rhythm of the shepherds' songs and folk traditions into his lyrics and raw singing. The catchy folk tune was composed by Rajat Dholakia, without using any electronic or digital sources, carefully preserving its organic quality. And the soundscape was created by Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty. But the star of the show was the desi oon. 'We wanted the wool to tell its own story. Wool isn't sleek. It doesn't behave. It frays, resists, coils. That unpredictability, usually considered a limitation, was something we leaned into,' says Eriyat, using real wool from Deccani sheep sourced in Belagavi, Karnataka. 'We let the material misbehave. It gave the film a certain life — something beyond what we were breathing into it.' They made models and used specialised stop-motion techniques, a method which Eriyat describes as 'slow, tactile, handcrafted. Just like the lives and materials we were depicting'. But it came with technical challenges, as animating the wool was painstaking. 'Stop-motion gave us the language to do that with poetry, metaphor, and a kind of warmth that invites empathy, not just observation,' he says. Embracing slowness became part of the storytelling itself. 'It echoed the tempo of pastoral life, the rhythm of herding, spinning, weaving, and of course their resilience,' he reminisces of the year they spent working on the film. 'In an era of fast content and CGI perfection, this slowness felt almost radical.' The spirit of Balu mama Central to the tale of Deccani wool is the story of Balu mama, a revered shepherd among the pastoralists of the region. Known for his quiet leadership, he dedicated his life to nurturing and protecting Deccani sheep. The Centre for Pastoralism and the Living Lightly team connected the studio to the shepherding communities, to walk with real pastoralists, observing their rhythm and routines, and learn their wisdom passed on orally through generations. 'Watching his followers guide hundreds of sheep across dry, rocky terrain, never raising their voice, just being present, was profoundly moving. The land listens to the flock, and the reverence both the flock and the shepherd held for Balu mama was near worship,' says Eriyat. His approach to this collaboration hinged on respect for the craft. 'We didn't want to simplify or romanticise their lives. These communities are complex and proud. So, we took our cues from their stories, songs, silences, and humour,' he says. The metaphors used in storytelling were rooted in the land. 'A sheep wasn't 'cute' or 'comic'. It was central to their economy, their kinship system, and their survival. Even the songs and lyrics were crafted with input from folk musicians who live this life.' ' When brands co-opt without context, they flatten histories. We need to document not just products, but processes. Not just objects, but origins. And we need to tell them with the same beauty and innovation that global audiences are used to, but with our lens, our voice, our terms.'Suresh Eriyatwho believes the time is ripe for India to share her stories before they are appropriated by the world Storytelling with craft The Annecy award was deeply validating for the studio. 'Not because of the recognition alone, but because a quiet, rooted story from India resonated on the world stage. It showed us that truth travels,' says Eriyat. Post the success of the film, can animation become a potent medium for storytelling for craft-led and even luxury brands? Eriyat believes it can, especially stop-motion, drawing in audiences gently, without the defensiveness that sometimes accompanies advocacy. 'It makes room for wonder, and wonder leads to curiosity. That's where change begins. Desi oon has already sparked conversations across sectors, from sustainable fashion and tourism to policy. There have been early inquiries from both luxury brands and government bodies wanting to understand how storytelling like this can be embedded into their communication,' he shares. Eriyat believes animation can become a tool for cultural preservation, craft revival, and even rural economic development. 'We've only scratched the surface. We hope the film becomes a trigger. For young people to ask where their clothes come from. For designers to rethink the supply chain. For policymakers to look again at pastoralism not as 'backward', but as ecologically vital.' The real success, however, will be when these communities get sustained attention and support. 'When their voices are not just preserved, but amplified on their terms.' The writer is a sustainability consultant and founder of Beejliving, a lifestyle platform dedicated to slow living.
Time of India
05-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
India discards half its indigenous wool as demand declines and Deccani sheep disappear
Shear Neglect: India has the second-largest sheep population in the world, but 50% of indigenous wool is discarded. Deccani sheep, once reared in Tamil Nadu and part of the social fabric of farming communities, have almost vanished. If the black sheep from the nursery rhyme were asked if it had wool to give today, it would bleat an indignant 'bah'. Not because it can no longer fill three bags full, but because it has no one to shear, store, bag, and sell the fibre. In the Indian context, the black sheep of the English rhyme could well be the Deccani, a breed native to the Deccan plateau, whose wool is predominantly the colour of coal. The sheep starred in 'Desi Oon', a stop-motion film by Kerala-born director Suresh Eriyat and Studio Eeksaurus, which bagged multiple awards, most recently the Jury Award for Best Commissioned Film at the Annecy International You Can Also Check: Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai Animation Festival, the gold standard in animation prizes. Commissioned by the Centre for Pastoralism (CfP), a nonprofit established to revive India's flagging pastoral economies and vanishing social cultures, the film highlights how indigenous wool, once central to rural craft economies, is losing ground to imported and acrylic wool, even as pastoral routes are being subsumed by urbanisation, industry, public infrastructure, and solar farms. According to the 20th Livestock Census (2019), Deccani sheep accounted for 3.4% of India's sheep population (43.9% were indigenous breeds). In the 1972 census, they accounted for 12.7%. Baa Baa Black Sheep was a critique of medieval wool taxes that left English shepherds with little to sell. Eriyat's film, which signals the current plight of India's pastoralists, is an SOS in song. In Tamil Nadu, the kambili, or woollen blanket, derived from Deccani sheep, was not just useful on cold nights but was also part of the social fabric of certain farming communities, says Sushma Iyengar, cofounder of CfP. 'Deccani wool is like sacred fibre for them. It was used in birth and death ceremonies. At weddings, the couple sat on mats made of wool.' Sangam poetry mentions five 'thinais' or landscapes: Mullai (forest), palai (dryland), marutham (farmland), neythal (seashore), and kurunji (mountain), each with its distinct moods and metaphors. 'Palai refers to grassland, where shepherds grazed sheep and other animals. The state has a rich history of pastoralism,' she says. 'Lord Murugan is believed to have married a shepherdess.' It's largely the nomadic tribe of the kurumba gounders who reared Deccani sheep in Tamil Nadu, moving their herds according to the seasons and in search of water sources, says P Vivekanandan, chair, International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists Initiative. 'There are few who continue the profession. The only areas where one may find Deccani sheep in Tamil Nadu today are in Solur in Coimbatore district,' he says. 'For 70 years, Deccani wool was mostly used by the Indian railways for blankets and by the Indian army, but these have been replaced by synthetics,' says Sushma. Woolly breeds of Deccani sheep were replaced by mixed breeds that yielded more meat than wool. It's not just Deccani wool that's dwindling. Today, nearly 50% of India's indigenous wool is discarded, despite the country having the second-largest sheep population in the world. One reason is that desi wool (especially from the Deccan and western regions) is too coarse for standard textile mills, which prefer imported Merino-style wool. Another is the absence of market linkages. 'Rajasthan's carpet industry, which was once the biggest absorber of desi wool, now finds it cheaper to buy containers of imported wool from Bikaner's wool mandi than go to villages looking for Pashupala (herders) and buy 1kg of fibre from one and five from another,' says Prerna Agarwal, cofounder of Samakhya Sustainable Alternatives, a social enterprise working on indigenous wool insulation for green built environment. 'Bikaner used to be Asia's largest wool mandi. Today, half of it is a sabzi mandi.' Demand within the village has also fallen as clothes, tents, and household items once made from indigenous wool are now mass-produced. 'The craft sector helps preserve tradition but won't shift the needle in demand for wool,' says Rahul Noble Singh, strategic advisor to Desi Oon, an initiative launched by CfP to develop the indigenous wool economy. 'That's why we're focusing on industrial applications.' CfP has built a coalition of partners in the fields of design, commerce, research, and policy that are raising awareness about the potential of desi wool, developing prototypes of new products, and beating new paths to the market. One such partner is Earthen Tunes, a Hyderabad-based footwear company founded in 2018 that produces wool-based footwear. The company set out to make shoes for farmers and explored 15 natural fibres before discovering Deccani wool. 'The other fibres did not do well in water,' says cofounder Santosh Kocherlakota. 'Then, someone told us about this magical blanket that worked well in the monsoons. We put it on a cofounder's head and when we poured water on it, it didn't go through!' It was the ghongadi, the traditional Deccani wool blanket that served as the shepherd's rug, canopy, and companion on his months-long migration. Kocherlakota says though some weavers initially objected to using the blanket for footwear, they came around when told it would benefit farmers. The company now sources about 500 blankets for each production run, with one blanket making four pairs of shoes. The company is now developing snake-bite-resistant boots and wool-based cheese packaging. Once prototypes are tested, the next step is to build supply chains and get buyers, but that's not easy. 'If you invest in a supply chain without demand, it's wasted. But without supply, companies won't commit,' says Singh. On the upside, funders are willing to invest if companies can demonstrate demand and prove the supply chain exists. But that means starting with the sheep and improving the value chain to meet industrial standards. Historically considered low-value, desi wool saw little attention to cleaning, shearing, sorting, or storage. In Rajasthan, for example, entire herds of up to 4,000 animals are dipped in the same trough due to water scarcity in the desert, says Agarwal. To streamline the value chain, Samakhya has established decentralised processing units in Rajasthan's pastoral heartland employing local pastoral communities. CfP is working on a traceability system for indigenous wool that will 'map the journey of wool from pastoralist to processor'. Singh believes India has an opportunity to develop wool as a commodity. 'Not only for its magical properties, but for the kind of storytelling it offers, with its links to tradition, culture, and environment. ' Wool Worth Wool is an ideal green material for construction, says the International Wool Textile Organisation, as it is flame-resistant, biodegradable, and regulates humidity. Trials by the Wool Research Association of their wool-based thermal insulation panels showed a 9°C drop in indoor temperatures. 'Our mulch mats, made from raw Deccani wool and plant nutrients, improved crop yield,' says Mrinal Choudhari, additional director and lead innovator of the project.
