A debut film by a filmmaker from Jharkhand on prevailing corrupt system is being released in theatres across the country, including two multiplexes in Ranchi, on Friday.

Satish Munda of Ramgarh, 40km away from Ranchi, not only directed Chakki, a 102-minute feature film in Hindi based on his own short story that was triggered by a news item but also wrote the screenplay jointly with Ashwin Verman.

“Please don’t categorise me as a tribal filmmaker,” Munda urged when suggested he would possibly be the only tribal from the state whose feature film was being released nationwide.

“Let the cinegoers judge my film on its merit,” the 34-year old alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune further said, adding this was his maiden directorial venture since Dansh, his diploma film at FTII that was critically appreciated in different film festivals.

It’s about chakki me pista aam aadmi, Munda informed about the theme, explaining the film depicts the ordeal a common man when he becomes a victim of a corrupt system for no fault of his own and experiences the same kind of grinding the grains undergo in a chakki or flour mill.

“Vijay, the protagonist of the film, faces the same kind of ordeal at every stage when he approaches unsympathetic and corrupt officials for seeking redress for a highly inflated electricity bill of Rs 1.60 lakh that he received for his small town flour mill,” Munda further informed about the storyline.

Vijay tried to get his problem sorted out by pleading to officials and even greasing their palm but in vain, Munda further informed, adding that drove Vijay to desperation to fix his problem by resorting to illegal means which, in turn, landed him into further trouble and posed a threat to jeopardise his personal life when his girlfriend also started getting fed up with him, until some good souls came to his rescue.

“I was inspired to write this story after reading a news item about someone in Jharkhand receiving an astonishingly inflated energy bill,” Munda informed, adding he then developed it into a story giving details of the ordeal a common man would go through in such circumstances.

Munda then thought it could be made into a feature film as the administrative system was more or less the same everywhere in the country and started looked for a prospective producer.

“I was lucky that Bharat Ninderwal agreed to produce the film,” said 34-year old Munda who had left his corporate job for pursuing a course in film direction at FTII in 2014, adding Rahul Bhat and Priya Bapat played the lead roles.

Though the story was inspired by a similar news item from Jharkhand, the film was shot at outdoor locations in Madhya Pradesh because “the producer hails from that state and could easily organise logistic support there”, Munda informed, adding he was, however, hopeful that the film would be liked everywhere across the country.