Diwali killa
The mud fort children build for Diwali, with Mavla soldiers, a toy cannon and the bhagwa flag, the family at the fort gate and the aukshan thali for Bhai Dooj, painted flat in earth colours.
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In the Diwali holidays, children across Maharashtra build a killa, a small fort, in the courtyard or beside their building. They shape it from red earth, stones and bricks after the hill forts of the Sahyadri tied to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, with bastions, a gate and steps, and sow mustard or wheat on its slopes so that it turns green within days. Painted clay figures bought at the Diwali market stand on it: Shivaji Maharaj on horseback, Mavla soldiers, cannons and the bhagwa flag, with panatis lit on the walls. Many towns hold killa competitions, and the fort stays up until the holidays end.
This film is drawn in the style of a flat earth-pigment painting: the fort stands in the courtyard with its Mavle, cannon and flag, the family appears in its gate, the toy cannon on the fort fires for the title, and for Bhaubeej the sister waves her aukshan thali, with its niranjan, kumkum and rice, before her brother. The artwork is drawn for this film; it is not a photograph of a real killa.
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