Originally from Aldona, 24-year-old Desmond Pinto is also the grandson of Divar. He has grown up on the lush green island and enjoys every bit of it. Now geared with the right equipment and information, he has released a short film, ‘Potekars of Divar’, a festival that brings on a laughter riot in the villages of the island. Similar to, Halloween, the Potekar festival is celebrated for three days before the start of Lent. Potekar Festival was Divar’s way of celebrating Carnival.
The Potekar festival dates back to the pre-Portuguese era. The secret of the festival is in the disguise. ‘Potekar’ is a Konkani word which means shabby which might have been the origin of the first costumes of the residents. Dressed in different themes and after days of working on their costumes sometimes even hand-made, their identity is hidden for these three days. One of the unique features of the costume is wearing cowbells, in their necks, on their ankles and around their waists to add a distinct sound to their getup. And to take on this new persona, they even change their voice and mannerism.
Desmond studied Mass Communication at St Xavier's at Mapusa always been passionate about film making and telling stories especially those which are not that popular. “I was inspired to make this Potekar film because I always found the concept fascinating and despite it being so popular in Divar, I realised that no one really knows much about it, in terms of its origins, etc. I realised a movie needed to be made,” says Desmond, son of Cecil Pinto and Beatrice Da Costa.
Desmond’s mother, Beatrice, is from Divar. “I remember Potekars all throughout my childhood. I have very frightening memories about Potekar too, especially one where I was put in a sack. As I grew older, I got less scared and finally even dressed up as a Potekar myself. I have many relatives including uncles, aunts, and cousins in Divar. They helped me get in touch with the locals of Divar and assisted me a lot with the project,” says Desmond, about his debut film.
This project took four days of shoot which included the three days of the festival before Ash Wednesday. “We stayed at my late grandmother’s house in Divar and we would just get up every morning and start filming. The post production took about a month. Bryan Fernandes was the cinematographer of this short film. He made this passion project of mine visually appealing,” adds Desmond.
While earlier it was only men who dressed in these shabby costumes and scary masks, now even girls and women participate in the festival but it is really hard to tell who is behind the mask. Desmond has beautiful captured these moments as the villagers explain want they think might be the origins of the festival. Some senior members also share how they made their masks out of whatever material was available. The masks were more painstakingly created by hand with paper-mache. Clay from the fields would be moulded into the shape of a face and a wet cloth would be placed put adding papers with ‘grut,’ a mixture of maida and water.
“The moment I told people about this project, everyone was excited about it and wanted to be involved. The people of Divar are very warm hearted and welcoming. The amount of cooperation I received was incredible. From relatives, to friends, to strangers, everyone came forward with their bit – willingly,” he says.
The film is written, edited, produced and directed by Desmond while Bryan Fernandes is the director of photography and Aaron Crasta is the colorist. Santana Da Costa, Ludavinha Athaide, Leander Athaide, Astrid Athaide and Carmen Da Costa are Desmond’s family members who helped him with the project. The villagers who shared their experience of the festival includes Flannan Ferrao, Lucius de Almeida, Laban Menezes, Wilbur Araujo, Mark Afonso, Freddy Ferrao, Carmen Da Costa, Dilip Harmalkar, Ivo Azavedo, Fatima Fernandes, Marius Fernandes, Chandan Parab, Bijju Sawant, John D’Souza, Assumptina D’Souza, John Lino D’Mello, Cyriaco Fernandes and Moses Gonsalves.
The island is known for two festivals, Bonderam, the Flag Festival that celebrates the new harvest and Potekarachem Fest, the Potekar Festival. While Bonderam has always been celebrated on a grand scale, over the recent years, even the popularity of Potekar Festival has increased. “It's got much more attention with videos being made about the festival, so non-Divarkars are participating as well. The crowd has increased significantly, not just the spectators but the participants too,” says Desmond.
Speaking about the importance of documenting these festivals for the future, he says, “I believe this festival, like many others, because of the lack of documentation, no one really knows much about. It's important to document because at least now there is some information about this festival. I was lucky enough to interview elderly men who have been dressing up as Potekars for over 50 years.”
Desmond is working on a few ideas for his next projects which are now at the conceptual stage. “I would like to do something similar and document some aspect of Goa that has not been given its due attention,” concludes Desmond.