Bhubaneswar, Aug. 10: The Niyamgiri hill issue that has kept environmentalists, industrialists, lawmakers and the government on its toes, has now captured the imagination of artists and filmmakers.

Moved by the plight of the Dongria Kondh tribals and their fight to save their sacred hill being taken over for mining, one of the ace filmmakers of the state Prashant Nanda is now ready with his first non-commercial venture, The Living Ghost.

“Tribal people have been exploited, economically, socially and politically. This time they are being exploited geographically. If vested interests succeed, we will destroy the hill and cultures closely associated with it. I wanted to capture the faith, belief and lives of tribes on the hills, before it faded away, forever,” said Nanda.

The film’s main protagonists are two young lovers Singari and Bangaru. Bangaru, according to tradition tries to arrange for money to get his love’s hand. This takes him to a local businessman where the youth is trapped in a court case. Singari comes down from the hill to save Bangaru and gets trapped in the so-called civilised world.

Under the banner of Mitra Creative Arts, acclaimed A.K. Bir is the director of photography for the film. The film was completed in a month’s time on location. “All shots had to be taken during the day as there was no electricity there,” said Nanda. “We had to start shooting as early as 3am and then we had to be careful about the wild animals, too,” said Mamuni Mishra, an artist.

The UK-based Vedanta Resources UK has set up an alumina refinery at Lanjigarh on the Niyamgiri hills and has applied for permission to mine bauxite from the hill deposit. Dongria Kondh considers the hills sacred and has been protesting the mine decision.