The Hunt, a 2015 film by Ranchi-based national award winning tribal film-maker Biju Toppo, keeps haunting viewers everywhere.

The film depicting the plight of tribals subjected to state oppression was awarded the best documentary at the 2nd Bodhisattva International Film Festival in Patna on Thursday.

Toppo, whose 28-minute film won the Golden Bodhisattva Award in the national competitive section, received a citation, trophy and a cash prize of Rs 100,000 from acclaimed film-maker Govind Nihalani.

An anthropological film-maker, Toppo has raised brave and uncomfortable questions in The Hunt at a time when most people forget that truth has many sides to it.

The Hunt shows how tribals are victimised when they protest development projects on their land or are caught in the crossfire between rebels and the police and paramilitary forces.

"The scenario is almost the same everywhere," Toppo told this reporter on Friday, referring to the states of Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, with a significant tribal presence, which he has covered in his film.

Toppo started shooting The Hunt in 2013 after being approached by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and has been showing it at various film festivals across the country since 2015. Doordarshan also telecast his film.

He said there were innumerable incidences where tribals protested attempts to grab their land in the name of development projects and were fired at by the respective state police. Also, innocent tribals have been crushed in the conflict between extremists and the police, many even branded as extremists for no fault of theirs.

"There should be a policy decision on such issues to protect tribals of mineral-rich states and their rights," the film-maker added. "My film tries to create public awareness. I have shown it to the police and paramilitary officers in Assam and Delhi so that they get an idea of the tribals' perception of various issues and do something to influence policymakers."

The Patna film festival apart, The Hunt has earned several mention-worthy accolades. It won the special jury award at the 8th CMS Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife Film Festival in Delhi in 2015, best documentary award at International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, and International Film Festival of Shimla in 2016, and the best cinema of resistance award at SiGNS Festival, Kerala, also in 2016.

Toppo had won two Rajat Kamals at the 58th National Film Awards in September 2011 for making, along with friend Meghnath, two films Iron Is Hot and Ek Ropa Dhan in non-fiction categories. Then President Pratibha Patil had given the awards.