In one of the first scenes of Aranya Sahai’s Human in the Loop, the protagonist Neema, a member of the Oraon tribe living in a remote village in Jharkhand, lies on a rock on one side, her ears on the ground. He is seen wearing it and observing her. An environment in which inanimate objects and living objects show signs of life. For a moment, the character breaks through the fourth wall, observes the audience, and lets them know that she is taking them on a journey through her story.
Humans in the Loop was screened in the Indian Cinema Now section of the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Neema, an Adivasi woman, is divorcing her upper-caste husband Ritesh. The couple has two children, 12-year-old Dhanu and 1-year-old Guntu. To gain custody of them, Neema worked as a data labeler at an artificial intelligence (AI) center in her village. However, Dhanu finds it difficult to adapt to her mother’s way of life. As the story progresses, Naema realizes that the AI has some prejudices that discriminate against her community and that she has to treat it like her own child and teach it things.
Sonal Madhushankar in ‘Human in the Loop’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Data labeling is a process that helps AI identify data for future use. Labelers like Nehma resolve captures and help AI distinguish between people and objects. This has huge implications everywhere in the world.
The film explores a variety of themes, including life and non-life, and the ever-blurring line between the two. Neema is happy to think about how both her children and the AI are developing. She feels deeply about both. However, Naema struggles with the realization that both are projecting prejudice against her own community. Beautifully portrayed by Sonal Madhushankar. The protagonist finds life in nature and everything it contains. Everything from rocks to insects exhibits life and deserves to exist.
Human in the Loop explores the idea of a blank slate to see if humans, or in this case AI, are truly born without bias. It cuts across both arguments of what it is and what it isn’t. It also discusses the need to train AI that is primarily driven by first-world narratives.
During its 72-minute run, the film examines how people have relied on labels since the beginning of civilization. In one of the scenes, during Neema’s childhood, she tells her friend Roshan that the cave paintings depict how the animals living inside the caves helped their ancestors. However, modern Neema testify to a different form of labeling, describing insects as “pests” and “beautiful” women as beautiful. The idea of a dominant narrative, created by people with more agency, strengthens opposing voices and forces things into a particular mold driven by the same narrative.
The porcupine appears as a leitmotif in the film. Said to be the shyest animal in the jungle, this animal is a symbol of Nema’s coexistence and closeness with nature.
The film is driven by the cast’s moving performances. Riddhima Singh plays Dhanu, a teenager who is conflicted about her parents, with the necessary sensitivity. Another standout performance is Suniti Mahto, who hails from Sargari village in Jonna, Jharkhand, where the film was shot, who plays Neema’s childhood.
Silence, whether between human characters or otherwise, moves the humans in the loop forward. The oscillation between warm and cold frames set within the same environment aptly reflects the characters’ inner turmoil.
meet the director
Humans in the Loop is Aranya Sahay’s feature debut. He has directed five short films, of which ‘Ode to Babasaheb’ and ‘Chait’ were screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival, Signs Film Festival and Jaffna Film Festival. He co-starred with Imtiaz Ali in the show ‘Dr Arora’ (2022). An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Aranya has also worked with Patrick Graham on the true crime show Dancing on the Grave.
Human in the Loop Director Aranya Sahay |Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Aranya, who also explored the theme of caste in Babasaheb’s Song, says, “I feel that the dominant ethos of Hindi films is quite Brahminical.” The ritual is based on an upper caste ethos. It is important to explore it from an Adivasi or Dalit perspective.” He further added, “We only reflect homogeneity, not diversity. I haven’t.”
The film premiered at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival earlier this year. After screening at IFFK, it will be screened again in Mumbai and then in Delhi for the government. The final screening of the film will take place in Sargari village where the film was shot.
The project was inspired by journalist Karishma Mehrotra’s article on data labeling in Jharkhand. The film took 12 days to shoot, including two months of pre-production work and seven months of research and scriptwriting.
The director is currently aiming for a theatrical release in March or April 2025. “The only secret is word of mouth. We don’t have a big star, we don’t have a big manager,” Alanya said.
issued – December 20, 2024 3:16 PM IST
