Sri Vijaya Puram, April 18: Filmmaker, singer and cultural practitioner Samhita Veda Acharya has built a body of work around documenting stories from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that are often left out of mainstream narratives, using film, music, heritage work and education to record local life, traditions and memory.
Acharya, regarded as the first woman director-producer from the islands to be certified by the Central Board of Film Certification, has worked across multiple fields over the years. Her projects span documentary filmmaking, performance, cultural conservation, arts training and children’s literature, with a consistent focus on the islands and their people.
She traces the beginnings of that journey to her home. Her mother, she said, was active in theatre, radio, television and music, and played a defining role in shaping her artistic instincts from an early age.
“My mother inspired everything,” Acharya said. “She was a theatre actress, radio artist, television performer and singer. Watching her as a child, I only wanted to sing.”
She began singing during her school years and later performed across the islands with orchestra groups, gradually building a presence on stage without formal training. Those early years in live performance exposed her to multilingual audiences and different cultural settings, experiences that would later influence the range and adaptability of her creative work.
Over time, Acharya expanded from performance into filmmaking. She said the shift felt natural because cinema offered a way to explore stories from the islands that were not being documented in any sustained way. Among her early works was The Mother Turtles of Cuthbert Bay, a documentary that followed the migration and nesting patterns of turtles arriving in Middle Andaman and also recorded conservation work by the Forest Department. Another film documented the Ayappa pilgrimage and the experience of devotees walking barefoot through the night.
“These islands are full of untold stories,” she said. “Filmmaking became a natural choice because there was space to create and explore narratives that were otherwise overlooked.”
Her work has since continued to centre on subjects rooted in local life. In The Goddess Within, she documented the stories of five women from the islands, including a coconut vendor and the region’s first woman auto driver, using recognisable local figures to explore questions of resilience, labour and identity.
“Films are a powerful medium to influence how people think and feel,” she said. “They can inspire and reshape narratives.”
A major milestone came in 2013, when a meeting with filmmaker and activist Onir led to the formation of the Andaman Islands Film Society. The initiative went on to organise workshops, screenings and festivals in collaboration with organisations including the Federation of Film Societies of India and the French Consulate in Bengaluru. It also hosted editions of the Mumbai International Film Festival in the islands in association with the Films Division, helping bring non-mainstream cinema to local audiences.
At the same time, Acharya has spoken about the practical limits of working from the islands. Funding remains a major constraint, she said, with most of her films being self-funded. Filmmaking in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also shaped by the high cost of sourcing equipment from the mainland and the limited availability of trained technical crew locally.
Beyond film, Acharya has increasingly focused on preserving intangible heritage. She has pointed to the decline of traditional practices such as gammats, community musical gatherings that were once common during festivals, and has argued that such practices need to be documented before they disappear. Through heritage walks, she has also worked to draw attention to lesser-known memorials and historical sites that fall outside conventional tourist circuits.
“There are stories everywhere, but many are forgotten because they are not part of popular routes,” she said.
Her work in the cultural space extends to education as well. Through the Naach Academy of Performing Arts, she has trained students in dance, music and theatre over the years. She has also worked with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, linking performance and storytelling with awareness around conservation.
Acharya has also written children’s books to address what she sees as a gap in the way local history and biodiversity are represented in school-level reading. More recently, she has been involved in community-based initiatives such as a cotton doll project aimed at promoting non-toxic, culturally inclusive toys made by local women.
Taken together, her work reflects an effort to create a locally rooted cultural archive — one that records voices, practices and histories that might otherwise fade from view.
“I grew up here, and I want future generations to know these stories,” she said.
To know more about Samhita’s work or to collaborate, readers can email her at samhita.acharya@gmail.com.
