Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi releases Nila Madhab Panda’s memoir 'Return to Innocence'

National Award-winning filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda has debuted as an author with his book 'Return to Innocence'. The book marks his foray into another creative medium. Return to Innocence - part memoir, part commentary - was recently launched by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi in the national capital. The teaser of Panda’s upcoming web series, The Jengaburu Curse, was also screened at the launch.

The book charts his journey from the rural world of his father in Dasharajpur, Odisha, in the 1970s to the urban and digital landscape his son inhabits in New Delhi in the new millennium. These experiences and opinions inform Panda’s films which, over two decades, have chronicled mankind’s actions and their impact on the planet through powerful, thought-provoking stories from rural India. His musings and views catalyse these narratives from biographical accounts into thought-provoking, dramatic essays about belonging, intent, actions and consequences.
 
The event brought together people from the worlds of cinema and climate change activism, the two great passions that have shaped Panda’s life and work. These are also reflected in the poetic, cinematic prose of Return to Innocence. Among those present at the book launch were British High Commissioner Alexander Ellis and veteran Makarand Deshpande. 

Four decades is too short a time span of mankind for the changes that our planet has gone through. My book 'Return to Innocence' attempts to portray exactly that with a hint of personal emotions. Indebted to @k_satyarthi ji for opening the book. U inspire millions! @UKinIndia… pic.twitter.com/jJmC7sUtqx

— NILAMADHAB PANDA ନୀଳମାଧବ ପଣ୍ଡା (@nilamadhabpanda) July 15, 2023

‘Return to Innocence is an account of my life, my struggles, triumphs and transformation as I navigated my way from the countryside to the bustle of filmmaking in a metro city, and then to the world of global cinema. But it is also the journey of our planet in the same roughly four decades, from ecological sustainability to impending disaster. This is the story of how Indians, and mankind, have evolved unrecognizably over one man’s lifetime, as told by that one man and his craft. It is a testament to human resilience and also an appeal to the innocence within us to save our mother, our planet earth,’ Panda said at the book launch.

In Return to Innocence, Panda uses stories from his childhood, his adolescence, his adulthood, his films and his relationships to ruminate about the things that bother him: the loss of childhoods, inconsiderate progress, climate change and the man-made crises that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed. Pictures from his homes and his travels, plus stills from his beautifully shot films, bring these stories alive as sensory experiences.

Panda expressed his gratitude and his excitement about sharing his first book with the world, saying, ‘I hope that my story will resonate with readers and inspire them to revive the innocence within, reconnect with the sacred continuum of nature and nurture our planet as it has nurtured us. Both, my book Return to Innocence and The Jengaburu Curse, my upcoming web series, are my pranaam to the sacred soil, water and air of my home.’