Musical documentary on unique frog, ‘Kappe Raaga’ wins international award 

Express News Service

HUBBALI: The first of its kind musical video – ‘Kappe Raaga, The Song of Kumbara- A Night Frog’ has won the Gold Award for the best music video at the Independent Shorts Award from Los Angeles, USA.

The documentary which is yet to be released has also won the Best Music Video Jury at the 13th Dada Saheb Phalke film festival 2023. 

The music video introduces the newly discovered Kumbara night frog to the world for the first time in a musical format, with a story that showcases the frog’s unique behaviour and parental instincts. 

Director Prashanth S Nayaka, an independent filmmaker was introduced to the Kumbara night frog during one of his explorations in the Indian Western Ghats by researcher Girish Janney. 

The Kumbara frog is a stream endemic to the swampy forests of the Indian Western Ghats, has unique parental instincts. While reproducing, the female performs a handstand with the male mounted on her back and starts to lay eggs. Then the mother retreats into the stream leaving the eggs and male frog alone.

I am super excited to share with you that our ‘Kappe Raaga, The song of kumbara – A Night Frog’ has won GOLD AWARD at the INDEPENDENT SHORTS AWARD, Los Angeles, US in the category of Best Music Video. pic.twitter.com/WQ6D8kKHfj

— Prashanth S Nayaka (@prashanthtomail) April 29, 2023

“To protect the eggs from the freshwater crabs and other predators, the caring father (male Kumbara) moves closer to the egg clutch and plasters them with mud taken from the stream below. He covers them cleverly and meticulously that one cannot distinguish the clutch of eggs from the surrounding muddy debris. 

Learning that this is the only frog species in the world to do so was even more thrilling. and this unique behaviour fascinated me to tell this story to the world and most importantly to the people who live around this stream,” said Prashanth S Nayaka. 

The filmmaker feels that people who live in remote areas have limited access to media and documentaries.

“Unfortunately, many documentaries are not in the local language, which makes it hard for them to understand. In order to overcome this, I believe music is the fastest way to reach people’s hearts. Hence I decided to introduce the Kumbara frog in a folk musical format with lyrics complementing the storyline by adding human emotions and connective elements to the audience,” he explained.

The musical documentary has been produced by Goutham Shankar, music by Ashwin P Kumar and film shooting has been done by Vikas Patil from Hubballi.

<br /> HUBBALI: The first of its kind musical video – ‘Kappe Raaga, The Song of Kumbara- A Night Frog’ has won the Gold Award for the best music video at the Independent Shorts Award from Los Angeles, USA.</p> <p>The documentary which is yet to be released has also won the Best Music Video Jury at the 13th Dada Saheb Phalke film festival 2023. </p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.86.1 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.86.1 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>The music video introduces the newly discovered Kumbara night frog to the world for the first time in a musical format, with a story that showcases the frog’s unique behaviour and parental instincts. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });</p> <p>Director Prashanth S Nayaka, an independent filmmaker was introduced to the Kumbara night frog during one of his explorations in the Indian Western Ghats by researcher Girish Janney. </p> <p>The Kumbara frog is a stream endemic to the swampy forests of the Indian Western Ghats, has unique parental instincts. While reproducing, the female performs a handstand with the male mounted on her back and starts to lay eggs. Then the mother retreats into the stream leaving the eggs and male frog alone.</p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.86.1 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.86.1 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>I am super excited to share with you that our ‘Kappe Raaga, The song of kumbara – A Night Frog’ has won GOLD AWARD at the INDEPENDENT SHORTS AWARD, Los Angeles, US in the category of Best Music Video. pic.twitter.com/WQ6D8kKHfj<br /> — Prashanth S Nayaka (@prashanthtomail) April 29, 2023<br /> “To protect the eggs from the freshwater crabs and other predators, the caring father (male Kumbara) moves closer to the egg clutch and plasters them with mud taken from the stream below. He covers them cleverly and meticulously that one cannot distinguish the clutch of eggs from the surrounding muddy debris. </p> <p>Learning that this is the only frog species in the world to do so was even more thrilling. and this unique behaviour fascinated me to tell this story to the world and most importantly to the people who live around this stream,” said Prashanth S Nayaka. </p> <p>The filmmaker feels that people who live in remote areas have limited access to media and documentaries.</p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.86.1 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.86.1 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>“Unfortunately, many documentaries are not in the local language, which makes it hard for them to understand. In order to overcome this, I believe music is the fastest way to reach people’s hearts. Hence I decided to introduce the Kumbara frog in a folk musical format with lyrics complementing the storyline by adding human emotions and connective elements to the audience,” he explained.</p> <p>The musical documentary has been produced by Goutham Shankar, music by Ashwin P Kumar and film shooting has been done by Vikas Patil from Hubballi.<br />