A third generation potter, Buddhadeb Kumbhakar, from Panchmura village of Bankura district in West Bengal, talks about his work and life. The potters in this region are famous for their red terracotta horses.
The film takes you through the routines and rigours of Buddhadeb's regular working day – from digging in the ditches for a vein of clay, kneading it with his feet, shaping that lump of clay into the parts of a horse, and then, very skilfully, assembling and decorating the horse. He then fires the horse in a kiln, until it turns the red of baked earth.
The horses are later sold to agents, who buy them for a pittance, only to mark them up in the big bazaars of Kolkata, Bankura, Bishnupur, Durgapur, and even Delhi.
But Buddhadeb only makes, at the end of the month, Rs. 3,000.