How Jaipur’s blue pottery became a metaphor to save the Great Indian Bustard

JAIPUR: One endangered bird species. A stop-motion short film. Jaipur’s famed blue pottery. A whisky brand. At first glance, these elements might seem like mismatched pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

But there is a twist in the tale: Godawan is the Great Indian Bustard, listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and the bird is found in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat. It is also the name of a Rajasthan-based whisky brand that has been working towards its conservation since 2022.

And, ‘The Godawan’ is a stop-motion short film, made by Studio Eeksaurus, about the bird and the efforts to revive its numbers using the making of blue pottery as a narrative device.

The film traces the journey of the bustard, once widespread across India’s grasslands and now on the brink of extinction with fewer than 150 individuals left in the wild, primarily in Rajasthan’s Desert National Park.

Using the intricate, handmade process of Jaipur’s GI-tagged blue pottery — known for its distinctive Persian blue dye and quartz-based craft — the animators draw a parallel between a fragile craft and a fragile species, both needing careful nurturing to survive.

The project is backed by Godawan whisky, the Rajasthan-based single malt brand that has been supporting Great Indian Bustard conservation efforts since 2022 in collaboration with local communities and wildlife organisations.

Studio Eeksaurus, known for its award-winning stop-motion work, has used tactile visuals and pottery motifs to narrate the conservation story, blending art, craft and ecology in a unique format.