Loss of innocence

Dipankar Sarkar

National award-winning film critic and documentary filmmaker, Utpal Borpujari’s debut Assamese film Ishu (2017) had its world premiere at the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival. The film was screened as part of the Indian Languages Competition Section. The film was also screened at the 3rd Eye Asian Film Festival and Assam International Rural Film Festival recently. The film looks at how witch-hunting continues to be prevalent in certain communities in Assam. It is the story of 10-year-old Ishu, who lives in a remote tribal village in Assam. His days are spent with his friends or Bhalu, his pet puppy and his favourite Ambika jethi. However, one day his happy world turns topsy-turvy when Ambika is declared a witch under a conspiracy. The story is set in a remote village in Goalpara district of Assam. Through Ishu’s battle for his aunt, the film examines the banned practice of witchhunting from the eyes of a child. The principal cast of the film includes Kapil Garo, Bishnu Khargoria, Tonthoignambi Leishangthem Devi and Chetana Das. His debut film came after documentaries like Mayong: Myth/Reality (2012), For a Dorbar of the People (2013), Songs of the Blue Hills (2013), Soccer Queens of Rani (2014) and Memories of a Forgotten War (2016). Excerpts from an interview:

How did you conceive the idea of your debut Assamese film Ishu?

When I read Assamese writer Manikuntala Bhattacharjya’s children’s novel Ishu, I noted its cinematic possibilities. There are so many stories in the Northeast, which have remained untold. Through my film, I wanted to retell those stories. 

What kind of treatment did you opt for telling the story?

Keeping in mind that the target audience is young children, I went in for a simple narrative structure. The novel is set in the Rabha tribal society. The film, too, has been shot in several Rabha villages, near Agia in the Goalpara district of Assam. But for a few professional actors, most of the cast comprised actors from the rural theatre group Badungduppa Kala Kendra established by theatre activist Sukracharjya Rabha, who played a major role in the making of the film.

How was the experience of working 

with the CFSI?

The Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) financed an Assamese film a decade after  Jahnu Barua’s Tora. I went through the usual route of submitting the proposal online, following which the script committee of the CFSI assessed the script and found it good enough to be commissioned. The CFSI, however, never interfered in the creative process of filmmaking.