Assam-born Saikia’s folk horror feature to premiere at Rotterdam film festival

KOLKATA: Assam-born, Manchester University-educated, and Mumbai-based Bhargav Saikia's debut feature, ‘Bokshi' (witch in Nepali), was selected to world premiere in the Harbour section of the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2025. The film, a folk horror, shot in the dense forests of Sikkim in peak winter, took five years to complete and has dialogues in Hindi, English, Nepali and an invented fictional language called Boksirit, which was exclusively created for the film by renowned Dutch linguist Jan van Steenbergen.

After producing an indie film, ‘Kaafiron Ki Namaaz' (2014), and directing a horror short, ‘Awakenings' (2015), and a fantasy short, ‘The Black Cat' (2017), Saikia made his feature film directorial debut with ‘Bokshi'. "Rotterdam is renowned for championing adventurous and offbeat filmmaking. It is a discovery festival in its truest sense. The selection of a northeast-set genre film like ‘Bokshi' is testament to the fact that our treasure trove of unique stories is waiting to be discovered globally," the director told TOI.

His film, starring Mansi Multani and Prasanna Bisht, explores the journey of a troubled teen who goes on a high school expedition to a little-known prehistoric site and finds herself tested. A long-forgotten myth unfurls and forces her to confront her worst fears. ‘Bokshi' consciously subverts the stereotypes of typical horror to become a dark coming-of-age journey of the young protagonist and a cautionary tale of female empowerment.

On being asked about how he was introduced to the concept of ‘Bokshi', Saikia said, "I spent my growing years in a boarding school in Assam, where every year we were sent on expeditions to the neighbouring hill states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya. Memories of these trips remained with me, and I wanted to create an edgy genre narrative depicting a group of students on an excursion encountering an unusual adventure." Along with his film's writer, Harsh Vaibhav, the duo explored north Sikkim's folklore, myths, and legends.

Saikia was perpetually drawn towards "fantastical and macabre stories". Initially inclined towards crafting a "high-school-set horror film", he ascertained that the film must transcend genre archetypes and depict specific nuances of the human condition by being emotionally resonant and socially relevant. "Horror and fantasy are exemplary genres to underscore pressing issues and challenge perceptions whilst fulfilling the audience's expectations of thrills and scares," he elucidated. ‘Bokshi' is a contemporary horror film that utilises these elements to present its core themes of feminine rebellion and eco-horror.


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