It’s an intimate tale of river Brahmaputra and the Mising community: Manju Borah

It was a story which Assamese filmmaker Manju Borah was determined to bring onscreen to showcase the everyday hardships of the Mising community of Assam and their intimate relationship with the river Brahmaputra. The Mising film, Ko: Yad (A silent Way), directed by Manju, which bagged the best film in the Indian cinema competition (Chitrabharathi) at the recently concluded Bangalore International Film Festival (Biffes) won over judges’ hearts because of its simple and realistic portrayal.The filmmaker talks to Bangalore Times about her experience of working in the film…
What made you work on a film on the lesser known Mising community?
The idea is to bring forth the everyday struggle of the Mising people. The Mising people are an ethnic group inhabiting a couple of districts of Assam. It’s a very small community of about 16,000 people. The film highlights the poverty of the community members through the story of the protagonist. Mising people are very close to nature and stay on the banks of the river Brahmaputra. Basically it is a family drama, treated in a realistic manner.
Tell us about your experience of working with newcomers in the film?
All the actors in the film are novice. They are men and women from the village. We trained them over a 40-day-long workshop. The film was shot in a period of 20 days. And, the result is out there to be seen by all.
How difficult is it to make films in Assam?
The first Assamese film, Joymoti, was made in 1935. The state has a long and grand history of filmmaking. But there is nothing called a film industry in the state. Only one or two films are made every year in the state. I am yet to screen my film in the theatres. I just had a special screening for a select group. Filmmaking is a risky business in Assam.