Skip to content Skip to navigation

Tripura film bags first National Film Award

By editor |

Internationally acclaimed Kokborok film YARWNG (Roots) won the first national film award for Tripura at 56th National Film Awards (2008) held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, 19 March, 2010. The President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil handed over the medal and certificate to Don Bosco priests Joseph Kizhakechennadu (producer) and Fr. Joseph Pulinthanath (director) for their second feature film.


Pulinthanath dressed in white cassock and Kizhakechennadu in his preferred saffron lungi and half-sleeved white kurta were among 52 film award winners of 2008, including high-profile Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra and the doyen of Indian Cinematography V.K. Murthy who was awarded country’s highest honor in cinema - the Dada Saheb Phalke Award.


Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika Soni and Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, and other officials accompanied the President.


Accent on People’s Cinema


The award winning 95 minute film Yarwng (Roots) tells the story of large-scale displacement of tribal people that took place in the tiny Northeastern state when a hydel project was set up there in the late 1970s. Yarwng was the opening film at the prestigious Indian Panorama section of the 39th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa, November 2008.


According to the filmmakers, the script of Yarwng emerged from the numerous encounters they held with displaced people in the sanctity of their ramshackle homes. “All the incidents and emotional turmoil we see in the film were etched in the subconscious psyche of the people. All we did was to get close to them and feel their stories as they recalled them with looks, sighs, tears and also words,” recalled the priest director and winner of national and international awards.


“Although the technical team came from Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and the support team from Guwahati (Assam), the best part of the production was the involvement of the local people,” says producer Kizhakechennadu who claims cinematic traditions from his legendary relative John Abraham, a genius in Malayalam cinema and founder of a people's cinema movement called Odessa.


All the artistes and production hands were from Tripura state including noted actors Meena Debbarma who plays the lead role of Karmati, Amulya Ratan Jamatia, Nirmal Jamatia and Surabhi Debbarma.


Yarwng has traveled throughout India and has been screened in major cities around the world including New York, Brisbane, Moscow, Taipei, Stuttgart and Dhaka.


Yarwng also won a Special Jury Mention Award at the 3rd Eye Asian film festival held in Mumbai in 2008.


The film, part-financed by Church organizations – Missio Germany, Signis and the Salesian Congregation is also a compelling testament to the commitment of the Church and the Don Bosco Society to preservation of local, indigenous cultures and people.


C.M. Paul, New Delhi

Comments

KOUSHIK HAZARIKA's picture

Submitted by KOUSHIK HAZARIKA on Sat, 27/03/2010 - 07:06
In the year of the brilliant Samson and Delilah, BIFF will bring a stream of films by or about Indigenous people, called Colourise films. These include The Inheritors, which documents rural Mexico, capturing the dignity and humanity of people in the face of incredible exploitation. Both Roots and Birdwatchers tell a universal story of displacement from land and culture.

Pages

Add new comment

Other Contents by Author

Demow businessman back to home

In a sigh of relief businessman Tinku Babaj is back to his home on Friday a day after he was kidnapped from Dimow. According to information, Bajaj returned to his home safely at around 9-30 at night. On Thursday night, a group of armed miscreants kidnapped him from Dimow.

Karna Deputy CM on goodwill visit

Karnataka deputy chief minister R Ashoka is arriving in Guwahati on Saturday on a goodwill mission. Ashoka, who also holds the home portfolio would be accompanied by DGP Lalrokhuma Pachua along with a few other dignitaries. He is scheduled to meet Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday to discuss at length the pertinent issues and their probable solutions. He will interact with those who have returned from Karnataka as a part of the mass exodus after addressing a press conference in the evening.

CBI to probe 7 cases against Brahma

Dispur is all set to hand over seven more cases to CBI for investigation registered against arrested BPF MLA Pradeep Brahma. Brahma has been named in seven cases after witnesses complained that he was leading the rioting mob holding AK-47 rifle. The investigating agency is likely to arrest some more people, including a few prominent persons, who were involved in the violence. The MLA was charged under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons, 149 (unlawful assembly), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), 427 (causing damage), 379 (theft) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Brahma unwell, rushed to hospital

Pradeep Kumar Brahma has been admitted to the Kokrajhar Civil Hospital after he complained of discomfort and is undergoing treatment. Notably, MLA Pradeep Brahma, who represents the West Kokrajhar, was arrested on Thursday wee hours.

Curfew lifts; BPF calls off K’jhar bandh

The Bodoland Peoples’ Front on Friday called off its indefinite bandh called after the arrest of Pradip Brahma. This has forced the authorities to lift curfew clamped immediately after the arrest. The indefinite curfew, imposed since 5 AM on Thursday was lifted by Kokrajhar district administration from 4 PM to 9 PM to allow people to buy their essentials. There is still restriction on assembly of five or more people at a spot.

Remembering Dr. Phani Sharma

August is a month that I miss Deta the most. Although he passed away in the month of July, I always find myself thinking about him more frequently at this time of the year. However, that’s not to say, I sit down weeping and feeling sad on that day; if anything, I like to celebrate in style. Of course, he had his ways to let me know that he is enjoying the day with me too...in style. Sadly, in life, there is only one set of parents and they don’t live forever. The more you can give or/and can spend time with them, the better you feel within. Ailing health didn’t stop Deta from his work obligations. One minute he was in the hospital. The next you would catch him attending...

Arrested MLA sent to judicial custody

Arrested MLA Pradeep Kumar Brahma sent to judicial custody.

NE people seek safety in south

A joint delegation from Assam Association Mumbai and Manipuri Association called on joint commissioner of police in Mumbai Rajnish Sheth and Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Dayal and his additional Satyapal Singh on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum on behalf of entire north east people residing in Mumbai in the evening. Mumbai Assam Association General Secretary Dipen Rajkonwar, member Mafiul Ahmed and two more Naga and Manipuri Representative had attended the meeting. The memorandum reads: In view of the large scale migration of people of North East origin from Mumbai, Pune, Karjat, Nashik and other places in Maharashtra, we tried to persuade people not to go back to their native homes....

Road Blockade hits BTAD areas

Surface communication from Assam to the rest of the country remains cut off when thousands of BPF workers blocked railway track and highways leading to the state from Wednesday morning on protest against the arrest of West Kokrajhar MLA Pradip Brahma. The agitators who blocked all trains and vehicles demanded immediate release of Brahma and arrest of Dhubri MP Badruddin Ajmal. Shouting anti-government slogans, the protestors alleged that it was Baddrudiin who brought infiltrators from Bangladesh and fueled communal tension leading to riots and also provided arms and ammunitions to the Bangaldeshis. Curfew has been reimposed in the three districts of Bodoland Territorial Administered...

Another youth found dead in Bengal

One more youth from Assam was found dead in West Bengal on Thursday. The body of Zakir Hussain was found near a railway station in Birbhum. Zakir hails from Hailakandi district. With this, the number of deaths of Assamese youths outside the state has gone up to 10.