#Cinema
By: Namrata Joshi
Are the geographically contiguous states of India connected when it comes to their films? The answer to these rhetorical questions is, quite simply, a no.
“As a broad spectrum for the outside world, the term ‘Northeastern cinema’ has been used for the lack of a better descriptive terminology, but it actually forcefully homogenises the diversity,” says the Assamese national award-winning film critic and journalist-turned-filmmaker Utpal Borpujari (Ishu, 2017).
According to him, the term ‘Northeast’, coined to describe a geo-political/socio-political grouping, can be quite problematic when it comes to culture. “The region is hugely diverse in terms of indigenous populations, with around 300 communities, many of which don’t have any linguistic or socio-cultural similarities with one another,” he says. The most basic manifestation of it is the various dialects that films from the Northeast speak in—Bodo, Khasi, Garo, Sherdukpen, Wancho, Kokborok, Karbi, and Mishingm among others.
For actor Adil Hussain, whose roots lie in Goalpara in Assam, but for whom the whole world has been a stage, the nomenclature is akin to the disparate Malayalam movies and those of Punjab getting clubbed together as one. However, even though the term Northeast may not do justice to each and every region, culture and identity, “at least it brings the cinema into the limelight,” says Hussain. Assamese filmmaker Bhaskar Hazarika (Kothanodi, 2015; Aamis, 2019) believes it could be strategic to get branded in this manner for effectively representing a market that is anyhow very small. “It is necessary; otherwise nascent industries like Sikkim would get completely lost,” opines Sikkimese filmmaker Tribeny Rai – Shape of Momo.