Tag Archives: Assam

Who Killed Mother Teresa?

The negative effects of this kind of long drawn conflict on young minds can well be imagined. There is, for instance, this true story that was often narrated with anguish by a noted journalist. His grand-daughter, a little girl of about five or six at the time, was with him watching the news of Mother Teresa’s death being shown and discussed on TV. Her reaction to the death was to ask her grandfather, “Who killed Mother Teresa?” This, though the little girl herself lived in an urban middle class family, cocooned from the kind of violence that victims of ethnic violence in relief camps, for instance, routinely see when violent deaths take place in front of their eyes. Yet even this little girl, growing up in a “normal” family situation, could not conceive that death could come in any other than violent means.Continue reading “Who Killed Mother Teresa?”

The Things Which We Fail to Express in our Words…

   [life is what happens to us when we are busy planning other things – said John Lennon. And that precisely what  happened to us when the series on Guns & Guitars journey got derailed – or rather took a long halt on the way… But better late than never. We restart the journey here with a visit to the state of Assam…]Continue reading “The Things Which We Fail to Express in our Words…”

All About ‘North Bank’: An Independent Assamese Feature Film

North Bank is an indie Assamese feature film that is in its final phase of completion. This article talks about my journey as a filmmaker so far and how North Bank managed to get conceived and developed.

 How did it all start

North Bank 4I used to watch a lot of Hollywood films since childhood but I was not sure that I’d get into filmmaking until 2009, when I somehow got interested in short films. One day I saw a film called Ivan’s Childhood by Andrei Tarkovsky and 3 months later I made my first short film. I continued making short films and eventually I wanted to make something bigger. It was in 2011 just before passing out from my college, when I first attempted to make a feature out a couple of interconnected short storylines as then I was very much inspired by Alejandro Gonzalej Inarritu. However, then my college authorities wouldn’t allow me to do so. That prompted me to make another short film.Continue reading “All About ‘North Bank’: An Independent Assamese Feature Film”

Tribute to Late Bhupen Hazarika-Siangore ga'hlong, lohitore khamti…

[It is not unusual to find a director’s wife becoming a part of a film unit, mostly to kill time. But in our case, we are working together for close to 16 years. And we are married for the last 8 years. Whether it is to edit my documentaries or to do art direction/ costumes in my productions, time and again I use her. Both for the belief that she understands closest to what I have in mind and the fact that I can give vent to the frustration without thinking twice when things does not go according to my plan…Here she shares her experience of ‘Guns & Guitars’ ]Continue reading “Tribute to Late Bhupen Hazarika-Siangore ga'hlong, lohitore khamti…”

as the River flows-Inspiration

Note-This day ( 4 July ) marks 15 years of the disappearance of Sanjoy Ghose, noted rural development activist,  from Majuli in Assam.  and hence I am revisiting this post on the inspiration behind my first feature film-as the River flows.

Sanjoy Ghose. He was born in 1959 at Nagpur and spent his childhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra. After his graduation in 1980, he had definite admission in all the three then existing Indian Institute of Managements (IIM) – Ahmadabad, Bangalore and Calcutta. Joining the IIMs would have ensured very well paying corporate careers for him. Instead he opted to join the little known Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) in its very first batch.

Continue reading “as the River flows-Inspiration”

as the River flows- The Origin

I had started my professional career as a journalist. I was freelancing with couple of newspapers in Pune. I still remember the day I decided to give up journalism. I was covering a seminar on some developmental issues. At the middle of the seminar I started getting restless. Everything was moving so very smoothly! What am I going to report that will make it interesting?? I was hoping against hope that something will go wrong so that I get a chance to file an interesting story.Continue reading “as the River flows- The Origin”

and Brahmaputra cried…

Wanting to write for the last few days… but was not able to access the proper words… it seemed that the emperor of words had taken his treasure along when he had departed… The other day, while going through a book came across an interesting anecdote – narrated by Professor Narayan Parashuram of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Continue reading “and Brahmaputra cried…”