It was a film festival with differences that underlined various intriguing contents covering the loneliness in older people, human affection, youth aspiration, environmental protection, and the buoyant flavour of patriotism. A unique visual feast of film buffs came alive with the 8th Chalachitram National Film Festival—2024, held at the prehistoric city of Guwahati in the far eastern part of India. Organised by Chalachitram, a film society under the mentorship of Bharatiya Chitra Sadhna and Vishwa Samvad Kendra Assam, keeping an eye on fostering nationalism through film works and paying homage to thousands of years of Indian civilization, culture, and heritage, the two-day festival showcased 50 documentary and short feature films in both the competition and only screening categories. The curtain came down for the annual film fest on 27 October at the Jyoti Chitraban premises after honouring Jaswandha as the best movie in the rest of India category and A Sylvan Saga in the northeastern club.

Directed by Shoneel Yallattikar and produced by Noopur Lidbide, Nishad Kulkarni and Shoneel, Jaswandha revolves around the story of an aged couple living in an urbanised location with melancholy but hoping for some refreshing experience with the arrival of the monsoon. Brilliantly cast by veteran actors Neena Kulkarni and Mohan Joshi, the short feature impressed both the audience and jury members. On the other hand, A Sylvan Saga narrates the struggling tale of a baby single-horn rhinoceros, which was rescued from a tea garden near Kaziranga National Park and raised for translocation to Manas National Park for her future productive life. Produced and directed by Jyoti Prasad Das, the docu-feature inherently narrates the success story for the protection of rhinos and other wildlife in Assam. An artist and filmmaker by profession, JP Das also received the best director’s award.

The best screenplay award went to Abhijit Nayak for Wrong Number, which is directed by Bijit Borgohain. The discerning short film narrates the story of a widower who was tempted to explore an unknown child telephone caller but ended up returning to his solitary life again with a new realisation. The best cinematography awards jointly went to Angsuman Barua and Pradip Ch Sarma for Aadi Shakti Maa Kamakhya (directed by PC Sarma; the documentary throws light on the history and legends of Shaktipeeth Kamakhya atop Nilachal hills overlooking the majestic Brahmaputra river) and Chida Bora and Sarpil Nandan Deka for Teens Of 1942 (directed by Samiran Deka; the documentary reveres the supreme sacrifice of known and unknown martyrs of India’s freedom movement against the British colonial rule).

Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan was awarded for the best editing in Birubala: The Fearless Crusader, which is directed by Dhiraj Kashyap. The short film portrays the relentless struggles initiated by social activist Birubala Rabha to erase the social stigma relating to witch hunting in Assam. The jury’s special mention went to Devajani Halder, who directed A Letter To My Home, which deals with homelessness, mental health, and persisting socio-cultural hegemony in the society with persuasions for necessary reforms.

The awardees (selected by the five-member jury comprising Dr Pavitra Shrivastava, Dr Santosh Pathare, Sanskar Desai, Jadumani Dutta, and Oinam Gautam) were honoured with cash prizes, trophies and certificates during the closing ceremony. Assam’s evergreen cine-personality, Mridula Barua, lit the sacred lamp in front of Bharat Mata’s portrait, where the chief guest, Atul Gangowar, made a clarion call to the filmmakers to propagate the message of unity through their film works. He argued that the movies should not split (but unite) and the film endeavour should not end up in earning money alone. Tashi Wangshu MJ directed The Butcher, which conveys the message of ensuring compassionate treatment to all creatures on the planet by the human beings, and it was screened as the closing film.

Initially launched as the Guwahati Film Festival in 2017 and renamed in 2019 with the central theme ‘Our Heritage Our Pride,’ the distinctive festivity encompasses various issues like social awareness, family systems, women, the environment, land and people, tourism, arts, handicrafts and textiles, manuscripts and manuscript paintings, painting and woodcarving, music and musicians, cultural festivals, sports, monuments and heritage sites, social reformers and pioneers, culture and values, tea and oil industries, etc. Dedicated for the committed moviegoers, the event attracted a large number of young and aspiring filmmakers, who enjoyed the entries and also brainstormed on the film crafts inside the campus, which was established in fond memory of the legendary Assamese cultural personality Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Agarwala.

The Last Generation, directed by Prabal Khaund and produced by Gopal Jalan and Dhrubojyoti Kakati, was screened as the inaugural film of CNFF–24, which portrays the women of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh wearing the Yappin Hullo and Tipe. Once a mandatory tradition for Apatani women, women now fade with the change of time as the modern world started reacting absurdly to those ladies with unusual noses, reflecting the painful practice and also pertaining to their cultural heritage. The northeastern competition category also included Prayojan (directed by Krishna Das), The Butcher (by Tashi Wangshu MJ), Journey With A Dance Form (by Pranjal Pratim Chetia), Heaven On The Earth (by Prasanta Kalita), Rising Sunbirds (by Sudeshna Gupta), The Caretaker (by Biswajit Das), and Missing Cuisine (by Pranjal Pratim Chetia). Being Bald (where director Krishna Das presents a bold lady, who faced a turmoil with physical ailments subsequently losing most of her hairs due to  medicinal side effects, but soon came out with a new look that of a bald woman), Tuhin Kanya Bora directed Bichitra (documenting a real life photographer, who covered the historic Assam agitation in Koliabar locality and remains mostly unrecognised like many other professional colleagues), Destination (narrating the saga of a daughter belonging to a successful businessman-doctor couple,  director Dipak Kumar Roy painted a picture of melancholy for the girl who deserted her home after failing in the crucial examination), Garishali (by  Ashomi Sarma) and  Ekaki (by  Rupam Jyoti Malakar) were screened in the non- competition category.

The competition category from outside the region also added My National Flag (by Sweta Kumar Dash), Shashwatam (by Monaksh N Kanirkar), Nimbu Mirchi (by Atul Subhashrao Camble), Tiny World (by Shashidhar Kote), Sundarban (by Arindam Konar and Shyam Sundar Paul), Bhookh (by Saaikat Bagbaan), Yes Sir (by Mohit Singhal), Multi (by Mrunal Mestri), The Waiting (by Lalit Kr Jha and Sumit Kohli), Minus (by Aritra Das), Uma (by Abanti Sinha), The Village Of Masks (by Ritabrita Mitra), Promise (by Ravikant Narayan), Rainbow Classroom (by Madhurjya Alankaar), Bin Boy (by Bauddhayan Mukherji), and The Last Talk (by Ashish Thakur).

The non-competition category comprised the following: Gods of Clay—Matir Thakur (by Amit Bhattacharjee), Reserve Women Right (by Bijoy Kumar Dogra), Rah Me Unse (by Harsh Panchalwar), Sagavaram (by Dinesh Balasri), Dennis And His Kambala Buffaloes (by Praveenk Shetty and Nitesh Anchan), Little Explorer (by Sapru VV), Air Pollution (by Umesh Y Gaurav), Black Hole (by Pradyumna), I Am Not Down (by Jyoti Madnani), Khera—The Lakshmi of Chilika (by Sudeshna Gupta), Windermere Ki Ramleela (by Siddharth Rawal), Status (by Madhan R Karthick), Proof Of The Soul (by Gulshan Singh) and Manvi (by Indrani Ghosh).

The festival was inaugurated by Cotton University vice-chancellor Ramesh Ch Deka in the presence of national award-winning Assamese singer Tarali Sarma, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s northeastern media coordinator Sunil Mohanty, and a host of other dignitaries. Professor Deka, in his speech, emphasised representing various characters in a movie with the right perspectives. Releasing the booklet, published on the occasion and edited by Meenakshi Deka, popular music composer Ms Sarma lauded the organisers of the film fest for their mission to pay homage to thousands of years of Indian civilisation, culture, and heritage. Addressing the smart gathering, Dr Mohanty pointed out that the cinema must not be a mere device of entertainment, but the film works should be a catalyst for social changes for the benefit of everyone in the society. He opined that any creative work should not evade the family values, human potential, social harmony, civic senses, or a dignified way of resenting women and the environment encompassing Mother Earth.

On behalf of the organising committee, Kishor Shivam, along with Pramod Kalita, Utpal Datta, Bhagwat Pritam, Indrani Laskar, Amarjyoti Deka, Babita Sarma, Riju Dutta, Hiten Thakuria, Buddha Bharat, etc., expressed gratitude to the audience for a remarkable response to the initiative. It’s hoped that the exercise would encourage the budding filmmakers to promote more film works as a powerful tool for the social empowerment of those underprivileged and create a sense of patriotism rather than exploiting them as a source of glossy entertainment. The powerful medium should also make the audience aware of the rich cultural heritage of Bharat and the pride out of the great nation’s legacy that evolved after thousands of years.

The writer is a Guwahati-based special representative of The Statesman  

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