Bidyut Kotoky
National Award Winner Bidyut Kotoky’s film in Assamese, Xhoihobote Dhemalite (Rainbow Fields) is one of the five films competing for the best foreign-feature film award in Hollywood International Cinefest’s line up for its 2017 festival edition. The film stars Victor Banerjee, Nakul Vaid, Naved Aslam, Nipon Goswami and Nikumoni Barua and model-actor Dipannita Sharma.
The movie: Xhoihobote Dhemalite (Rainbow Fields) is a sensitive portrayal about children growing up amidst violence, which leaves an indelible mark on their psyche and how that later influences their destinies. The film is semi autobiographical in nature, being inspired by true incidents from the director’s life.
Growing up in Assam, Bidyut Kotoky witnessed the unrest of the early 80s. As a school-going boy in Kokrajhar where his father was posted, Bidyut said they would see houses burning and people running for help as they returned from school. The memories of impromptu school holidays and the blackouts remained with him. So when he decided to direct the Assamese film Xhoihobote Dhemalite (Rainbow Fields) he knew it had to be a part biography. That is the reason why it took Bidyut a couple of months to finish the script. “Everything was already there. I only had to pen it down. I grew up and shifted base, that didn’t change my childhood. I remembered everything vividly. In fact I can close my eyes to visualise it,” says Bidyut.
Bidyut however says, the title of the movie is very relative. He stresses that the storyline isn’t a literal translation of the meaning of the words in Assamese. Metaphor? “In a way, but not entirely. I wanted the movie to go beyond the language barrier because every corner of the world is subject to such unrest. We must have focussed it right. That should be the reason why Zack Zublena, the Festival Director felt “Though Rainbow Field is a movie set in the back drop of Assam unrest and After Ever After is a heartfelt drama, both have an emotional depth that cut across geographical barriers’.
The reason behind agreeing to be in the Cinefests is that its focus to reach to the people across the world through securing distribution for the film, he says. “This is a significant positioning, given that filmmakers winning awards in all films festivals in the world are often left to fend for themselves to reach their labour of love to people,” added Bidyut
Talking about the selection of the film in the top 5 category Bidyut says, “I always believed that colour of emotions is same across the world. If we can watch a French or an Iranian film with subtitles, there is no reason why a good Assamese film with subtitles won’t be watched by audience across the world.”
Winner of many accolades Bidyut’s film Bhraimoman Theatre - where Othello sails with Titanic won the Special Jury award in the 53rd National Awards. His first feature film Ekhon Nedekha Nodir Xhipare (As the river flows) also won the Audience Choice Award at the North Carolina International South Asian Film Festival (NCISAFF). His latest documentary, Guns & Guitars – a musical travelogue was a part of Indian Panorama in IFFI, Goa (2016).
