One of the few occasions when the rest of the nation takes notice of the goings on in Manipur is when some news on activist Irom Sharmila pops up.
It has been 14 years since she began her hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. She has become such an identifiable figure because of her commitment to the cause but 14 years on, and no one is listening.
But when anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare announced his decision to go on an indefinite hunger strike last year, the national media was swamped with news and footage, prompting the Union Government to pay heed and offer cursory promises.
Why this difference in speed and intensity of reaction, asks Sunzu Bahaspathiymayam. A film-maker and journalist working in Imphal, he spoke during a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing Behind the Lines, Between the Lines International Film Festival in the capital on Saturday.
Mr. Bahaspathiymayam’s deceivingly named documentary ‘Pony and Me’ has been hailed as one of the more powerful films to have been screened so far at the festival. It explores armed conflict and ethnic divides ripping apart the once-peaceful society of Manipur.
“It is a story about how the people have been affected by this prolonged exposure to conflict. People do no even realise how much a part of them this tendency towards violence has become,” he says.
Mr. Bahaspathiymayam says there is a limit to the viability of documentary film-making as a profession, especially in the North-East, which is why turned to his other love, journalism. Being a video journalist, he said, helped him collect reams of archival footage that has been strung together to compose this stunning documentary.
His own cameraman was shot in the midst of filming the conflict, he says. The documentary is very new and is intended for audiences, both at home and beyond. The pony in the title is a metaphor, Mr. Bahaspathiymayam says, adding that it refers to a dying equine breed indigenous to this region.
These horses feed on garbage in the streets and wander aimlessly, among the many shots in his film. He draws parallels between the sorry plight of the once-majestic horses to that of the people in besieged region.
