Back to films after a two-decade hiatus

Santwana Bordoloi makes 2nd film after Adajya in 1996

December 11, 2016 10:41 am | Updated 10:41 am IST - Thiruvananthapuram:

A scene from Maj Rati Keteki.

A scene from Maj Rati Keteki.

A two-decade long hiatus from film-making is not something you take after winning the National Film Award and a Special Jury Award at the International Film Festival of India. But then, that is exactly what Assamese film-maker Santwana Bordoloi, a paediatrician by profession, did after winning these with her debut Adajya in 1996.

Two decades later, she decided to do her second film Maj Rati Keteki, which will be premiered at the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in the International Competition category.

“It’s not that I have been sitting idle all these years. Of course, I had my medical practice, but I have also been playing around with ideas. This script I did not write overnight. Because I am not a trained film-maker who came out of an institute. A plot, situation, or circumstances would have to inspire me enough to make me feel like making a film,” says Bordoloi.

She calls her decision to make her first film, based on Indira Goswami’s novel The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker , a strange coincidence. She was also a regular visitor to IFFI, and she says all those films inspired her.

“I have been associated with performing arts like radio plays and television shorts, sometimes as an actor, sometimes as director. Film-making was automatically a graduation process from that. During that time, I read Indira Goswami’s book and I had to prepare an interview with the writer. Because I was apprehensive, I had to read the book several times. Every time I read the book, I realised that each and every character touched me in some way. Then I decided, maybe I can write a script,” she says.

Struggles of widows

The film, set in 1940s Assam, chronicled the struggles of three widows to lead dignified lives despite the extreme restrictions mandated by law and custom.

“The question, if you are a woman, you cannot even decide the way you want to live was the central point of the film.

“All the decisions are taken by society or the men in the family. If you can’t live the way you want to, maybe you can die the way you want to,” she says.

Her second film is on a writer who returns to the town where once he was inspired to begin his journey. Adil Hussain plays the lead character. She is now happy to see a revival in the Assamese film industry.

“People still flock to big banner Bollywood films. They hesitate to go for Assamese films. But lot of young film graduates are changing the trend a bit. All kinds of movies are being made now. More serious subjects, away from the old ideas and way of making, are being tried. A few years back, the industry was making around 5 films annually, now it is making 20-30 films,” she says.

She has fond memories connected to Kerala. Her debut film was honoured with the G.Aravindan memorial award. In 2002, she was part of the IFFK jury.

“I loved that experience. The others in the jury were such senior people. I was like a mouse among them,” she says.

So, will she be taking another long hiatus? “Now, I am semi-retired from medical practice. I am at the clinic twice a week only. I am hoping to make another film soon, because I cannot wait for 20 more years.”

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