SHILLONG: The life and struggle of legendary Khasi freedom fighter, U Tirot Sing will come alive in screen through the medium of animation, thanks to the effort of some young film enthusiasts.
The first animated movie from Meghalaya titled “U Syiem’ will be screened at Soso Tham auditorium on March 6 and 8.
The 60-minute movie produced under the banner, the Cosmic Clusters at the cost of Rs 32 lakh will have a special screening on March 4.
Talking to newsmen here on Friday, director and writer of the movie, Ban Casper Mawlong said that U Syiem (The King) is a CGI (Computer Generated Images) animated film, the first of its kind in Meghalaya as well as in the North East, inspired on the life of U Tirot Sing.
According to the director, the film explores the life of the legendary freedom fighter U Tirot Sing who fought the East India Company against the oppression of his people.
He also said that the controversial treaty No-LXXXIV was the turning point that led to the Awakening Day, April 4 1829 transforming the young king into a war commander through the tactic of guerrilla warfare.
Mawlong said that he was inspired to make the movie since he wanted to recreate the historical moments in the life of this great king for the sake of the younger generation.
He recalled an incident when a question was asked to a boy on who was Tirot Sing and the boy’s reply was that Sing was a Punjabi.
“This was another reason which convinced me to make this movie. We would like to see U Tirot Sing to become an icon and hero tfor our children to replace other cartoon characters given the fact that quality and standard of the animated movie U Syiem is better compared to other animated movies,” the director of the movie said.
He, however, said that the reason for dubbing the movie in English is to make the world know the history and life of this great leader and also to spread awareness on the culture and history of Khasi tribe to the world.
On the challenges to make a film on the life of a warrior like U Tirot Sing, he said that it was exceedingly difficult to present a movie, especially through the medium of animation, “so as a whole team, we tried our best to improve the script, storyboard, animation, voice-overs, visual effects as well as music to bring forth the life, personality and the story of the Khasi warrior in just one hour developing our own cost-effective production methods for a shoe string budget”.
While the story is inspired by actual events, the director said that certain characters, their characterization, locations and dialogues were fictionalized for the purpose of dramatization without the intent to hurt the sentiments of any person living or dead.
The team has not planned to release the movie in the big screen as they will need Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) clearance for the commercial screening of the movie in the cinema halls.
“We will be seeking CBFC clearance in due course of time,” he said.
But the team is planning to screen the movie in many schools in Meghalaya with minimum charges. There will be a free screening of the movie for the underprivileged and BPL children of Meghalaya in collaboration with Spark, a registered NGO for child welfare.
The director said they had partnered with Aircel for the publicity and promotion of the film through SMS, posters, leaflets, sale of tickets, dialer tunes from the original soundtracks designed and composed by Gregory Syiem from Melodia Arrangements. A song U Tirot Sing by Desmond Sunn will also be available to Aircel subscribers. The trailer of the movie can be viewed at YouTube Channel. The tickets will be available on selected stores and Aircel outlets for Rs 150 and Rs 200.
