Director and Producer Haobam Paban Kumar’s 72 -minute long Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake) was awarded for Best Film on Environment Conservation/ Preservation in the 64th National Film Awards 2016 which was announced on Friday.
The award carries one Citation, Rajat Kamal and Rupees 1, 50,000/- each to the producer and director.
The National Film Awards would be presented by the President of India on May 3, 2017 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
The citation said, ‘The film brings out the nuances of an environmental issue in a heart wrenching and touching manner.’
Paban Kumar said, ‘Loktak Lake is a unique ecosystem where fishermen lived in huts built on floating biomasses.
In 2011 the authorities, in the name of protecting serenity of the ecosystem, burnt down the huts leaving thousands of fishermen homeless. Tomba, one of the victims, lives with a harrowing nightmare of looming displacement since then.
He is haunted by seamless fear of further intervention of authorities that would make him homeless forever.
Confined in his makeshift hut, Tomba senses the spirit of evil around, while his wife Thambalsang works hard to make their living.’
“One fine morning Tomba accidentally finds a gun hidden within the biomass.
He marvels with the gun as his power of self-protection.
He transforms himself to an assertive man who is looking for an appropriate offense.
One day an old lady who mysteriously wanders in the lake, knocks at his door in the middle of the night.
Fearful Tomba, anticipating the lady as the spirit of all evils, chases her and commits an unintended crime.” (PTI)
Expressing his joyousness on the announcement of the award, Director Haobam Paban Kumar said this is the first time in the history of Manipuri films that a Manipuri Feature film has won an award in one of the main categories of the National Awards. So far in the feature film category of National Film Awards, Manipuri film have only won award in the Best Manipuri language category. His film will have Los Angeles premiere tomorrow April 8 and will have its Hong Kong premiere on 13 April 2017.
Loktak Lairembee’s journey started with the world premiere at 21st Busan International Film Festival 2016. In the India Premiere at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2016, the film got the top prize- Golden Gateway award. Besides screened at 67th Berlin International Film Festival 2017, the film travelled around the globe and took part in many major international film festivals
Haobam Paban Kumar is one of the leading documentary filmmakers of the country. Haobam came to limelight with the film ‘AFSPA 1958’ winning the International Jury and FIPRESCI award at the 9th Mumbai International Film Festival 2006.
The film also won the ‘Swarna Kamal’ for the Best Documentary at the 56th National Film Awards 2008. Some of his other notable films are ‘Ngaihak Lambida’, ‘A cry in the dark’, ‘The first leap’, ‘MR INDIA’, ‘Ruptured Spring’, ‘Nupishabi’ etc. Haobam has 5 National Film Awards and 5 Indian Panorama Selections to his credit.
His latest film ‘Phum Shang’ is one of the successful Indian films in recent years sweeping almost all the major awards in the country including the prestigious Golden Conch for the Best Documentary at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival 2016. The film Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the lake) is his debut fiction feature film. (UNI)
