From Our Special Correspondent
SHILLONG: Iewduh, yet another of Pradip Kurbah’s film which won the Kim Ji-seok Award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival in Korea premiered here on Saturday at the 3-day Kelvin Cinema film festival at the Soso Tham auditorium. Incidentally this is the first Indian movie to bag an award at Busan.
Produced by Shankar Lall Goenka whose father Jeevan Ram Goenka built Kelvin Cinema in Shillong in1926, the film features the lives of ordinary people whose livelihoods depend on Iewduh (Bara Bazar), which is Northeast India’s oldest wholesale cum retail market. The story revolves around Mike a young man who manages a public toilet in Iewduh and earns an honest living by keeping the toilets clean. Not much is known of Mike’s parentage. He lives in a one roomed home, cooks and cleans everything himself but is large-hearted enough to take under his wings a young Hep (Denver Pariat), who was apparently abandoned by his mother at Iewduh at a very young age. He gets into drugs and was put into a rehab centre from where he ran away because he felt unwanted. Mike and Hep get into frequent altercations because of Sanju an addict who Hep befriends.
There is this character of a man suffering Alzheimers portrayed by Lamare (Richard Kharpuri).
On occasions he only remembers his son David and his wife Lisa and always asks the question, “Who are you?” There is Priya ( Baia Marbanian) who is a victim of domestic violence and whose shrill cries echoes in the silence of Iewduh and worries Mike a great deal.
On occasions he tells Priya to leave her husband but she keeps arguing that she has no other home.
One day Priya lights herself up and the cries are silenced forever but Mike cannot forgive himself for not being there to help Priya. Indeed, Mike’s character is that of a Good Samaritan. He can’t see anyone suffer.
Like every young man, Mike secretly admires Edwina (Lapynhun Sun) a tea-seller in Iewduh but does not have the courage to express his love for her. Edwina however, seems to fancy Pun but later marries Navin a non-tribal much to the chagrin of Pun.
Pradip Kurbah’s story telling is crisp yet conveys a range of emotions in a very subtle way that is not dramatic. The screenplay by Paulami Duttagupta and Pradip himself is melds very well with the storyline.
The annual ritual at Iewduh with its dancers lend lends colore to the film and lifts it from the cacophony of the over-crowded market place that is bursting at the seams and where humans jostle and push to make their way around.
The panoramic view of Iewduh actually tells us just how very congested it is and how it is not just a market but a shelter for many as well.
Iewduh will be screened next at the Mumbai, Goa and Kerala festivals and will have a pan-India release on November 15 next. In Shillong it will be screened in Galleria and Bijou Cinema.
Speaking at the premier on Saturday, Pradip said he was happy and proud to be associated with Kelvin Cinema which is Meghalaya’s version of a film festival.
About the film Iewduh, he said he owed it to the cast and crew for the excellent manner in which it has turned out.
He choked on his words at the opportunity to screen Iewduh before a select audience of eminent film makers and awardees.
Producer Shankar Lall Goenka too was overjoyed by the success of his first Khasi film. He is keen to make a second film soon.