By Poulami Kundu
SHILLONG, March 22: This spring, we’re all banking on hopes more than ever before to help buoy up amid these trying times. Iewduh (2019) being declared the Best Khasi Film at the 67th National Film Awards on Monday, perhaps, is an augury of a better year ahead.
Debajit Gayan, location sound recordist of the film, was declared the winner for Best Audiography at New Delhi on Monday. A ceremony will be held in May to honour the artistes from films made in 2019.
Director Pradip Kurbah, 43, expressed his gratitude to his team, including producer, Shankar Lall Goenka, and cinematographer, Pradip Daimary.
Iewduh depicts the lives of people whose livelihoods depend on the biggest market in Shillong.
“My parents owned a shop at Iewduh. I have been visiting the place since childhood. When I started making films, I observed that there are many untold stories in the lanes of the busy market,” said Kurbah.
“I could have shot a documentary instead, but I wanted to reach out to more people through fiction,” said the maker of the movie which has been screened at various national and international film festivals.
The film focuses on the dynamics of human relationships and struggles of commoners.
“It was a little tricky for us to complete the screenplay because there were too many stories to tell. I felt that the people in the market share a unique connection despite no blood relation,” said the maker of RI: Homeland of Uncertainty and Onaatah.
“In fact, I can make 10 more films with Iewduh as a backdrop. I was lucky that our producer believed in the concept and made it happen,” he said.
The protagonist, Albert Mawrie, plays the role of a man, who struggles to clean the use-and-pay toilets so that he can fund his brother’s education, which is something many can relate to in a society that is increasingly becoming unequal.
“Mawrie’s dedication as an actor is impeccable. He not only put on weight, but also spent time in and around the public toilets in the market to understand the character. Hence, right from the movie’s inception, we had him in mind,” he said.
The film was shot amid the hustle and bustle of customers at Iewduh.
“It was difficult to shoot, but people around were really supportive,” he said.
Actor-cum-mentor, Lapdiang, had conducted a month-long workshop to train the actors and get them accustomed to the characters.
With regard to the move-making expenditure, the director of the film who had won the Kim Ji-seok Award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea in 2019 said, “The film’s budget was over Rs 50 lakh, but we haven’t been able to recover as theatres are rare and film policies do not exist in the state.”
“I am sure there are many other filmmakers who have great ideas, but they need producers. Producers will only come on board if they see profit. The government should intervene and put a film policy in place to help the industry grow,” suggests the self-taught filmmaker.
On mass viewership, he said, “Getting an offer from an Over-the-top platform is a struggle as this is a small movie from a tiny place, but I am hopeful as it has won several awards.”
“Right now, I am dependent on the people from the region to reach the break-even point,” he said.
He added that a good film required good budget and they did cough up a lot on post-production.
Kurbah is currently working on his upcoming film, Ha Lyngkha Bneng.
The director, who makes it a point to zero in on women’s issues in his movies, said, “Though we say ours is a matrilineal society, the reality is different. Women face similar issues here. In fact, due to the pandemic, several women from the region have been subjected to domestic abuse.”
“I tried to stick to the positivity in the market while making the film instead of glorifying the dark side. At the end of the day, audience should able to connect to the emotions,” he said.
Kurbah said they made sure that sounds were recorded at the right time. “I told everyone that the background score of the movie should be the sound in the market as I had observed that sounds changed as we moved from one lane to another,” he said.
The movie, which was shot in 20 days, has a song called Korina, which describes the life of a mentally-challenged woman.
“As a child, when I used to visit the market, I did observe a mentally-challenged woman singing and dancing on the streets and uttering the word, Korina, several times. As a result, people started calling her Korina. I also heard several stories about her during my research work,” he said.
“That woman was gang-raped in the market and she could not complain because of her mental condition and her children were taken away by the missionaries,” he said.
He said he wanted to feature her in the screenplay, but there were technical issues. “I resorted to portraying her in a dream,” he said.
Location sound recordist, Debajit Gayan, who was elated on securing the award, thanked the team.
An alumnus of Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society in Guwahati’s Kahilipara, Gayan said, “I started recording sounds before the shoots began and kept going back even during post-production to get right.”
“The five months of editing was hectic. As we shot in a busy area, we had to tackle sound from all directions. Well, I am glad we made it,” he said.