Assamese filmmaker Rima Das’s movie Village Rockstars has become India’s official entry to the prestigious Oscars for 2018. The movie Village Rockstars which released in 2017 has already won many accolades from around the globe and was widely appreciated even in India. Rima Das and her movie won India’s National Best Film and Best Editor Awards in April 2018. The Government of India appointed jury headed by renowned filmmaker Shekhar Gupta, who had selected her movie Village Rockstars as the best film earlier this year. Rima Das had earlier proven her proficiency in the craft with her first movie Man with the Binoculars : Antardrishti which released in 2016. The film had premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival and had premiered in India at the Mumbai Film Festival. It was well received in both the venues and has since then been screened in more than 70 international and national film festivals and has won a total of 44 awards, 4 of them National awards. The film will now compete in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars awards ceremony to be held in 2019. The jury members of the Film Federation of India clarified this in a press release made earlier today on Saturday.
Rima Das had chosen her native village Chhaygaon in Assam as the setting for Village Rockstars. The film revolves around poor but fantastic children who enjoy life to the fullest despite limited financial means in their village. Dhunu, a little village girl is one of the main characters in the movie who wants to own a guitar and form her own music band with other children from the village. The movie highlights the plight of the villagers and their day to day struggles which get aggravated every time a natural disaster occurs. Dhunu’s small family which consists of her widowed mother Basanti and her elder brother Manabendra are representatives of villagers and their ordeals represent the plights of the common villagers in and around India. The simplicity of the village life coupled with the grace which comes so easily to the village folk are captured beautifully in the movie.
Rima Das has played multiple roles in the process of making Village Rockstars, she is not only the director and the writer of the movie but has also filmed it, carried out the production design and has also edited the entire movie single handedly. The only assistance she received came from the group of six minors whose story is showcased in the movie by Rima Das. It is because of her efforts that the Assam film industry has once again caught the attention of Indians and foreigners alike. It is commendable that a movie made on a negligible budget has made it to the Oscars beating multi million films like Padmavaat, Raazi, Hitchki and Manto to name a few.
With Village Rockstars, Rima Das has made her entry into the prestigious list of movies which have been India’s entry for the Oscarss. The prestigious list includes movies such as Bandit Queen, Indian, Lagaan, Devdas, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Peepli Live, Barfi and Newton. Newton was the last entry for the Oscars in 2017, none of the Indian films have till date managed to win at the Oscars but Rima Das and her heart touching movie could change the fortunes of Indian movie industry in 2019. We should all take a moment to congratulate Rima Das for making it to the Oscars. Well done Rima and all the best to Village Rockstars and her at the Oscars.