NEW DELHI, Nov 6 - Ishu, the feature film debut of critic-turned filmmaker Utpal Borpujari produced by Children�s Film Society, India (CFSI), has been selected for the Indian Languages Competition at the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival.
The film, which marks the screen debut of Kapil Garo from Sonapur Barosojiya village on the outskirts of Guwahati in the title role, will compete with nine other Indian films in various languages for the top honours at the festival. Ishu is a big screen adaptation of Manikuntala Bhattacharjya�s children�s novel with the same name.
The film also stars Bishnu Kharghoria and Manipuri actress Tonthoingambi Leishangthem Devi, along with veterans like Chetana Das and Pratibha Choudhury and young actors like Monuj Borkotoky, Dipika Deka and Nibedita Bharali. Others in the cast include Mahendra Das, Rajesh Bhuyan, Naba Kumar Baruah, and Monuj Gogoi. Other child actors in the film include Mahendra Rabha, Srabanta Rabha and Uday Rabha.
The film uses sand animation by talented Diganta Madhab Goswami to depict two folk tales that are told to the protagonist by his aunt and grandmother.
The film�s dialogue, with emphasis on how the Rabha people living near Goalpara area speak Assamese with a particular accent, has been written by Borpujari in collaboration with award-winning theatre director Sukracharjya Rabha of the famed Badungduppa Kala Kendra of Rampur, Agia.
Several actors from the Badungduppa group, including Dhananjay Rabha and Basanta Rabha, have acted in pivotal roles in the film, which has been shot in pristine locations of several Rabha tribal villages near Agia in Goalpara, located on the south bank of the mighty Brahmaputra.
The film has been edited by A Sreekar Prasad, while its sound design is by Amrit Pritam Dutta and music is by Anurag Saikia, while cinematographer is Sumon Dowerah.
Set in a remote tribal Rabha village in lower Assam area bordering Meghalaya�s Garo Hills, the film marks the debut of national award-winning film critic and documentary maker Utpal Borpujari.