NEW DELHI, November 22 (MIC): It is a great honour to Manipuri cinema and a big salute to filmmakers, technicians and artistes involved in Manipuri film industry that the critically acclaimed Manipuri feature film- Ishanou (1990), one of the masterpieces of Aribam Syam Sharma has been included among 27 Indian feature films to be screened at the Centenary Indian Cinema section of the 43rd International Film festival of India 2012 which is being held at Goa from November 20-30.
Ishanou (Chosen One) was the official selection of the Government of India for screening at Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes International Film Festival 1991 and was the first ever film from the North East India showcased at the prestigious Cannes Festival.
The 91- minute colour film tells an extraordinary story of a young wife (Anoubam Kiranmala) who suddenly begins to experience a series of fits and trances which the doctors cannot cure. A happy small family, somewhere in the Manipur valley, a husband (Kangabam Tomba) and wife and their little girl (Baby Molly) under the caring and protective authority of a market woman (Manbi) broke up when Tampha, the young wife was possessed by the divinity of the mysterious Maibi phenomenon and went through a series of violent feats of vision and trance till she ran away from home in frantic nocturnal quest of her Maibi Guru for initiation into the sect of the chosen.
Magic and mystery broke upon the mundane world of buying and selling and common rituals like that of a young girl’s ears being pierced and buying of a second hand scooter and a promotion in office bringing into play the world of the Maibis, with their exquisite ritual singing and dancing and worship and mythmaking.
But behind the colourful spectacle of traditional Lai Haraoba, into which Tampha almost lost herself in enraptured absorption, there lurked the pain of a mother who could no longer nurture a child who then grew into a stranger. The film closed on those images of estrangement that almost stifles the sheer grandeur and glory of the ritual festival.
Eminent littérateur M.K. Binodini scripted with screenplay the story. Girish Padhiar was the cameraman and Ujjwal Nandi was the editor.
The feature films selected for the package are Dhundiraj Govind Phalke’s silent film-Raja Harischandra (1913), Franz Osten’s Hindi Film-Achhut Kanya (1936), Vishnupam Govind Damle’s Hindi- Marathi film- Sant Tukaram (!936), Uday Shankar’s Hindi film- Kalpana (1948), S.S.Vasan’s Tamil film- Chandralekha(1948),Raj Kapoor’s Hindi film- Awaara (1951), Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film- Pather Panchali (1955), Guru Dutt’s Hindi Film- Pyaasa (1956), K. Asif’s Hindi-Urdu film-Mughal-E-Azam(1960), Ritwik Ghatak’s Bengali film- Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Ramu Kariat’s Malayalam film- Chemmeen(1965), Mrinal Sen’s Hindi film- Bhuvan Shome (1969), Pattabhi Rama Reddy’s Kannada film- Samskara (1970), Mani Kaul’s Hindi film- Duvidha, Kamal Amrohi’s Urdu film- Pakeezah ((1971), M.S Sathyu’s Hindi-Urdu film- Garam Hawa (1973), Ramesh Sippy’s Hindi film- Sholay(1975), Shyam Benegal’s Hindi film- Bhumika (1976), G. Aravindan’s Malayalam film- Thampu (1978), Adoor Gopalkrishnan’s Elippathayam ( 1981), Dasari Narayana Rao’s Telegu film-
Megha Sandesam (1982), G.V.Iyer’s Sanskrit film- Adi Shankaracharya (1983), Aribam Syam Sharma’s Manipuri film- Ishanou (1990), Ashutosh Gowariker’s Hindi film- Lagaan (2001), Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film- Kannathil Muthamittal (2001), Rajkumar Hirani’s Hindi film- Lage Raho Munnabhai and Anurag Basu’s Hindi film- Barfi (2012).
About the Centenary Indian Cinema package, Ira Bhaskar, Curatorial Consultant said, “In this centenary year since the release of DG Phalke’s Raja Harischandra, we celebrate the vibrant spirit and traditions of the cinemas of the world’s largest film producing nation with this package of films in ten different Indian languages.”
“While the inaugural programme of this section features the launch of the Indian Film Industry with Raja Harischandra and a screening of Uday Shankar’s international acclaimed Kalpana that has been newly restored, the package draws on different films through the decades to illustrate Indian Cinema’s symbolic relationship with the social, political and cultural life of the nation. The package concludes with the big popular entertainment hit of the year, Barfi which also pays tribute International Cinema”, she added.