After its award-winning world premiere in Busan, South Korea, audiences in Europe had the chance to see for themselves another emerging woman director with a growing presence on the world stage…
IT’S HARD not to underestimate what auteur Rima Das has done with her second film, ‘Village Rockstars 2’.
Picking up where the first instalment ended, her story about Assam village girl, Dhunu growing up is engrossing, and beautifully captured.
Played again by Bhanita Das (no relation), this, for us, has echoes of the great Satyajit Ray – and his Apu Trilogy following the life of Apurba ‘Apu’ Kumar Roy.
You really care about Dhunu and worry about how she is going to realise her dreams of being a guitarist in a band, from a remote, often neglected, part of northeastern India.
Of course, it is a dream many teenagers have – more boys than girls, but which of us at that sort of age has not imagined the world of music at our feet, especially if we have any musical ability at all and it’s clear Dhunu has, as she already plays in a band and maintains her artistic practice, despite many other challenges.
In many ways, Rima Das shows us that there is common millennial (media) culture, thanks to the internet: Dhunu dreams of similar things to her counterpart in California, Busan or Berlin, perhaps.
Where the differences are – is in her material circumstances – her father has long passed (we have not seen ‘Village Rockstars’ {2021} and there is no need to – to understand this latest film); her mother is ailing and has to stop working – and she has an older brother who is more interested in drinking, than anything else and doesn’t seem to accept or appreciate the dire financial circumstances the family are in.
In the background too, is an unscrupulous property broker who totally disregards the mother (Basanti Das) and homes in on the vulnerable brother; he simply doesn’t care that the mother and the sister might have a say on the land that is also theirs.
For many years, the children have relied on their mother but now Dhunu finds herself ‘burdened’ with caring for her mother, and trying to make her brother understand the gravity of their situation – to little avail, really.
Without giving anything away, Rima Das’ film is a powerful and evocative portrait of what it is to grow up in a relatively remote part of rural India – the scenic beauty of the landscape is hard to forget.
Beautifully shot and acted, with strong central performances, this is an Indian film that deserves to travel far and wide.
This won the Kim Jiseok Award at the Busan International Film Festival last year – at its world premiere and rightly so.
Rima Das is one of a group of Indian women auteurs leading a global charge of sorts and is another exciting talent to watch, growing and developing on the world stage and one wonders now whether Village Rockstars 3 will go further into Dhunu’s life.
ACV rating: **** (out of five)
Main picture Dhanu (Bhanita Das) and Mother Basanti Das – All pictures ©RimaDas and courtesy of Berlinale 75 Press
