TCN- Taking Stock of Assamese Film Industry- Mr. Utpal Borpujari

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Chicken-Neck Podcast. Supported by the IDW's network, we are a bunch

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[00:00:23] Hello and welcome to another episode of the Chicken-Neck Podcast. Our guest today

[00:00:27] is Mr. Utpal Bhavapujari who is an award-winning filmmaker and critic, having been awarded

[00:00:32] the National Film Award twice in both roles. Mr. Bhavapujari also features regularly in

[00:00:37] the columns of prestigious national and regional newspapers and writes about a wide

[00:00:41] area of topics such as politics, movies, culture and other interesting areas. In this episode

[00:00:47] we talk to him about his journey from being a journalist to donning the hat of filmmaking

[00:00:51] and also cover a lot of aspects from films, documentaries as well as media and journalism.

[00:00:58] Thank you. Thank you. I'm really happy to be on Chicken-Neck's podcast because I've been going

[00:01:06] through its content and it's really interesting and it's really a good thing that you are trying

[00:01:11] to bring voices from the Northeast out to the rest of the world.

[00:01:17] Thank you so much, sir. One of the reasons we started was to bring the voices of the

[00:01:21] Northeast to the rest of the world. So thank you so much for appreciating that. But, sir,

[00:01:25] to start off the podcast and to start off from your journey, in the short introduction that I

[00:01:31] just gave, we see you as a journalist, as a filmmaker, screenwriter as well as a film critic.

[00:01:38] It's very rare that a person has so many diverse hats to himself. So could you tell us a little bit

[00:01:45] about your journey, how you started your career as a journalist and how you have then for it

[00:01:49] into the other parts and that too successfully? So could you please take us a bit through

[00:01:54] your own journey? Yeah, I actually started writing in newspaper first in the children's column

[00:02:00] while I was a school student in Guwahati. I was a student of cotton college here at Hazard

[00:02:04] Kendery School and when we were young, that was the period when the Assam vegetation was going on

[00:02:11] and during that time I used to contribute once in a while with, you know, sometimes with

[00:02:18] quizzes and sometimes with one or two sketches to the children section of the very popular weekly

[00:02:26] newspaper called Aukham Badi. So I think that is how that the whole germ was planted in my,

[00:02:34] you know, in my brain about journalism. And then while I was in college, in cotton college,

[00:02:41] while I was in the second year of my BAC, that time this weekly, actually fortnightly

[00:02:50] New Jersey called the North East Sun started from Delhi. And it gave a lot of space to freelance

[00:02:56] writers from all over Northeast to write on various topics. So that is where actually I started

[00:03:02] my, you can say actual journalism, though I was, I had no knowledge about how professional

[00:03:10] journalism is practice and how what is the life of journalists. I used to write on topics that

[00:03:16] would interest me from, you know, culture cinema about various events in Guwahati,

[00:03:22] also about sports and all that. So in Northeast Sun, and that was during 1988-89.

[00:03:29] So after that, I went to IIT Rootkey for my MTech in applied geology. And during those three

[00:03:37] years also, though the IIT curriculum is very tough and very time consuming, I used to contribute

[00:03:43] about the happenings in the campus to there were in those days, there were a couple of

[00:03:50] newspapers which used to have campus columns, you know. So I used to contribute there. And

[00:03:57] I also used to write on popular science and say travel logs in newspapers in even during that time,

[00:04:05] my articles were carried in the Hindustan Times Indian Express. And also in the very popular

[00:04:10] as a means magazine called Pranti. So that is how I mean, I continued writing and towards

[00:04:18] once I finished my master's degree, though I might have profession qualified me to go into

[00:04:25] in the field of geology, maybe to oil company or something. But I got more interested to a journalism

[00:04:33] and I went back to Guwahati and joined the Sentinel newspaper as a reporter. And that's how my

[00:04:40] professional career started after working there for slightly more than a year, I got an opportunity

[00:04:47] to join Press Trust of India in Delhi. And that is when I shifted to Delhi and I joined PTI in

[00:04:55] 1990 1995, April. And since then I have, I was I see, I've been staying in Delhi.

[00:05:02] After five years in PTI, I joined Deccan Herald, the very popular newspaper from Bangor.

[00:05:08] I joined its political bureau in Delhi. And I worked there for nearly 10 years

[00:05:16] with it is fall break in between during which I joined the newspaper called Sakaal Times,

[00:05:22] which was brought out by a very famous Sakaal group of newspapers from Maharashtra.

[00:05:27] So I joined their bureau, their office in Delhi, but that was a short lived

[00:05:31] affair on the newspaper closed down very soon after a few months. So I went back to Deccan

[00:05:36] Herald. And that is how I continued in my journalism profession till the end of 2010.

[00:05:42] And while I was, I had been writing on cinema extensively, especially

[00:05:48] I after I shifted to Delhi, I got exposure to a lot of cinema, you know, a lot of cinema events

[00:05:54] and cinema in Delhi, because you have in Delhi places like India International Center, India

[00:05:59] Habitat Center, then the various embassy cultural centers, which all organize a lot

[00:06:07] of film screenings and a lot of people who come to Delhi, I mean, even now they do. And

[00:06:12] I had the chance to interact with them. And also I had the chance of, you know,

[00:06:18] covering the International Film Festival of India and then the Cinefan Festival,

[00:06:26] Ocean Cinefan, which became Ocean Cinefan later on. And we

[00:06:30] got to meet a lot of great filmmakers in these festivals. And that's how slowly by

[00:06:36] you know, I got interested in cinema more and more. And then towards the end of 2010,

[00:06:42] I thought, okay, I have written the, you know, for a long time, almost two decades about

[00:06:46] other people. But now it's time to venture to the visual media maybe and try telling

[00:06:52] those stories which are not possible to tell, you know, through the medium of journalism.

[00:06:58] So that's how I shifted to filmmaking into the, from 2011 onwards.

[00:07:06] I think that's a very interesting journey because especially,

[00:07:11] I mean, I was just listening to your journey and I just kind of think that while it is so,

[00:07:15] you know, popular now to take a pivot from your career in today's time.

[00:07:20] But you had done it when it was before any of the social media, you know,

[00:07:25] had basically infiltrated in our lives. So to shift from one profession to another is I think

[00:07:30] a challenging act in itself and then to be successful is another story altogether.

[00:07:36] So I think you will obviously, you know, your diverse interest in converting those

[00:07:41] interests into career opportunities, something that needs to be an inspiration to the

[00:07:45] generation of us and the ones younger than us of course. But sir, talking a bit about your

[00:07:52] work and getting straight to it, you recently directed a documentary which was titled as the

[00:07:58] Mask Art of Majuli, which depicted the mask making culture of Majuli in a Sam.

[00:08:05] Would you like to tell us a bit about the film, the culture of mask making and how the idea

[00:08:10] came about? I understand this is a little related to how you got into filmmaking in the first

[00:08:15] place as you just mentioned. So could you tell us what made you work on that?

[00:08:19] Yeah, right. I mean, I will come to your last comment and it's related to how you,

[00:08:26] how I came to filmmaking. Actually, you know, when I was a journalist, I extensively

[00:08:34] travelled the interiors of India to cover elections, to cover political rallies and also

[00:08:39] went quite a bit to the interiors of North East India also to cover various events.

[00:08:44] I mean, they can help though it's based in Bangalore. It had a very good focus on North East India.

[00:08:52] And quite often I would be sent to cover events in North East India. And then I saw that there

[00:08:58] are so many stories that need to be told, you know, which are in the interiors of India and

[00:09:05] especially in North East because I coming from North East, I strongly believe that

[00:09:11] lot of this information and lot of wrong information about North East comes from the

[00:09:18] fact that there is hardly any information available on the region in mainstream media or

[00:09:24] visual media. So that was one idea of my coming to filmmaking so that I can take

[00:09:34] take up stories which are not possible to tell through usual day-to-day journalism

[00:09:39] and then tell them in the audiovisual media through a cinematic style. And that's how if you

[00:09:48] look at all my films, especially my documentary films, you'll see that I have tried to bring

[00:09:53] out stories that I feel need to be strongly projected to rest of the country and also

[00:09:59] outside the country. So, Mask Art of Majuli which is my latest documentary film, it is also part of

[00:10:05] that effort only and it was produced by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and

[00:10:11] North East Regional Centre which is based in Guwahati. It's an organization under the Ministry

[00:10:18] of Culture and they try to preserve and document various cultural aspects of India.

[00:10:26] They have been doing it since many years and they also make films as part of this effort.

[00:10:32] So, I got the opportunity to make this film on Mask Art of Majuli. So, Infatite proposed the idea

[00:10:41] to agency and they commissioned the film to me. The idea is that you know as Asamese people

[00:10:48] we know about the Mask Art which was initiated by Srimanta Sankar Dev and how it is

[00:10:55] used in Bhavnara, Jyotiyanath and all. We all Asamese people know about that.

[00:10:59] And also Mask Art is not something that is only found in Assam. It's found all over the world

[00:11:05] but Mask Art of Assam which is though it is practiced in some other parts of Assam also,

[00:11:15] it's the core of it is practiced in Majuli in the Chavaguri Khotra. The Khotras as you

[00:11:23] know are the West-White monasteries and why I got interested in the subject is that it is

[00:11:31] almost a dying art in Assam. It's only two families which practice the art in Majuli

[00:11:35] and there are a couple of families which practice in other parts of Assam.

[00:11:40] And in Majuli because Majuli is the heart of the Satriya culture in Assam

[00:11:48] and I thought that if I tell the story from the perspective of mask makers and mask making

[00:11:56] in Majuli, I could also showcase a little bit about the life and you know life of Majuli,

[00:12:03] the society, the culture, the nature everything visually. So that's how I kind of took it up

[00:12:09] and also another very important aspect of Mask in Assam is that they are

[00:12:14] totally traditionally totally organic you know they are made with bamboo, cloth and

[00:12:21] you know mud mixture of mud and cow dung and then painted with natural colors.

[00:12:27] Of course now these days natural colors are very hard to find so they have started using

[00:12:31] artificial colors but that is a traditional way. So that's how I got interested in the subject

[00:12:36] and made the film and till now it has been screened in a couple of festivals and people

[00:12:41] have liked it. That's the biggest satisfaction one can get as a filmmaker.

[00:12:45] No I'm sure, I mean this is such an integral part of our culture and the fact that the story goes

[00:12:50] on around the world. It's such a strong medium to you know tell the story to the rest of the

[00:12:55] world so many congratulations on that. You know sir to move from this because again for us

[00:13:01] to cover so much of your work especially with respect to documentary making and we wanted to

[00:13:06] have an insight into some of the work that you have done. So apart from this particular documentary

[00:13:12] you have also made you know short fiction film called Hogan and other documentaries like Memories

[00:13:17] of a Forgotten Wall, Memories Songs of Blue Hills and Mayong. Could you tell us a bit about

[00:13:25] the thought process again behind all of this work and what are this work primarily about?

[00:13:33] Yeah I mean if you look at all the documentary films that you have mentioned they are

[00:13:39] they're part of the stories that need to be told from the artist. I mean that is

[00:13:44] I primarily get affected by the subjects which are not known much not only outside the region but

[00:13:52] even within the region it's not much known sometimes. So all this documentary and Mayong was my

[00:14:00] Mayong meets last reality was my first documentary film immediately after I left

[00:14:06] journalism in 2010. I completed the film in 2012 so it is a story of Mayong the place which we all

[00:14:14] know for its practice of magic. Many people say it's black magic but the tradition was not only

[00:14:20] about black magic but also about magic practice of magic and of course there are a lot of you

[00:14:25] know manuscripts which are in old Asami's language and many of them are yet to be deciphered

[00:14:33] but people who are in Mayong, people who are studying the whole tradition they say that

[00:14:40] they contain a lot of you know information about the magical practices also a lot of you know mantras.

[00:14:46] So I thought this place which is so near Guwahati I mean people don't even know about

[00:14:51] this place even in Guwahati when everybody knows the name Mayong but many people don't

[00:14:55] know where it is how to go there and people were quite afraid even now some people tell

[00:15:03] me that they're afraid to go to the place because they a lot of believe that there will be people

[00:15:08] who do magic on you and all that so that's why I just thought that I would like to you know capture

[00:15:16] the whole cultural story behind the meets and also about the meets. So that is how that

[00:15:26] film was made. Okay so that was about the film on Mayong and then Memories of a Forgotten War was

[00:15:35] again I initially started off by thinking that when we were in school and college we used to

[00:15:43] watch you know a lot of programs on Durgaur'san about folk music from northeast and all that

[00:15:49] occasionally those programs would be telecast and they would show a group of dancers or group

[00:15:55] of singers standing in a beautiful location and then to sing the song without any information about

[00:16:03] what why this song is sung what is the meaning and what belongs to which tribe and all that.

[00:16:10] So I was also always intrigued about you know the musical practices in Nagaland and

[00:16:18] as well as rest of the northeast so I thought that you know Nagaland being such a diverse

[00:16:26] state you know ethnically I mean one tribe doesn't understand the language of another tribe and all

[00:16:32] that so I thought how musically the society is because we know the Naga folk music is very rich

[00:16:41] and that's how initially I started off by trying to explore that aspect but when I went into Nagaland

[00:16:47] I found that the kind of musical practices that society is having currently is amazing and

[00:16:54] we all know about the Hornbyn festival and how it has become an international you know

[00:16:59] internationally blockbuster kind of music festival but the ground work that the Nagas have been doing

[00:17:08] is amazing and that's how my whole idea whole focus of the story changed I kind of went into a

[00:17:16] journey of exploring contemporary practices of Naga folk music and also I tried to bring in the

[00:17:23] debate between the traditional folk musicians and the younger musicians some of whom are also trying to

[00:17:29] experiment with folk music to take it to the larger world some are say trying to make it a bit

[00:17:38] blues kind of bit foxy blue kind of thing some people are trying to combine it with western

[00:17:44] classical music a lot of experimentation is going on so that's how the whole story emerged in my

[00:17:49] film if you watch the film which is it is available on youtube songs of the blue hills you will find that

[00:17:57] the whole debate is there but the Nagas immensely respect their traditions and they are very proud

[00:18:03] of their culture and they are trying to take it to the next level to the rest of the world and I think

[00:18:09] they have succeeded in a huge way through the Hornbyn festival and my film is kind of

[00:18:16] documenting that journey then coming to memories of a forgotten war it's I was always intrigued about

[00:18:24] you know the battles of second world war which were fought in Nagaland and Manipur intrigue was

[00:18:31] in two counts one is that people from two you know disparate continents you know disparate countries

[00:18:38] two island nations one is England and the one is Japan and they came all the way to fight in the

[00:18:45] hills where they have those stakes I mean they were fighting in a place where nobody knew their

[00:18:53] language their culture anything and and the local people were caught in the crossfire I mean that

[00:18:58] was not their battle but they suffered like anything I mean their villages were razed people got

[00:19:04] killed and a lot of I mean even now is repercussions have felt you know sometimes people find unexploded

[00:19:12] mortars or grenades from the second world war and without knowing what they are they try to

[00:19:18] tinker with them and they explode and people lose their limbs or even lives I mean incidents

[00:19:23] like that keep happening even even today so I thought that that story needed to be told

[00:19:30] and also I'm told from the point of view of of the you know of someone who is from North East

[00:19:38] you know there have been films documentary films made by BBC and other western organizations

[00:19:46] you know there is a documentary made by the American army on the construction of the Lido

[00:19:54] that Steelwell wrote so in those films it's always about Victor and the vanquist you know who won the

[00:20:01] battles and who lost so it's all about if you if you if the filmmaker is from you know UK it

[00:20:09] would talk about the allied armies victly and how brave the allied army were and how they defeated

[00:20:14] the Japanese and all that and Japan hardly talks about these battles because they lost there

[00:20:19] when who would like to talk about the battle where they lost you know so in Japan it's hardly spoken

[00:20:25] about and there have been of course books on them and the books some of the books are very well

[00:20:31] written and they dispassionately have looked into it but I found it in a documentary space

[00:20:36] hardly there are any films which you know look at it from a point of view of humanity

[00:20:42] so I thought that if I try to explore the idea from the point of view of the local people

[00:20:48] and how they suffered and that's how I got into making this film and it was produced by

[00:20:55] my dear friend Subhimal Bhattacharji who was my junior in cotton college and he is a very well

[00:21:02] known cyber security expert and defense consultant based in Delhi he's from Hafflon

[00:21:08] so when he heard that I had this idea to make the film and he said okay I'll fund it I said

[00:21:14] no it will be a costly affair because it's not only about shooting in Manipura and Nagaland but

[00:21:20] we have to if possible get hold of catch hold of some of the war veterans who are still alive

[00:21:26] who are in their 90s and they are they will be in UK and Japan we have to travel there

[00:21:31] so Subhimal said no let's start it and let's keep going and we'll see how it can be done

[00:21:38] and that's how bit by bit we did the film we shot extensively in Mizoram we interviewed some of the

[00:21:45] veterans who had fought in Nagaland Manipur from Mizoram and they also fought in the Burma front

[00:21:50] which is in the Burma Burma site now Myanmar site and then I went to Manipur and Nagaland

[00:21:57] shot extensively in the villages and made a lot of you know people old people who either

[00:22:04] participated in the war as soldiers that is mostly Nagas and all or people who witnessed the

[00:22:11] battles or also suffered in the battles I mean made a lot of people in Nagaland and Manipur

[00:22:16] in that category then we went to UK actually we shot the film in 2014

[00:22:23] mostly we shot in 2014 which was the 78th anniversary of the battle of Kohima in April

[00:22:28] so there were ceremonies which were held in UK and Japan to commemorate those battles

[00:22:34] and interestingly the British always talks about battle of Kohima because they won there

[00:22:39] and Japanese never talks talks about battle of Kohima they only talk about battle of infall

[00:22:44] because they won there I mean that is how the whole psychology of war you know works but

[00:22:51] when we shot in Japan in UK we found that people are trying to

[00:22:56] there are there are organizations we are trying to

[00:22:58] have a reconciliation process and people are meeting each other and I was very fortunate that

[00:23:06] I made I could film two veterans one from the light army the British army and one from the

[00:23:13] Japanese army sitting together in Tokyo and reminiscing about the war I mean it was one of

[00:23:18] the most moving moments in the film and ultimately my film was about humanity and how nobody

[00:23:26] wins in you know wars ultimately it's humanity which loses the common people they suffer

[00:23:31] and also I think it is part of the history of Northeast India which is hardly known outside

[00:23:36] so I thought it was very important to document it I saw it widely in the various battle spots

[00:23:43] in both Manipur and Nagaland and even now people discover you know water shells, drainage,

[00:23:51] sharp nails you know those things are even now found in the hills and the valleys of Manipur

[00:23:56] and Nagaland so it was a very exciting film and it's it's streaming in a on a on a platform

[00:24:04] right now but we are trying to now make it widely available by making it available on YouTube

[00:24:11] movies or Google play or things like that hopefully it will come there soon and you

[00:24:15] were asking me about the short film Hogan as you know in English is Vulture and it was a very

[00:24:23] you know famous short story by Monod Kumar Goswami with a very senior journalist and also

[00:24:31] a prominent writer he won the Sahita Academy Award this year so it is one of his most

[00:24:37] celebrated story and it kind of explores the it kind of explores the state journalism is in

[00:24:45] so I have seen the evolution of journalism since 1993 onwards directly as a as a professional

[00:24:53] and I have seen how the whole the morality the ethical part and that whole debate going on

[00:25:01] in the in the profession how things have changed in the last few years so I felt that this story

[00:25:07] could be one which could you know reflect a lot of things about the state of journalism in our

[00:25:13] country so so I made this film which was made in 2020 and it just traveled to a lot of festivals

[00:25:25] and it will hopefully come on a on it will be released online in the in the next couple of months

[00:25:35] I think it goes on to show as to what we started the conversation on that you started

[00:25:40] you know this entire process of filmmaking to tell stories that may not be you know as

[00:25:46] effectively said through you know through words so I think that that is reflected

[00:25:52] through your work and through your stories continuously I think what we would do as as the

[00:25:58] as a podcast and as much as we can is that we'll try to link your you know all this all

[00:26:03] these films all these short films to our show notes so that people can click and go to

[00:26:09] the source through which they can access this I think some of them as you mentioned are

[00:26:13] also available on YouTube but I'm particularly touched by how how you went on to search

[00:26:20] you know war veterans to look into the story of the Second World War that has fought with

[00:26:25] the hills of this region I think we as a podcast have also tried to look into these issues

[00:26:31] you know rather than these stories and and I can understand how difficult of a task it might

[00:26:36] have been for you to find the people who fit into that bracket because I think for us also

[00:26:42] you know we wanted to have an episode on partition and it was very difficult for us

[00:26:46] to find people who would be accessible to all those aspects I think I was particularly touched by

[00:26:54] the story of the war veteran and as I was saying that you know we also found a lot of

[00:27:01] issues while trying to get a story about partition because the stories are not so well

[00:27:06] discussed in this part of the region but coming from this to the element that you

[00:27:12] as you mentioned that your focus is primarily on making documentaries and short films

[00:27:17] I think a major concern of the SMAs film industry has been first the audience responses

[00:27:24] the secondly at the larger picture not just SMAs film industry but also the hindi film industry

[00:27:30] or the Indian film industry there are a lot of movies that you know do not necessarily

[00:27:35] connect to the common individual having said that of course now OTT has been doing a great

[00:27:41] job in bringing stories that are more realistic but at the same time you know the while I can

[00:27:47] understand that the idea of a big screen big picture is your larger than life kind of a scenario

[00:27:53] but do you think that documentaries are the way to go in filling that gap where they show real

[00:28:00] life stories or real stories which influence people like you me and the people around us

[00:28:05] do you think documentaries are the future of real storytelling no I think there is

[00:28:13] always a difference between documentaries and fiction films and I have also made a fiction

[00:28:18] feature film called issue and which is produced by Children from Society India but it is yet to

[00:28:26] be released though it went to a lot of film festivals and won the national award so I

[00:28:34] think having practiced both forms of filmmaking the documentary and fiction I think

[00:28:39] both are different words actually and both have different purposes like there are a lot of stories

[00:28:44] which need to be documented as they are in as in real life so and they cannot be told through

[00:28:53] a fiction story so they are eating documentaries become very important and and also you know

[00:29:02] documentaries capture life as it is so there is there is a rawness to it of course it is edited

[00:29:10] the version of of real life and it is it is what the director wants the audience to see but it's

[00:29:17] not not the actual real life but it's the edited version of real life but at the same time it is

[00:29:22] as close to real life as it is possible unlike fiction where it where it's a totally fictional

[00:29:29] story it might be based on a true incident or true story but ultimately it's a scripted completely

[00:29:35] scripted storytelling where you know the audience is completely emotionally manipulated by the

[00:29:43] director and and taken into the world of the you know world of the story

[00:29:49] but I think both types of story storytelling are important as far as you know cinema goes and

[00:29:59] and of course fiction films will have had you know larger as I was saying that

[00:30:06] documentary films and fiction both have different purposes and I as we all know

[00:30:14] fiction films always have a larger audience you know because because we all love listening to or

[00:30:20] reading or watching stories and that's why fiction stories are always very popular all over the

[00:30:29] world and that's how and that's why I think the fiction films are also much more popular

[00:30:34] than documentary films but documentary films are a very important purpose of documenting

[00:30:42] things which are from real life as close to the reality as possible it's it's a kind of edited

[00:30:50] edited reality because again you cannot show real life as it is even in a documentary film

[00:30:57] because of various technological and time constraints you have to maybe you show

[00:31:03] a subject an incident that has occurred over a period of time in just half an hour or

[00:31:09] one hour or you might might show a story that is that takes place in many places but you combine it

[00:31:18] into one one one one within a limited period so that is again a kind of edited storytelling

[00:31:27] that is again a kind of storytelling but totally reflecting real life so documentary films

[00:31:35] kind of make it very it serves a very important purpose for viewers by you know taking them into

[00:31:46] real situations and real incidents and that's how they are actually very hard hitting if you look at

[00:31:52] it I mean they they can they can reflect the real life as it is and they can make you think

[00:32:01] and also you know go into the situations as they are so and and what have they are I mean documentary

[00:32:08] films have a limited audience as compared to you know fiction films feature films but

[00:32:16] I think they have a very strong and significant audience very committed audience the world over

[00:32:22] and but compared to rest of the world especially the west western countries or within Asia Korea

[00:32:29] or Japan we in India have very limited opportunity to screen documentary films you know we hardly have

[00:32:36] any I mean there have been just a handful of you know examples of documentary films getting

[00:32:43] released theatrically in India and they are shown mostly in festivals or special screenings to

[00:32:52] you know specific interest groups to screenings in you know educational institutions

[00:32:58] or and now of course because of the on various online platforms its documentaries are traveling

[00:33:06] much more widely than before I mean but again when it comes to the OTT sector of India

[00:33:13] their documentary intake is very very limited I mean they may have a big number of documentaries

[00:33:22] if you go into each of the platforms but very only a small percentage of them will be from India

[00:33:29] and again they will they will be very kind of you know it's not as democratic as one would

[00:33:37] like to believe you know in choosing the subjects or giving representation to all kinds

[00:33:43] of documentaries but these days because of YouTube which is a free platform lot of people

[00:33:48] upload their films there so a lot of good documentaries are also available on YouTube

[00:33:54] but yes that challenge is always there but India has got a very strong documentary movement it has

[00:34:00] had a strong movement from before and now it's getting stronger this year I mean in Oscar one film

[00:34:06] on the Oscar and the other film all that which didn't win the Oscar it was a very very

[00:34:12] significant film of our times and thus in one of the very recent previous editions

[00:34:19] writing with fire had got an Oscar nomination so it shows that Indian documentary filmmaking is now

[00:34:26] really at par with the rest of the world of course I think the recent Oscar is also a testament

[00:34:32] to this you know to this fact but you know while we're at filmmaking another issue that I

[00:34:40] wanted to have your sort of word on was the continuous debate in as I'm with respect to

[00:34:48] people losing interest in as mis movies I I know it's a debatable issue because the recent movie

[00:34:56] Dr. Besburu did pretty well but at the same time there are a lot of movies that come in every year

[00:35:01] which you know not necessarily do so well and I think as somebody growing up me myself was

[00:35:09] it was my parents would make it a point to take me to movie halls to watch as mis movies but I do

[00:35:14] not necessarily see the same kind of interest one of them is of course the number of screenings have

[00:35:19] drastically you know have decreased but how do you see this issue as somebody who is associated

[00:35:26] with the industry in some way or the other do you think it's a problem with the content or

[00:35:30] do you think there are other issues do you think it is the movie halls declined the

[00:35:35] domestic movie halls declined how do you see this issue

[00:35:40] yeah actually you know it's a multi layered issue you know earlier the challenge was the

[00:35:48] number of cinema halls and all that at one point in time I some had over 150 cinema

[00:35:53] houses that was during the 80s I'm talking about and that time lot of films did very well

[00:35:59] but after that because of the whole political situation lot of cinema halls closed down and

[00:36:04] the number of halls reduced and I still feel that you know there is a huge audience for

[00:36:11] as a mid-cinema if cinema can reach the audiences you know earlier when we were in school we had

[00:36:18] seen that people would hire buses to come to the nearest town to watch films you know

[00:36:24] people from places which didn't have cinema halls but now people won't do that because they have

[00:36:31] so much of modem entertainment sitting on at their home on their mobile phones they can watch

[00:36:36] films from the world over I'm not saying that everybody is watching you know Insta reels or

[00:36:41] TikTok video kind of stuff I mean of course that is a huge waste of time that is

[00:36:47] that is happening the world over I mean so along with the creative work lot of

[00:36:51] you know waste of time also happens when you keep watching all these deals and all that

[00:36:57] but at the same time there is there are people who can access you know content from the world over

[00:37:03] sitting anywhere in the world you know in the most interior place of Assam so they won't travel to

[00:37:08] the town hiring a bus or anything to watch watch a film you know like before unless

[00:37:15] that is a very high kind of film through publicity or it has a big award winning film like Venus

[00:37:21] Rockstars so the whole thing is that if we in Assam can have more and more cinema halls in

[00:37:29] the interior places you know places which are beyond the cities and towns there is a big

[00:37:36] audience for Assam students waiting there because why I can say with say with confidence is that

[00:37:42] one is that our traveling theater groups the Bangalman Theater they are huge heat wherever

[00:37:49] they are stayed I mean people buy tickets worth 250 rupees even in the villages and they watch

[00:37:56] and why they watch because the biggest stars of Assam cinema act in those place and they are

[00:38:02] right in your in your front of your eyes and they are in your village so and it's

[00:38:07] entertainment right next door similarly if you look in recent years I would like to give the

[00:38:14] example of Hibang Suprasad Das who is a graduate from NSD in Assam School of Drama and he's an actor

[00:38:20] and director he has made a couple of films which he has you know he lives directly in

[00:38:28] in community halls theater halls like that he has not gone through the typical you know cinema

[00:38:34] release kind of mode I mean he has not really been normal cinema halls there's a film called Gauru

[00:38:42] which came during the between I think this first and second waves of covid for I'm a bit confused

[00:38:52] about timing but I think it was it came between the first and second waves of covid so he released

[00:38:57] with only in small small halls which he hired himself he took his own projector and

[00:39:03] data pairs projection system and showed the film by selling tickets and it was a it was a big hit

[00:39:09] even in Guwahati he screened in a theater hall called Kumar Haskell Nightmare on this for seven

[00:39:15] days every show was household so and in the interiors it was even more so so I think if if

[00:39:22] there is enough publicity which is another problem with a lot of Assamese films that the

[00:39:26] publicity campaigns are not very well planned and and some films actually people don't even know when

[00:39:33] they come in when they go because they lack of publicity I think there is a audience for all

[00:39:38] kinds of Assamese cinema of course every film won't run that we all know nowhere in the world

[00:39:42] everything runs but I mean well publicized good films would have a good audience that's

[00:39:49] my strong belief provided there are enough cinema halls in the in all parts of the state

[00:39:54] and not only in the Assamese speaking Brambutra valley I think even Assamese films can run even

[00:40:00] in Nagaland or Arunachal because they understand you know Assamese even but actually hardly any

[00:40:06] Assamese films are released I think these are big markets to so to say for Assamese cinema

[00:40:13] and of course I would as a filmmaker I would be very happy you know content which good quality

[00:40:19] Assamese films run more than the more than the films which copy the great you know telegram

[00:40:26] films or you know the great films from outside and try to replicate that model in Assam

[00:40:31] but yes like we have examples of films like Missing China then Khan Sanjonga then Rathnakar

[00:40:39] and now Dr. Bajburvar too which have shown that Assamese films can really do well

[00:40:43] commercially and even I mean even more than these films I think one very recent

[00:40:48] example is Monjolpur was Olu which was which is a very serious subject about old age loneliness and all

[00:40:55] and it is a subject which would take which anyone can say we'd have a very limited audience

[00:41:03] but that film also ran for six weeks in Guwahati in Assamese cinema halls that means

[00:41:08] for six weeks there was audience for that kind of content also that means there is you know

[00:41:15] audience for any kind of good content provided it's made visible in the in front of the

[00:41:22] prospective audience to publicity and PR and also you know it's available to people and

[00:41:31] people I mean even around Guwahati if I can give you another example of why I believe

[00:41:37] there's a strong market for Assamese films even in the whole city of the greater Guwahati

[00:41:42] I mean people there are places where from where people won't come to the multiplexes to watch films

[00:41:47] because they live in a towards Pamohi to the outskirts of the city towards

[00:41:52] Sandrakore towards Mayang or towards beyond the Guwahati University area so these are all

[00:41:57] Assamese speaking areas where there are no cinema halls so if cinema goes there people

[00:42:03] will definitely watch I am very confident of that and of course our competition will of course

[00:42:08] always will be with Hindi cinema and the availability of screens when a big project in

[00:42:14] this number really just that that is going to be there but if the number of screens increase and

[00:42:19] proportionately if the response of the people towards Assamese cinema increases that

[00:42:24] challenge can be overcome. I think it's a very valid point and I think as somebody just an

[00:42:31] outsider my I kind of you know echo with your points as well just I think additional to it what

[00:42:38] I have seen around while I agree that there's a market I also think that there's a question of

[00:42:44] relatability to the content as well I mean it is a little ironical that as a community

[00:42:50] the Assamese community who take great pride in being Assamese we do not watch our own movies

[00:42:56] but at the same time I think it's a question of relatability like you said you know that

[00:43:02] movies that are copied necessarily from let's say some other part of the region may not necessarily

[00:43:09] be relatable to the Assamese crowd but some of the examples that you said have also been

[00:43:15] successful because they are relatable so I think one question is a question of

[00:43:19] relatability the movie should also you know like most documentaries that you mentioned

[00:43:23] today that documentaries which are talking about issues which are necessarily let's say

[00:43:27] Assamese like the issue of mass making in Marjulia I think as somebody who for me like for me for

[00:43:35] example because I know of it now I'll definitely go back and watch it so I think the question

[00:43:39] of relatability and also I think as a new generation would also I think we have to

[00:43:47] be a little disruptive with the use of technology you said the question of reaching

[00:43:52] to this movies because I said mobile theaters are important so can movie halls be built in every part

[00:43:59] of the of the state that is again somewhere where the government has to interfere but I think a more

[00:44:06] disruptive idea is an example I've seen recently in the state of Haryana where

[00:44:11] these individuals came up with an app called stage where you basically pay I think some 30

[00:44:17] or 50 rupees every year or every month to watch Haryana content movies that are basically very

[00:44:24] Haryan being their style movies or you know series so I think I know of a few startups that

[00:44:28] have come up in Assamese as well maybe they haven't picked up as much as stage has in Haryana

[00:44:34] because because stage I think has somewhere around 10 million you know users so I think that is

[00:44:40] I think for me personally from what I could gather from what you said the idea of the

[00:44:45] you know relatability reaching out to the people and also being disruptive are some of the elements

[00:44:51] which we need to you know really pick up to make as much more accessible right I agree with that and

[00:44:58] I think that there are a couple of Assamese apps also which are you know promoting Assamese

[00:45:04] web series as well as Assamese films but they are I think you have to pick up as much as

[00:45:09] the apps you mentioned the stage and some other apps I mean every region because they

[00:45:14] imagine or other big OTT scan only or will not will or will not take you know content from

[00:45:22] certain languages so every region has got their own regional app now regional OTT now

[00:45:28] even in Malayalam which is so big I mean their films are all over so very good content

[00:45:34] in the story wise treatment wise and their films are all over Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar

[00:45:40] but even then there are their own Malayalam specific apps more than one because they the big OTTs won't

[00:45:49] take all kinds of films so there are OTTs which only take films which are not catered to by the

[00:45:55] bigger OTTs so in Haryana also there are a couple of series one Choppa is one and everywhere

[00:46:01] you go in Telugu there is AHA in Bengali there is Gojso in Assamese we have Vildrama

[00:46:07] and Clock and Dale which are now promoting but there I hope they will pick up slowly but more

[00:46:13] than that I think watching a film I mean as far as OTT and web series or other small short films

[00:46:22] are concerned it's okay to watch on the smaller screen but cinema is always a big screen

[00:46:28] and you know experience I mean if it is possible one should have the cinema screen

[00:46:36] big screen and that is where I think the number of halls should increase and government I believe

[00:46:43] that government can only play a facilitator it cannot run the business because it's a private

[00:46:47] business ultimately so government can facilitate definitely in construction of smaller halls in

[00:46:53] interiors of Assam I think the Assam feel finance corporation is also working in the direction

[00:47:00] but that's a very good model is that there are a lot of you know this temporary cinema halls which

[00:47:07] can be erected you know inflatable cinema halls which are run by several companies in India and

[00:47:13] there are these are running very successfully in places like Haryana, Isgur in even in

[00:47:18] our natural space and these are all the latest projection systems you know Dolby 5.1 and then

[00:47:25] how kind of cities you see everything is there so I think that is another model which

[00:47:32] if some entrepreneur takes such halls to Assam in a commercial business and you know

[00:47:37] starts a business that will be very good for our local cinema it's not only about you know

[00:47:42] Assam is cinema but it's all cinema in all the ethnic languages of Assam so because if you look

[00:47:48] at the ethnic say a missing language film it won't run widely in a place like Guwahati or Chorhat

[00:47:55] or you know Tehspur because only a limited number of people will watch that film but if it is shown

[00:48:04] in Majuli or Luckinpur areas where there are ethnic speakers of the language are located

[00:48:12] I mean I think there is a big scope for such films to do well commercially similarly for

[00:48:16] Bodo films if they are released widely in Bodo speaking areas they will have a big audience

[00:48:21] I mean the filmmaker Rajni Basumotary tried that by organizing her own screenings in the

[00:48:27] Bodo speaking areas for her last film Jalai and it got good response from people so that is

[00:48:33] one aspect and another thing is I think that relatability factor which you say

[00:48:39] ultimately I mean whatever genre we make films in we I strongly believe that our films should reflect

[00:48:48] you know our our soil and our society you know and if we blindly copy films that are

[00:48:56] successful outside without you know any any reflection of our culture your society or our

[00:49:05] you know for various dynamics of our society then people finally would reject them I mean one or

[00:49:13] two films can be a success but in the long run if you look at it Marathi cinema Balayalam cinema

[00:49:19] even Telugu cinema they're I mean they reflect their own society very well even a film like

[00:49:24] Pushpa if you see I mean it's a totally commercial mainstream if you define if you

[00:49:30] have to define mainstream cinema Pushpa is one one very good definition you know it has all

[00:49:35] ingredients of so-called mainstream cinema but it is so rooted in its culture to the rural

[00:49:43] you know and other ways if you if you see the cost costumes if you see their

[00:49:50] you know the way they leave the houses they are in art direction everything is very very

[00:49:57] you know Telugu so people came out to watch that film in huge numbers and of course it also

[00:50:03] connected to audiences beyond Andhra because somehow it clicked with the after the post pandemic

[00:50:09] thing people wanted something which is very escapeeist and maybe that way it connected even

[00:50:15] seems like RRR which has very fantasy driven films I mean they also kind of because

[00:50:21] it's originally a Telugu film if you look at it it gets us to a lot of reflect a lot of

[00:50:25] their own you know cultural elements you know so finally in Nazami cinema also we have to think

[00:50:32] in along those lines I mean not just blindly if you know things from outside and of course all

[00:50:39] kinds of things will always be there I mean good the good the bad and the active will always

[00:50:43] exist everywhere so and and also there is a responsibility of the audiences also to you

[00:50:51] know accept and the good ones more than the bad ones I mean if you support the bad content more

[00:51:00] obviously the more bad content output will be there. No I think that's a very valid point

[00:51:06] to add on actually that the audience also plays a very important role on the kind of

[00:51:10] content that filmmakers tend to create because at the end of the day it's a market

[00:51:15] only the demand will create more supply so it's a valid point. But at the same time

[00:51:21] if you look at it I mean filmmaker like Kenny Basumathari he created this very

[00:51:28] local kung fu series he created this I mean he created a very good model for you know

[00:51:39] what can be indigenous commercial cinema you know absolutely he didn't copy anything from

[00:51:46] anywhere he created his own genre and it's so hugely successful I mean I mean he had this very

[00:51:53] typical Guwahati humor which nobody had used before that and now he is replicating and he is going

[00:51:59] bigger and bigger and look at all the subsequent films local part and another one is coming now

[00:52:06] so I think that is the way one should be an original thinker basically. Yeah and I think

[00:52:12] his stories are also very unique I think we never thought that there would be an

[00:52:17] Esme's film talking about kung fu so the humor and you know the fights are his and the amount of

[00:52:23] hardship that he has had to go to produce this movie with Andhrae I think he has been

[00:52:27] an absolute inspiration to the new generation as well. But you know talking about a little

[00:52:33] bit about star power as well for Esme's movies we also recently lost Mr. Nipon Goswami

[00:52:41] and I think yeah while our generation saw him more in the fatherly roles I think the generation

[00:52:48] above us saw him as the real superstar so what are your thoughts on it and how do you use how much

[00:52:55] of a loss do you think it is for the Esme's film industry at the moment. I think Nipon Goswami

[00:53:01] and Biju Phukun were the real superstars of Asami cinema I mean I mean the kind of

[00:53:07] popularity they have had it is not yet replicated I mean there have been many popular actors in

[00:53:16] Asami cinema but the the stature they achieved in their lifetime is really a good quality films and

[00:53:25] if you look at their whole the way they carried on with their life and it was very

[00:53:32] dignified and very respectable and so people kind of love them very much and of course they passing

[00:53:41] away both of them Nipon Goswami very recently and helping big lovers yeah but they are very good

[00:53:48] examples of how cultural personalities should be you know people who I mean they set examples

[00:53:56] about how they should be a public life for cultural personalities unlike some of our very popular

[00:54:03] you know cultural personalities who who sometimes set you know very undesirable

[00:54:11] examples of of social behavior. I think they've been I mean they've lived a life worth

[00:54:18] being an example also I think I completely am one with am with you on that

[00:54:26] but you know coming to the last bit because I know we have covered a bit of ground about a lot of

[00:54:31] things but tell us a bit about again coming to your work for say could you tell us a bit about

[00:54:37] your upcoming documentary on Boruwa Khonkar House of Boruwa so what is it about I mean

[00:54:43] it sounds very interesting yeah it is Boruwa Khonkar the house of Boruwa is actually about a

[00:54:48] house in Guwahati which is completing 100 years this year 2023 and that house is on the eastern

[00:54:55] side of Laka Hill field in the in the heart of the city and that house has given us so many

[00:55:05] so much of happiness to Asami's cultural and social and sporting arenas I mean it's

[00:55:13] it's a story that is I think what telling I mean it has given us 30 films and there have been four

[00:55:18] film directors from that family there have been two music directors there have been one very famous

[00:55:26] singer there have been two longevity players there have been like there have been actresses

[00:55:35] from the family there have been you know businessmen and so many different aspects and they've

[00:55:43] contributed hugely to the Asami's society so I thought if I can make a documentary you know

[00:55:53] kind of capturing that contribution uh attribute to that family and that house that's how that

[00:55:59] whole idea came about and and and the few individuals have joined hands to finance the film

[00:56:08] which includes Narayan Prasad, Sanjeev, Deepchut, Sohwariya and they

[00:56:14] so it will be our tribute to that family and the house on its 100th

[00:56:18] it's a it's a very noble and a very interesting point I look forward to it when when does it

[00:56:22] release sir it's now in post-production now it's sound design and sound editing is going on so

[00:56:29] we'll be ready to screen the film maybe in another too much time I'm looking forward to it uh so one

[00:56:36] of the other initiatives that I cannot let you go without discussing is uh an initiative by you

[00:56:41] called Mungit which you started with the famous actor Adil Hussain and Kaushik Nal. Mungit really

[00:56:46] I think over the years have picked up especially from what I could observe over the last year

[00:56:51] and two I think it has become very famous within the local crowd as well so could you

[00:56:56] tell us a bit about what the initiative was about how did you conceive of this idea and how are you

[00:57:01] taking it forward? Mungit actually started off with Adil and Kaushik discussing about

[00:57:10] how to harness the positive energies of our young people you know the cultural young

[00:57:15] cultural activists so then they also we all three we discussed the idea and expanded it

[00:57:24] and the other idea is that you know in Assam there are a lot of musically inclined young boys and girls

[00:57:31] from interiors of Assam who because of lack of guidance and they got lack of orientation sometimes

[00:57:37] you know don't go the right way I mean they they they are in a hurry to release a music video

[00:57:46] and get the likes on on social media and then maybe perform in the local functions and that's it

[00:57:54] but there is a lot of very good talents Vanny after a few years because of this lack of

[00:58:01] guidance we thought we should just do something to kind of create a platform to harness the

[00:58:10] talents that's the that's how the whole idea behind Mungit came about and Mungit is basically a

[00:58:18] residential workshop for young talented musicians and they are selected to call for entries given

[00:58:26] then in a highly qualified jury they shortlist the candidates and because we can take on the

[00:58:34] limited number of people in the workshop every year it is held in Majuli in in in the place called

[00:58:41] Dekasang which is owned by Ko Siknat and it's a completely residential workshop where a lot of

[00:58:47] big names from the music world of music come and give guidance to the youngsters I mean people

[00:58:54] like Dhruvajit Pukon who is one of India's foremost music producers then perform Konura

[00:59:02] Khaykyanilipalbara, Joy Bhurva, Torali Harma, Saraswati Phukon all these people and also people who are

[00:59:11] not from us unlike this year we have Parvati Baal which is an internationally acclaimed Baal singer

[00:59:17] and it's so inspiring to listen to her own journey so that is a whole idea of you know

[00:59:23] in getting the young talent together and kind of giving them a platform it's not possible to

[00:59:31] of course give the platform to a huge number of people because of our limited resources but

[00:59:40] we have tried to kind of support every year at least 25 to 30 young kids to practice their craft and

[00:59:50] also interact because in those three days you are within a campus with some of the

[00:59:56] most creative people in Assam and you no individual can get that opportunity anywhere else

[01:00:05] so the idea is to that like I said to harness the talent and allow it one kid under the same

[01:00:11] initiative which is run under a trust called Raul Ko Siknat Foundation in which was created

[01:00:17] memory of Raul the son of Ko Siknat and Krishna Bholuannath who passed away in a constant accident

[01:00:25] 2019 so we have started Montulika which is a similar workshop on painting and Montritika

[01:00:34] which we started this year on sculpture because painting and sculpture are limited then we have

[01:00:39] another one day one afternoon celebration of poetry which is called Mon Kovita which we started three

[01:00:48] years ago the first year we had the poetry of Vizhen Kottasarjo and Ramakanta Bolva

[01:00:55] and Nilamondi Phukon then last year we celebrated obviously Nilamondi Phukon because he had

[01:01:01] won the Gyan Peter word and this year we celebrated Ganesh Gogo one of Assam's most

[01:01:07] brilliant poets so that is again an effective to you know create more interest about the rich

[01:01:15] tradition of poetry in Assam and it's not like a normal you know what you can say normal Koby

[01:01:22] Khan villain it's not like it's not like a Koby Khan villain so it's beyond that we try to do

[01:01:28] a lot of creative interpretation of poetry like like Adi Hussain read one of the English translation

[01:01:37] of the poems Santana Bordeloy, Dr. Santana Bordeloy read Nilamondi Phukon's poetry

[01:01:44] then Joy Bolva and Sankula's Kumar Moitri Pathar they have musically interpreted two of

[01:01:49] Nilamondi Phukon's poetry and Joy Bolva's song would be released very soon based on one of

[01:01:54] the most famous poems Tuponitri Thamukh, Hedipu Yusil. So that is the whole idea basically to

[01:02:03] positively harness the talent because we see in Assam there are so much of distraction

[01:02:09] to often negative sense you know for the young generation and if we can at least

[01:02:15] somehow create a space for positive cultural thinking it will be our little contribution

[01:02:21] to the state and that is the whole idea behind this whole initiative which is under the thumb

[01:02:26] of Nilamondi. No I think it's not a small contribution sir I think it's a big contribution

[01:02:32] because I was going through a few articles which because we I mean it's a like you said that

[01:02:38] it's only it's only a few people who get the opportunity so I was going through a few

[01:02:42] articles you talked about your initiative and I think you and like some of it like you mentioned

[01:02:48] it's not just music it's a lot of host of other things as well including food so I think it's

[01:02:53] everything quintessentially Assamese and I think it also gives the young people an objective to what

[01:03:00] how an Assamese identity should be represented so I think it obviously in addition to your

[01:03:06] objective it is a playing it is also playing a much larger you know role in defining or

[01:03:13] putting across what and how diverse the Assamese idea of an Assamese community is so I think

[01:03:20] kudos to that to all three of you and I think it's doing pretty well it's hitting all the right boxes

[01:03:26] but sir on a parting note what are your filmmaking plans for the future tell us a

[01:03:31] bit about that. Yeah one is of course this bold work which is coming up and then I have

[01:03:37] one of my scripts was in the NFDC screenwriters lab in 2021 it's called an unreal story

[01:03:46] again based on a short story it's not exactly a story one recounting of a real incident in

[01:03:52] the fictional way so by Monos Goswami so that story that I'll be making in Hindi

[01:04:00] so we and my me and my producer we are currently looking to get the right finances

[01:04:08] so it will be shot in Assam then there is another Assamese film Assamese feature film which will be

[01:04:15] hopefully happening soon and so these are the two projects which I currently have in mind

[01:04:21] and of course there are many ideas which we keep working on and there are ideas for websites

[01:04:26] also which we are developing me and my team so but all of this can happen only one at a time

[01:04:33] so let's see what which happens first then also depends on I mean the finances you know

[01:04:41] you know the biggest challenge for an independent filmmaker is to

[01:04:45] get the getting the finances so let's see which one happened first I'll keep you informed.

[01:04:52] No I think we are very hopeful sir I think everything will work out because

[01:04:56] there's already been so much evidence of your wonderful work so we always always will look forward

[01:05:01] to more work from you and I hope all of this projects come into light as soon as possible

[01:05:06] but on that note sir thank you so much for making the time I know you have a very busy

[01:05:10] schedule so thank you so much for making the time to come into this podcast it's an

[01:05:14] absolute pleasure you'd love to have you again I know we have only been able to

[01:05:18] you know very briefly talk about your projects but I think just while listening to it

[01:05:23] I was hoping that we could get you to talk about your project individually at some point of time

[01:05:28] every documentary with some other cast members from those documentaries but we'll plan that in

[01:05:33] the future but for today at least thank you so much for making the time it's an absolute pleasure

[01:05:37] and I'm hopeful that you have inspired a lot of young people from the northeastern region

[01:05:41] and beyond who will be listening to this podcast hope you like being in our podcast thank you so

[01:05:47] much sir thank you and thank you for having me and like I said at the very beginning that

[01:05:53] second next podcast is you are doing a very important job of taking the voices of

[01:06:00] from northeastern India to the rest of the world and also within the region because we need more

[01:06:06] conversations happening you know we we hardly have that and even within the northeastern

[01:06:11] states state-to-state conversation is very less so we need more platforms like this and

[01:06:19] and I hope I'll be part of it in the future again sometime in the future and I look forward to

[01:06:26] also listening to your other forthcoming you know episodes with other persons and yeah thank you

[01:06:34] so much if you enjoyed listening to this episode of the chicken neck podcast check out our

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