Making it to the prestigious Oscars as a nominee in the Foreign Film Category, Rima Das’s Village Rockstars has defied all odds and emerged triumphant.
Hailed as a pure, heartfelt movie, Rima Das’s Village Rockstars has been celebrated at around 50 international film festivals such as Cannes and Toronto, has won three National Awards for Best Feature Film, Best Editing and Best Child Artiste (Bhanita Das), and, has made it as the official Oscar nomination from India in the Foreign Film category. The story is set in Rima Das’s village Chhaygaon, around fifty kilometers from Guwahati in Assam. Its protagonist is the child Bhanita Das, who wishes to own an electric guitar. Soon, she chooses her pack of friends to start a band of her own – all playing fake instruments. A film about childhood innocence and aspirations, Rima Das “tried to present a universal human emotion and I am very happy that it has touched hears of people all around the world.”
Rima Das’s directorial journey itself is fodder for films. Born and raised in Chhaygaon, Das spent years struggling. After her Masters in sociology from Pune University, she decided to take the leap and enter into films – but as an actress. Though she grew up watching larger-than-life Bollywood films, in Mumbai she was introduced by her friends to world cinema, and it was a revelation that would change her life. That films could be small and intimate, without the need for extensive resources for its creation, inspired Das greatly. Moreover, she never went to film school, and is entirely self-taught. Soon enough, she was producing short films, such as Pratha in 2009.
Yet, it was not until her friend bought an old binocular that she felt inspired to make a film. Expanding on the idea, she wrote a script of how changing the lens can alter the very perception one has of life – and therefore, the binoculars featured in the film Antardrishti (Man with the Binoculars) (2016) figures as a metaphor for looking inward and beyond. This film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the Mumbai Film Festival and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia that year. Infused with energy after such a positive feedback, Rima Das began her second feature film, Village Rockstars, inspired by kids in her village playing fake musical instruments.
Das is a one-woman-show, entirely self-funded and self-driven: she and her cousin Mallika Das, an award-winning sound recordist, were the only crew members. Das handled cinematography, production design, direction, writing, editing, costume design, etc., all on her own. It is no wonder that her film took four years to complete. “I shot this film without any crew and cast of the film wasn’t trained in acting, so the process to make this film was hard and challenging, but I think it is possible if you have belief in yourself.”
