Utpal Borpujari is a National Film Award winning filmmaker from Guwahati. A journalist cum film-critic turned filmmaker, he has made a mark with his films, which mostly deal with problems faced by northeast India.
Born and mostly brought up in Guwahati, Utpal did his initial primary education in Latasil School (the rest of the primary education was in Sadar Asamiya Prathamik Bidyalay in Silchar), followed by Cotton Collegiate Higher Secondary School. He completed his BSc with Honours in Geology from Cotton College before doing my MTech in Applied Geology from IIT-Roorkee.
As a student, Utpal used to write in newspapers and magazines on various subjects. Hence, after completing his studies, he started out as a journalist with The Sentinel in Guwahati.
Subsequently, he worked with organizations like PTI and Deccan Herald. While film criticism was only a part of his journalistic work, Utpal considers it crucial to his work.
Speaking to G Plus about developing an interest in the field of story-telling and filmmaking, Utpal says, “I believe that watching films from all over the world must have subconsciously influenced me slowly to tell stories through the medium of cinema. That is how, perhaps, I ended up leaving my journalism job to pursue filmmaking.”
He strongly believes that to be a sensitive filmmaker, one has to understand the way the medium of cinema can be used to tell a story. While filmmaking is totally different from literature or journalistic work, it’s true that they all tell stories.
Utpal says that his experience as a film critic has helped him immensely in his film making career. “Watched thousands of films over the years have surely helped me learn how stories can be told differently and how the visual and aural power of cinema can take the story forward. Also, watching films and analyzing them has helped me understand what works and what does not in cinematic storytelling,” he says.
Utpal’s directoral debut ‘Ishu’, which deals with the problem of witch-hunting in Assam, has been screened at many national as well as international screens. It has received critical acclaim from critics all over the world. Describing his take on the film, Utpal told G Plus, “Ishu is based on a novel by Manikuntala Bhattacharjya who is a one of my favourite authors apart from being a dear friend. The problem of witch hunting was something that has always troubled me as a conscientious citizen. I had read about the works being done to fight this social evil.
When I read Ishu, I thought it could be an interesting way to look at the problem as it has the perspective of a child. Children, with their innate innocence and simplicity, can really bring in a fresh way to look at the complex of things because they are not prejudiced against anyone,” he added.
However, he adds that making the film wasn’t an easy task and it was quite difficult to find a financier to back it. That’s when he decided to apply to Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI) and its script committee with his script. However, the whole process from applying to completion took almost five years.
Speaking to G Plus about his take on the current scenario of the Assamese film industry, Utpal says, “Assamese film industry, I feel, is currently standing at the crossroads. While we are drastically short of cinema halls to screen our own films – and here when I say “Assamese” it is not only the language but also all the films made in various ethnic languages in our state.”
He further added that in the last couple of years Assam has seen the emergence of a good number of young filmmakers who are trying to bring in fresh narratives into cinema in different genres and styles. But while the new generation of Assamese filmmakers is bringing in lot of hope, it’s very alarming to see some filmmakers bringing in elements of B or C grade films from industries like Telugu or Bhojpuri in the name of “commercial” cinema.
A recipient of the prestigious Swarna Kamal for Best Film Critic at the 50th National Film Awards of India in 2003, Utpal has served as a jury member in various film festivals across the country, including World Cinema and IFFI. He has also been part of 177 worldwide film critics who were invited by BBC Culture to poll individual Top 10 films of the 21st Century (2016). As a critic and journalist, he has covered Cannes, Nantes, Montreal, IFFI, MAMI, 3rd Eye Asian Film Fest, MIFF and Osian’s Cinefan film festivals over the years.
Utpal, who is currently writing a couple of scripts for feature films and short films and also working on developing a few documentary film ideas, says that these projects will only see the light of the day if he finds a financier for each of them. His earlier works include documentary films Mayong: Myth/Reality (2012), Songs of the Blue Hills (2013) and Memories of a Forgotten War (2016).
Describing himself as a “Guwahatian in the truest sense of the term,” Utpal visits Guwahati frequently and keeps in touch with his big group of childhood friends.