Village Rockstars and Rima Das, these two names need no introduction. There is hardly anyone in the state of Assam who is not talking about these two names right now. Here are excerpts from a tete a tete with Rima Das, on her movie ‘Village Rockstars.’
G Plus: You came as a one-woman army to make Village Rockstars happen. How challenging it was?
Rima: It’s not that easy. We were a very small team. I only had my sister Mallika to accompany me in every department. Bottom line is, if you can take a challenge, you can make it happen.
G Plus: Was Village Rockstars always in your mind? Or did it happen to you co-incidentally?
Rima: The movie happened to me coincidentally. I was done with the shooting for my first film ‘Man With The Binoculars’ and doing the rough editing of the film in my hometown. It was during the occasion of ‘Bohaagi Bidaai’ that the whole idea of Village Rockstars happened to me. I saw the kids performing of Zubeen Garg’s songs using fake musical instruments. I have earlier seen many such videos on Youtube, but that was the first time I saw something like that in real. The children did not have real instruments but they performed like rockstars. That’s how the children inspired me to make the movie.
G Plus: Your movie is very raw and natural. There’s hardly any artificial element there. Please share something on that?
Rima: Movie for me has always been elements of reality. I like the realistic approach of a movie. When you want to enforce the ‘acting’ element all throughout the movie, you fail to convey the message. When you let the things be natural, it becomes much easier to communicate to the audience with the film, and also to train the cast.
G Plus: How’s your relationship been with the child artists?
Rima: The child artists of Village Rockstars are extremely talented. They knew not what acting in front of a camera is. But we all come from the same village, growing up in the same backdrop. We have spent 4 years together, working for the film. Over the period, the film became a part of our lives and we became a family.
G Plus: How did you manage to show Assam in with all the indigenous elements?
Rima: This movie is all about staying true to my vision. The movie somewhere has the glimpse of my own childhood. I was born and raised in the same village which has been shown in the movie. I used to be like ‘Dhunu’ hanging around like boys, running on the paddy fields, and climbing betel nut trees. The Assam that I have shown in my film, I have always been familiar with this, which is why I could make the film today. And I am grateful that the movie that I envisioned, is what the entire world has connected with today. Although I have shown Assam in my movie, the emotion has been universal.
G Plus: Are you travelling to the Oscars alone?
Rima: I am travelling to the Oscars alone, and that is the sad part. Most of the big studios go to festivals with the entire cast and crew, they stand together for photographs. But in my case, I am mostly travelling alone, since the festivals provide only the director’s ticket and I am running short of the budget now. Visiting such film events are an expensive affair.
G Plus: Do you have any plans of making a movie on Hima Das?
Rima: I would love to, and I have already planned that. But I need to check that my work doesn’t hamper hers. Commitments in entertainment and sports have a lot of difference. She herself has too many responsibilities right not. Assam has a lot of scope in sports, which is why I am interested in making a movie on sports. And right now, nobody can be better than Hima to represent sports.