Nagaland: Cinema
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[[File: Aji Raja.png| Nagamese film ''Aji Raja '' |frame|500px]] | [[File: Aji Raja.png| Nagamese film ''Aji Raja '' |frame|500px]] | ||
[[File: nagamese film load4.png| Nagamese film ''Load '': As in a Hindi-Urdu film of the 1970s, she comes running from the left, and he from the right |frame|500px]] | [[File: nagamese film load4.png| Nagamese film ''Load '': As in a Hindi-Urdu film of the 1970s, she comes running from the left, and he from the right |frame|500px]] | ||
| − | [[File: | + | [[File: Etu Jiwan.png| Rose in '' Etu Jiwan '' 2012). Director & Producer : Anok Pongen Dimapur (Nagamese) |frame|500px]] |
| + | [[File: Etu Jiwan2.png| Rose in '' Etu Jiwan '' 2012). Director & Producer : Anok Pongen Dimapur (Nagamese) |frame|500px]] | ||
[[File: Ground Zero.png|''Ground Zero '' (Nagaland): A face-off between the rival gangs |frame|500px]] | [[File: Ground Zero.png|''Ground Zero '' (Nagaland): A face-off between the rival gangs |frame|500px]] | ||
[[File: Ground Zero2a.png|''Ground Zero '' (Nagaland): Please not to miss how even teenaged gang leaders have factotums (chamchas) holding umbrellas to shade them from the sun.|frame|500px]] | [[File: Ground Zero2a.png|''Ground Zero '' (Nagaland): Please not to miss how even teenaged gang leaders have factotums (chamchas) holding umbrellas to shade them from the sun.|frame|500px]] | ||
Revision as of 14:21, 4 January 2015
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This page is called ‘Nagaland: Cinema,’ rather than ‘Nagamese cinema’--though its focus is mainly on Nagamese cinema--in order to accommodate Naga films in other languages as well.
The only resources on Nagamese cinema are the excellent Facebook |
Contents |
Sources include
NagameseMovie and
Nagamese, the language
The people of Nagaland belong to different tribes and speak around 20 languages that can be clubbed into sixteen linguistic groups. That’s right, these are languages, not dialects. Each language is different from the other. Therefore, the Nagas either talk to each other in English—which the majority of Nagas know—or in Nagamese,
A nascent film industry
Unlike Assam, Manipur and even Mizoram, Nagaland does not have a major film industry, partly because it does not have much of an audience for locally made films. One reason for this is that the people of Nagaland are divided into around sixteen linguistic groups—with Nagamese, a modern hybrid language, stepping in as a link language.
Nagamese belongs to no one. For the Nagas Nagamese is a link language, not a language to do any literary work in.An Ao will compose songs in the Ao language. The state’s most popular pop group, the Tetseo Sisters sing in Chokri.
Songs don’t cost a fortune to compose; films do. You can write songs for a small audience. But no Naga language has enough speakers to sustain a film industry.
Therefore, most educated Nagas:
i) do not believe that Nagamese is a language fit for literature or any serious communication, including cinema (but that their own mother tongue and/ or English is).
ii) have never seen a film made in Nagaland. Very few educated Nagas can name an actor or director working in Nagaland’s films.
iii) make fun of the few films that have been made in Nagaland. They say, ‘We only watch Nagamese films to make fun of them.’ When "O Suko Pani Kile Giri Ase" was released in Nov 2008 at Hotel Saramati, Dimapur, some speakers at the premiere urged Nagas to acclaim the efforts put in by the pioneers instead of making fun of them.
iv) feel that the existing crop of films made in Nagaland are ‘insulting the Naga name,’ as Nagaland's main filmmaker Mehara has often been told about his films. Mehara told Morung Express that he has even received threats asking him to stop making films.
Against this background, as Morung Express points out, ‘One man’s dream keeps alive the Nagamese film industry.’ (The Nagaland film industry, actually, because he has made films in other Naga languages, too.) That man is Ajay Kumar Mehara, about whom more later on this page.
Two kinds of films
Two kinds of films are being made in Nagaland.
One the one hand there are full-length feature films, patterned on the commercial Hindi-Urdu films of the 1970s and 1980s. They have songs shot in autumnal forests of the kind popularised by Yash Chopra; the hero comes running into the screen from the left, the heroine from the right and they meet in the middle. The hero lifts up the heroine and does a circle, as the camera circles around them.
The songs, too, are shot like 1970s Hindi-Urdu film songs were.
These films have leading ladies like the glamorous Rose Longchar, and leading men like Neangs and Akash.
Such films are shot in cheerful colours and are melodramatic.
The second stream of films from Nagaland is more gritty and realistic (eg The Debt, Ground Zero). These films cater to more educated audiences, are subtitled in English, are likely to have English titles, might even be in the English language, deal with Westernised characters and focus on realistic action and realistic tales of love.
They are shot in low-light conditions and are influenced by South Korea, the West and 21st century Mumbai films.
However, the second category of films are shorts of 20-24 minutes, and not full-length. These are serious (but not art) films that the Naga elites cannot laugh at.
The films
Cinema for the masses
O Suko Pani Kile Giri Ase
(2008) film director, Akash
Poisa Pora Moram Dangor
Prod: Naga Film Institute
Itu Jiwan
Producer & Director : Anok Pongen
Stars: Rose (Asola), Lipok, Jacob, Atula, T.Siose & Kumar B.K
Khushi Din
(2012)
Director & Producer Anok Pongen
Stars: Zokhoi , Akash Atae Konyak, Hanji, Dilip Kujur and Neangs Conerr
Dukh
An action film.
Producer and hero: Nengba of Dimapur
Mon Tu Jole
A love triangle with Rose Longchar in a vampish negative role, which she excelled in.
Heartbeats
The film’s makers claim that this film was Nagaland's first ever professionally made feature film from NorthEast.
Produced by Nagaland Film Division.
Directed by Nikki Shaan
Journalist
w, d: Akash Atae Konyak;
Produced by Shiyeli
Alternate Naga Cinema
True Love Will Wait
30 mts
Language: English
Prod Highland Dawn Media
Written by internationally acclaimed Naga writer Easterine Kire Angami
Directed by Bryan Rose
This elegant film is about Nagaland’s English-speaking upper middle class, some of which is consumerist, some responsible and some swept away by modern mores. Shot amidst sumptuous, eye-catching sets it deals with issues of modern teenage life.
The Debt
Producers: Naga Headhunters
Written and directed by Liyo Kikon
This polished 20 minute feature film is about Christopher, who is kidnapped by an unknown bad man who insists that Christopher owes him a debt. The film is well photographed and has a tight script. Its look and feel is very professional. The film can be seen with subtitles on The Debt/ YouTube.
Ground Zero
Ground Zero/ You Tube with English subtitles Producers: Central Store Group/ Youngster Entertainment
Dir: Imdong Ajem
Script: Impukhtoba [blurred credit title]
24 minutes.
This short feature film is about rival gangs fighting for turf.
