Indian Panorama Inagural feature film IFFI 2008

YARWNG

Kokborok/95 minutes/35 mm/colours

Synopsis

Sukurai (Sushil Debbarma) learns that his wife Karmati (Meena Debbarma) had been the lover of his jhum companion Wakirai (Nirmal Jamatia). He demands an explanation. Karmati tells him that she and Wakirai were to be married but, on the night before, the newly built dam submerged the village and separated them forever.Karmati’s village Bolombasa was lost when the twin river Raima and Saima overflew their banks. Many families like hers had to bid farewell to their way of life, shift to higher planes and depend on jhum for subsistence.Karmati’s father Chokdri (Amulya Ratan Jamatia) had got hurt when soldiers destroyed their house the night before her marriage to Wakirai. It left him with a wound on his head and a hurt pride. Robbed of his zest for life, he succumbed to death.For the village Ochai priest (Manohari Jamatia), laden with an ailing wife, the harrowing times are a test of faith. When he moves out he takes along his sick wife but leaves behind the mantras and materials of his profession. Perhaps he has forgotten them, perhaps not…Wakirai now tells Sukurai that his large joint family, too, had moved out of the village. Sukurai, himself a victim of the catastrophe that drove people from the fertile valley to the hills, understands the twists of destiny. He decides his wife must meet the one she’d intended to marry. But when Karmati goes in search of Wakirai, he is taken aback. Will Wakirai ruffle the smooth sailing boat of Karmati and Sakurai’s life?

JOSEPH PULINTHANATH

The multilingual director from Tripura, Joseph Pulinthanath (42) shot into limelight with Mathia (The Bangle). The first film in the tribal language of Kokborok, it won the debut director a National award for its sensitive handling of a potent theme: witch hunting in the interior pockets of the land. Yarwng focuses on another practice peculiar to the North Eastern hills, that of jhum cultivation. After graduating in English from the North Eastern Hill University, Pulinthanath did his Master’s degree in Theology, also in Shillong. He completed his film studies and film appreciation courses in Delhi and FTII, Pune.

Cast & Credits

Producer : Sampari Pictures

Director, Screenplay : Joseph Pulinthanath

Camera : Kannan

Editing : Sasi menon

Music : Bikash Roy Debbarma

Cast : Meena Debbarma, Nirmal Jamatia

Contact

Sampari Pictures

Don Bosco Centre

Bishramganj 799103

Tripura

Tel: 09436126649/09436123473