Bringing glory for the Northeast India, Dibrugarh-based filmmaker Chow Partha Borgohain’s feature film ‘1962: My Country Land’ will be showcased at the Cannes International Film Festival on May 18. The film, shot mostly in Arunachal Pradesh, is the first home production of Living Dreams Productions.
Written, cinematographed and directed by Chow Partha Borgohain, ‘1962: My Country Land’ is an English language feature film based on the 1962 Indo-China war. The story revolves around Luitya, an Army Lance Naik who is given the responsibility for mapping along the Indo-China border. While carrying on with his work, Luitya along with his porter lost their way in the rough and unwelcoming terrain until they reached a village. There in the village Luitya met Chan, a Chinese trader with dark secrets and intentions, and the village chief’s daughter Yaka. Luitya found out that the village is neither mentioned in the Indian map and nor in the Chinese map. Fierce conspiracy and conflict started between Luitya and Chan to take over the patch of the land – to include that as an integral part of their nation. What happens next? Can Yaka believe Luitya or she believes Chan?
Talking about the film, Borgohain said, “We shoot for 75 days in Tawang and Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh and Sohra in Meghalaya besides a few shots in Guwahati. I want to continue shooting all my life – there was so much drama, stories of love, comedy and ego-clashes. The production of the film taught me how difficult life is, but how exciting it can be at the same time.”
Starring Aham Sharma, Lhakpa Lepcha, Daniel Shin Han and Ketholeno Kense in lead roles, the film showcases the struggle and life of the main characters during the approaching war and how they were able to believe – and not believe – each other. Produced by Marbom Mai, the film was shot in parts of picturesque Tawang and Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh. Guru Rewben Mashangva was the music composer of the film where he collaborated with Shankar Shankini.
Partha, after his schooling in Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh, did photography and filmmaking course from Madras Christian College and later joined Mindscreen Film School and studied film and motion photography. He worked as an assistant with renowned cinematographer and director Rajiv Menon where he was engaged in various feature and advertisement films.
Apart from ‘1962: My Country Land’, Partha has been working with various international crew for film projects in Switzerland, France, Turkey. He is also filming with several corporates in Singapore, Indonesia and Japan as a freelance filmmaker.
