Interacting with the media during the ‘meet the directors’ of Indian Panorama series as part of 47th International Film Festival of India in Goa, Utpal Borpujari, director of ‘Memories of a Forgotten War’, said that the film is a documentary about the memories of people from the states of Nagaland and Manipur, who fought and witnessed the World War II. “The film is based on war, yet is an anti-war film, as it shows that even the soldiers have feelings for their enemies and were just fighting on orders, and not for their personal reasons,” the director said.

The crew of the film interviewed 29 war veterans across the globe. The director mentioned about the difficulties in tracking down the veterans as most of the soldiers from the war had passed away or were not in a condition to talk. Borpujari said that the youngest interviewee was 92 years old and the oldest was 96.

Talking about the bombings in Nagaland and Manipur during the World War II, Borpujari said that the people were simply the victims of circumstances, while they had no connection with the cause of the war. “It is a film that deals with the subject not as a military one but as one that impacted the lives of many individuals in many ways,” he said.

Borpujari’s documentary ‘Memories of a Forgotten War’ was screened as part of Indian Panorama at the ongoing 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2016 in Goa on November 23.

The film is a rich account of the decisive battles fought in the Northeast in 1944. The 109 minute feature-length documentary film seeks to tell the tales of valor of those soldiers and of the locals who participated or witnessed those battles.

Utpal Borpujari wrote extensively on areas like culture, literature and politics, before turning a scriptwriter and filmmaker. In the ‘meet the directors’ of Indian Panorama series, non-feature filmmakers, Utpal Borpujari of  “Memories of Forgotten War”, Umesh Mohan Bagade, director of ‘Chaukat’  (Frames)  and Niranjan Kumar Kujur, director of ‘Edpa Kana’, interacted with the media.

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