After winning various awards internationally, Village Rockstars – India’s official nomination for the Oscars – has been able to win the hearts of the local viewers as well. The film has been running successfully for the second week after it was released on September 28.
Village Rockstars, which was made single-handedly by Rima Das with a minimum budget, has also emerged to be one of rare commercially success films that has been released in Assam in the recent past.
Rima, who was in Singapore at the screening of her film at Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, said that she is overjoyed by the response.
“I’m overjoyed by the love of the people for supporting the film,” said Rima.
Officials at Kamakhya Films, which distributed the film, said that it has been able to collect more than Rs 80 lakhs till Monday since its release on September 28.
Though initially it was released in 30 cinema halls across Assam, which later increased to 40 cinema halls.
Most of the shows were housefuls in all the places of the state.
“I tried to watch the film on Sunday at PVR Cinema which is near my home but I didn’t get the tickets. It was already sold out for the 6.30 pm show. Now I will watch the film on a weekday,” said Gunjan Malakar in Guwahati.
Made with an approximate budget of Rs 30 lakhs, using her own DSLR camera and with untrained village children, Das has been able to win everyone’s heart so far. The film has won Golden Lotus which is the best feature film at the National Film Awards besides three other awards which is very rare for an Assamese film.
The one hour 27 minute film narrates the struggle which 10-year-old Dhunu, the protagonist, has to undergo while trying to achieve her goal under gender stereotypes on what a girl should do amid poverty and other hostile conditions. The film was shot in the filmmaker’s native village Kalardiya in Chhaygaon which is around 50 kilometres from Guwahati.
