Song of the Horned Owl
Manju Borah
India. 2015. 78 min
According to a myth in Bodo community, exploited man after death transforms into a horned owl (Hudu) and comes back to his/her home and keeps calling from a tree. The film takes this myth and uses it as a metaphor to intensify the thematic development.
The film explores the social and political upheavals of the indigenous Bodo community post the Second World War. Close to 40,000 people have lost their lives to communal violence and insurgency over the past 35 years in the northeast regions of India, many of the victims entirely innocent bystanders. Raimali (Reshma Mushahary), a young rape victim, knows this firsthand. As she lies in an abandoned house, she recalls how separatist violence has marked her life, that of her lover and their families, contrasting its disruption with indigenous folklore and the immutability of the Assamese landscape.
Song of the Horned Owl is a 2015 Bodo language drama film directed by Manju Borah; based on the Assamese novel Dao Hudur Gaan written by Rashmirekha Bora and adapted as screenplay by the director herself. It was produced by Shankar Lall Goenka and stars Reshma Mushahary, Ahalya Daimary, and Nita Basumatary in the lead roles. The film was premiered at Montreal World Film Festival in 2015.
MANJU BORAH
Six times with eight National Film Awards ( Rajat Kamal) winner Manju Borah, earlier a short story writer started her film making journey in 1996 with an Assamese film ‘Sapon ‘ . ‘Baibhab’(A Scam in Verse) is her first independent film released in 1999 followed by ’Anya Ek Yatra’ 2001, ‘Akashitorar Kothare’ (A Tale Told Thousands Times) 2003, ‘Laaz’(Shame) 2004, ‘Joymati the Saviour’ 2006, ‘Aai Kot Nai (MA) 2008, ‘Ko:Yad’ ( A Silent Way) 2012, ‘Dau Huduni Methai’( Song of the Horned Owl) 2015, ‘Sarbagunakar Srimanta Sankardeb’(an animated film) 2016 and In the Land of Poison Women 2018. All these films either received National Film Awards at different categories or being selected in Indian Panorama at IFFI and also at various International Film Festivals inside the country or abroad.
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