Assamese filmmaker Bobby Sarma Baruah is making a Sherdukpen language film Mishing, adapted from novel of the same name by Sahitiya Akademy award winning author Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi.
The Sherdukpen are an ethnic group related to both the Aka and Monpa. Their population of 4,000 is centered in West Kameng in the villages of Rupa, Jigaon, Thongri, Shergaon, in Bomdila of Arunachal Pradesh.
“We are extremely happy to announce that we have already completed the shooting and editing for the film which will be completed shortly. I’m sure this is going to be a beautiful film as it was shot in some of the beautiful locations of Arunachal Pradesh,” Baruah said on Monday, reports The News Mill.
The film deals with folklore of the Sherdukpen people. Mishing means the spirit of dying people that appears before their near and dear ones. The plot of the film is based in the 1980s.
“I quite like the novel. So, I decided to make the film in Sherdukpen language. But it’s very difficult. I just can’t copy the novel as it is. I have taken the story and tried to script it in a creative way. At the same time I also need to keep it in my mind that the essence of the story in the novel is not missed,” added Baruah whose previous film ‘Sonar Baran Pakhi’ (The Golden Wings), a biopic based on the life of legendary folk singer Pratima Barua Pandey of Assam, has won accolades from different parts of the globe.
Ninety per cent of the artistes of the film are locals and just a few characters are from Assam.
Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi who has won a number of awards for his literary works said that he is hopeful that the director will be able to do justice to the story.
“Many people in the past have approached me for making films on my novels but I was never keen to allow them. I have become choosy. But after watching her (Baruah) work, I’m sure, she will be able to do it properly,” said Thongchi.
He also thinks that the film will also help in preserving the Sherdukpen language which is on the threshold of the extinction.