Rima Das is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker best known for her film Village Rockstars, which won several national and international awards and became India’s official entry for the 90th Academy Awards. Rima Das speaks to Northeast Now in this exclusive interview about her cinematic journey, her latest film “Tora’s Husband,” and her desire to make a film on Assam’s political movement.
Northeast Now: Rima Das, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. We would like to learn more about you as a person, aside from your filmmaking career. What are your interests? What motivates you? What is your mantra for life?
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Rima Das: In recent years, I have been so focused on my films that I have neglected to take care of myself. I have realized that I need to balance my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health in order to create. If I suffer, my creations will suffer as well.
I enjoy reading, yoga, meditation, travel, and spirituality. I am also passionate about helping children and women in the villages. I believe that the new generation, particularly children and youth, requires a great deal of support and love.I try to do this in my films, and I also encourage people to connect with each other and grow together.
My mantra for life is to keep moving forward and not to dwell on the past. We all make mistakes, but it is important to learn from them and not repeat them.
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Tell us about your journey. What brought you to the world of cinema?
My journey to cinema was spontaneous. I come from a small village in Assam. My father was the founder principal of a high school, and my mother ran a press and a bookstore. I never thought I would be a filmmaker. I was actually looking for acting jobs. I was always interested in dance and acting, and I had that atmosphere in my village, school, and college.
After completing my studies, I went to Mumbai looking for acting jobs. But then I got the opportunity to watch world cinema, and I fell in love with it. Even though I didn’t know the technicalities of filmmaking, I somehow knew that I would be able to tell stories. I bought a camera, and everything happened gradually.
I like the visual power of cinema. It’s a tool where you can create a world of your own with the things that you want to say, visually. That is what I like the most.
I put all of my life experiences into my films, the ups and downs, the fears and regrets, the things that I felt like talking about at times but couldn’t. I mix real life with imagination to create characters and stories. Cinema is very interesting to me, and it has always intrigued me. I knew this is what I wanted to do, and this is how I am doing it.
What is it for you? Is it cinema or life? Which inspires you?
Cinema and life, both go hand in hand… till now. You never know. I have no control in life but in cinema I have much more control. When I am creating I have control but when I am living my life I have little less control. I would not say control but the respect that is needed and the way someone should be thinking is in my hand. Even with our family or friends it matters. Even if we play another character outside but in front of our parents and sibling we cannot play the same role, all of us have different thoughts. There can be a pair of brother and sister that I can create sharing the bond that I want to which might be hard to find in real life. It is rare to find in real life, I have seen with my father, my brothers and my mother… we all had different worlds but we still connected.
Do you think a film showcasing a men’s perspective can be different than a movie that showcases a woman’s perspective?
It will definitely be different. It is different from person to person. It does not matter about men and women. It is all about only the person that is making a cinema. As women everyone’s thinking and ideologies are different and it is quite subjective. How I look at man is different than how you look at man.
Assam has a history of social and political movements. The first Assamese film Jaymati was also a political film. But compared to other regional cinema, Assam has a very few examples of film that is based on political scenario. What do you think the reason behind this and do you plan to make political movies in future?
We need more movies like this and I would love to make movies based on Assam’s political movements. I am quite intuitive when choosing a story and I do not wait. When I work from Flying River Films, that is our production house, I become intuitive; I just grab my camera and no matter what story comes up in my mind I just start shooting. If I do a film based on the political movements from history or something imaginary that is connected to any historical event, I will need more money and proper planning, more efforts. From Village Rockstar, Antardrishti, and then Bulbul Can Sing and now Tora’s Husband, I feel like I am in a film school, experimenting and learning. Recently I did a film in Melbourne, it is called My Melbourne with Australian cast and crew and it was an amazing experience working with a team, I leant how being with a team enhances your ability. We will need more resources and a proper planning for a bigger canvas; it can be done with lesser resources as well. This film is my fifth feature film was shot only in Chayygaon. There are so many stories around us but I now look at the bigger picture now. I will surely make something in future.
Tell our audience about Tora’s Husband?
Tora’s Husband was the most challenging film for me. The decision of making Toraa’s husband is also quite challenging. We shoot the whole film amidst the lockdowns. I have lost my father during the pandemic. The thought process changed throughout the lockdowns. There were end number of things happened. We had to stop shooting with each lockdowns. Stopping the shooting and reshooting intrigued my fear as well. The balance I mentioned in the beginning was needed. I suddenly had a frozen shoulder; I could not move my arms and the painful headache that the character Abhijit, Tora’s Husband having in the film was what I had during the shooting out of nowhere. I am glad apart from all then challenges audience will see a bigger cast this time, people that are my neighbors and my family members. There was a time when I wanted to stop but something from inside did not let me. I am glad that I did not stop because it is one the prominent films of India as it was shot during the pandemic. When people are watching the film they are looking back in time even after 15 or 20 years people will remember this film.
In most of your movies the protagonists are female. Will Tora’s Husband be different in that case?
When you look the title of the film, Tora’s Husband you might raise the question that who is more important and for me Tora is equally important as Tora’s husband. I will not reveal much for me there is a balance between both the characters, I put the perspectives of both of them in front of the audience. I am being less judgmental and putting what I have seen about being a man or a woman and being a husband or a wife. Someone asked me if the character Tora is me or is it an autobiography but I say Tora is like any woman. If you see Dhunu of Village Rockstars, I see her in 10 other girls. Abhijit, the character playing Tora’s husband has influence of real life, real life influence definitely has a part to play in this character. His mannerism, his gestures and the heart is there but still he is lot of men together which is interesting and that is the magic.
Thank you for your time, Rima Das. It has been a pleasure speaking with you.
You’re welcome. Thank you for having me.