Latest news with #HaLyngkhaBneng
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Pradip Kurbah: 'Major OTT platforms don't even consider screening our films'
In the film, what is it that prevents the six protagonists from migrating to urban areas despite having a very tough, isolated and secluded life in their village? Before working on this script, I explored many villages in Meghalaya where I found some villagers, who, despite leading very tough lives, have decided against migrating to the cities. They are so emotionally connected to their land that they are worried about what would happen to the region if they moved out. Many of these natives have seen their neighbours moving out for better opportunities and in some cases, even their children have gone away, but still their connection to the entire space holds them back to their roots. There is an interesting motif of a choir group that appears whenever somebody is close to death. What was the idea behind the linkage? For me, the choir in the film is a very personal element. It was not actually a creative decision. It came from memories and emotions because I've experienced silence and sound in our Khasi Hills. And in the culture of Khasis, choral singing is more than just music; it's a part of our spiritual life, social life, mourning, and celebrations. It is connected to how we share sorrow, how we find comfort, how we speak when words fall short. I remember how these voices would fill the space during funerals, quiet evenings in church, or even during moments when no one knew what to say, and often these voices stayed with me, like echoes. For me, they are the connection between the living and the dead, the seen and the unseen. In the film, they embody the spirits of the past, of the land, of the people we have lost. They can be seen guiding the viewer through this emotional landscape. And as for the characters who witness them before death takes them away, they are like angels. Please take me through the film's cinematography and visual language. We shot the film with a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera. For indie filmmakers like us, we cannot even think of using high-end cameras or fancy equipment. We used a gimbal for hand-held shots. While writing the script, I was very sceptical and worried about the whole visual approach because I didn't want to go for cuts. I wanted very long takes to capture the feeling of isolation. I felt that if we frequently cut, we might lose the whole sense of the vast landscape. So, my team and I decided to make a short film first to explore what we had in mind. That's how we made Path, which went on to win the Second-Best Film at IDSFFK in 2022. Then it traveled to Taipei and Greece. That's how we got the confidence to extend our visual approach to Ha Lyngkha Bneng. The cinematographer Pradip Daimary and I were clear right from the beginning that we wanted to avoid close or tight shots. We wanted to stay wide to allow the characters to exist within the environment in a way that visually expresses their emotions. Are there any filmmakers who have influenced your approach when it comes to wide landscape shots and languid visuals? To tell you frankly, I was initially very much inclined towards commercial films. I could not even imagine a film without songs and all my initial works were mainstream in nature. It was not until I met fellow Meghalayan filmmaker Dominic Sangma that I was introduced to an entirely different kind of cinema. Then, I met a very promising filmmaker from Sikkim called Tribeny Rai, who has just completed her first feature now. They both asked me to watch the films of Bela Tarr, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and the works of Iranian masters. I realised that this was real cinema. And also, when I saw Dominic's first film, (2018), I was so impressed by it. Being a self-taught filmmaker, you learn only by watching other films and listening to the filmmakers talk about their work. How do you raise funding for your films, considering you're an indie film maker? How much went into making this film, and what is the process of recovering the investment? For films like these, we rely on the collective funds of the cast, crew, family members and friends. Ha Lyngkha Bneng was made for about ₹70 lakhs. It's a challenge to recover the money poured in. We just have two theatres in Shillong and getting films screened here is so difficult for us. So, I decided that rather than screening, let's travel and take our films to all the rural places and screen them. That's the best way to recover the investment. With this film, I did approach the government of Meghalaya because they have come out with their own OTT platform to support local filmmakers. They have agreed to support our film. But still, recovering our money will take a lot of time. As for the major OTT platforms, they will not even consider it. That's sad. I was assuming that with the popularity of Rima Das' Village Rockstars (2017) on Netflix, major OTT platforms might now be interested in films from the Northeast. I had made a National Award-winning film called Onaatah: Of the Earth (2016), which was picked by Netflix. They streamed it for three years. The late Satish Kaushik saw the film and bought the rights to it and remade it into Marathi. Later in 2019, after I won the Kim Jiseok Award at Busan for my film Market, I approached Netflix again, but this time they rejected the film. I approached other platforms as well and was turned down as they wanted stars or 'recognizable' actors in the film. Ha Lyngkha Bneng does not have any songs. The only music in the film is the choir songs and a few English songs sung by the characters. Did you grow up listening more to English songs, or was the native Khasi music also part of the culture? Yes, Khasi music is very much part of our culture, but we have been very much influenced by Western music. I've used some old Khasi songs previously that are not available on any platform. I sourced them from the All India Radio as those songs had been recorded there itself. Apart from Western songs, we have been heavily influenced by Bollywood songs also. What's happening with the Kelvin Cinema Festival in Meghalaya? Dominic Sangma and I put up two editions in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Then we thought of doing the third edition and suddenly the main people who were behind us backed out because there was no support from the government. We then tried to approach the government, but things are so difficult. Let's hope we can resume it again as the festival was a great way of bringing together small films from the Northeast. Unfortunately, the discourse on cinema from the Northeast is thin. I'm acquainted with the work of Jahnu Barua, Dominic Sangma, Bhaskar Hazarika, Lakshmipriya Devi, and a few others. Tell me some more good films. Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar's Loktak Lairembee (2016) is an amazing film. Then there's another lovely work from Manipur called Our Home (2022) by Romi Meitei. Keep an eye out for Shape of Momo by Tribeny Rai. It'll be travelling to film festivals soon. What kind of films do you want to make in the near future, and what kind of cinema culture do you wish to foster in Meghalaya? I always tell young and budding filmmakers from Meghalaya that it is very important for us to tell our own stories. Don't focus on what others are doing. We have such a unique and rich culture. As for me, I want to continue making the kind of films I have been making — human stories about our folks. I'm currently working on the script of my next project, which deals a lot about mental health as that's a major issue we are facing nowadays out here. Whenever I go to a crowded place or somewhere and I look at the faces of people, I see every individual looking so lonely. I don't know why, and this is more so, especially after COVID. People here have this fear of being left alone and that is creeping inside the people in cities, too. There was a time in Shillong when we knew our neighbours very well and would talk, discuss and also share our food. But nowadays, that kind of bonding has completely gone. And social media has only aggravated the problem. People are so lost in their mobile phones that real conversations rarely happen. The sense of feeling and isolation has increased more. In Ha Lyngkha Bneng, I've tried to show that despite being set in the future, the characters are leading a very old-school way of life without technology. As a result, they have to rely on each other, and it is because of real communication between them that they have such a strong bonding despite not being connected by blood. Arun AK is an independent journalist. Twitter: @arunusual
New Indian Express
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Pradip Kurbah: We're losing our sense of community
For a filmmaker with a wacky sense of humour, reflected in his social media posts, Shillong-based Pradip Kurbah's The Elysian Field (Khasi title Ha Lyngkha Bneng) is a singularly sublime rumination on life through the medium of death and on relationships, most so, a sense of community, by dwelling on individual seclusion. The philosophical core is also richly suffused with a gentle humour. About the last six residents—Ms Helen, Complete, Maia, Friday, Promise and Livingstone—of a remote village in Meghalaya, the film captures their lives through meditative visuals, shot in each of the four seasons. The vast expanse of landscape is evocative of their isolation. Little profundities are strewn all over the dialogue—about how all good things seem to end too soon, how every exit is an entrance to something new, about looking for happiness not in what you have lost but what you still have. The Elysian Field is a film to be experienced and felt than explained. Kurbah's debut feature Ri: Homeland of Uncertainty (2013), dealt with militancy in Meghalaya; Onataah: Of the Earth (2016) was about a young woman coming to terms with rape and starting life afresh and Market (2019) focused on everyday life of people in Shillong's bustling Iewduh market. His fourth feature, The Elysian Field, is quite simply the most original and outstanding Indian film I have seen so far in 2025. It had its world premiere at the 47th Moscow International Film Festival where it won three major awards last week—Best Film, Best Director and the NETPAC award for Best Film. Excerpts from a conversation with Kurbah soon after his return from the festival.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
From NE to int'l acclaim: Kurbah's ‘Ha Lyngkha Bneng' shines at Moscow film fest
Kolkata: 's Khasi film ' Ha Lyngkha Bneng ' ('The Elysian Field') won the Best Film and Best Director award at the recent 47th Moscow International Film Festival . It also received the NETPAC Award for the Best Asian Film. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The festival had 13 films from 13 countries participating in the main competition. Spanish filmmaker Luis Miñarro gave out the Golden Saint George and said the film's title can be interpreted "as a place where superior souls meet." The film is co-written by Paulami Dutta with sound design and mixing engineering by Saptak Sarkar and Sayantan Ghosh. Cornel Gheorghita, one of the jury members said, "This is a very important film, which took me to a new level in world cinema when Sokurov, Kurosawa and Beckett came together." Aleksey German Jr, another jury member said, "It is an incredibly bold film by a courageous, smart, subtle and perfectly humane director who did exactly what one shouldn't do to win at a festival — he removed all powerful narratives and themes and took people's feelings and emotions instead." The 123-minute-long film was awarded for its philosophical expression of life and death through a "brilliant poetic visual language" enriched with "satire and humour," said Premendra Mazumder, the president of NETPAC jury. "It is a cinematic gem from India," he added. Kurbah, a self-taught director, said, "This is a small step forward for Indian independent cinema, which keeps trying to tell stories from the heart, even if they are not part of the mainstream. For films from the Northeast, it's a quiet but proud moment to see that even small, personal stories from our region can find their place and be accepted by audiences across the world." Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Kurbah's film is set in the Khasi Hills in 2047, also the year when India celebrates its centenary of independence. Six characters live in a village. "It has seen mass migration to cities and is not well connected by a motorable road, and faces intermittent power cuts. The geographical space amplifies their loneliness and loss, but the characters look for joy and embrace solitude. While one of them tries to get electricity to the village, another has found a family in a goat, and another decides to choose laughter at every place she has cried before," said writer Dutta. Kurbah and Dutta devoted four years intermittently to finalise the first draft. The film was written during the pandemic when both were stuck in Bengaluru.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Khasi film feted at Moscow film festival
1 2 3 4 Kolkata: ' Ha Lyngkha Bneng ' ('The Elysian Field'), Pradip Kurbah 's Khasi film , co-written by Kolkata's Paulami Dutta with sound design and mixing engineering by Saptak Sarkar and Sayantan Ghosh, won the Best Film and Best Director award at the 47th Moscow International Film Festival . At the same festival, it was also given the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film by a jury whose president was from Kolkata. The festival had 13 films from 13 countries participating in the main competition. Spanish filmmaker Luis Miñarro awarded the Golden Saint George for the Best Film, mentioning that its title can be interpreted "as a place where superior souls meet." Jury members - director and screenwriter Aleksey German Jr and director, screenwriter, producer Cornel Gheorghita – awarded Kurbah the prize for the best director. Gheorghita said, "This is a very important film, which took me to a new level in world cinema when Sokurov, Kurosawa and Beckett came together." German added, "This is an incredibly bold film by a courageous, smart, subtle and perfectly humane director who did exactly what one shouldn't do to win at a festival – he removed all powerful narratives and themes and took people's feelings and emotions instead." You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Premendra Mazumder, the president of the NETPAC jury, said the 123-minute-long film was awarded for its philosophical expression of life and death through a "brilliant poetic visual language" enriched with "satire and humour." "The astounding poetic visuals where nature acts as a stimulant kept us engrossed from beginning to end. It is a cinematic gem from India," Mazumdar said. Kurbah, who is a self-taught director, said, "This is a small step forward for Indian independent cinema which keeps trying to tell stories from the heart, even if they are not part of the mainstream. For films from the Northeast, it's a quiet but proud moment to see that even small, personal stories from our region can find their place and be accepted by audiences across the world." The National awardee didn't follow any set technique while making the film. "Most of what I've learned has come from simply observing life — the little moments, the silences, the emotions that are often felt but not spoken. I've always believed that stories are all around us, in the everyday things we often overlook. I just tried to trust my instincts and stay true to the feelings I wanted to express. It was a very natural and organic process for me, guided more by emotion and intuition rather than anything planned," he added. Kurbah's film is set in 2047, also the year when India celebrates its centenary of independence. His Kolkata-based co-writer was born and brought up in Shillong. "We have been to movies and not to film schools. We devoted four years intermittently to finalising the first draft. This film was written during the pandemic when I was stuck in Bengaluru and Pradip-da was in Shillong," Dutta said. Set in the Khasi Hills in 2047, the six characters - Complete (Richard Kharpuri), Livingstone (Albert Mawrie), Maia (Baia Marbaniang), Friday (Jeetesh Sharma), Miss Helen (Helena Duiia) and Promise (Merlvin Mukhim) – live in a village in east Khasi Hills. "It has seen mass migration to cities and is not well connected by a motorable road, and faces intermittent power cuts. The geographical space amplifies their loneliness and loss, but the characters look for joy and embrace solitude. While one of them tries to get electricity to the village, another has found a family in a goat, and another decides to choose laughter at every place she has cried before," Dutta added. Sarkar, an alumnus of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute who designed the sound with Sumir Dewri and Sayantan Ghosh, said, "The film has four seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter. It was challenging to subtly create the soundscape for each season. Dynamizing the sonic place with only six characters was equally difficult," Sarkar said.
United News of India
25-04-2025
- Politics
- United News of India
Odisha establishes 46 new Civil Judge Courts
States » East Bhubaneswar , Apr 26 (UNI )The Odisha Government had established 46 new Civil Judge Courts (Junior Division) in the state. These courts were established at various places in Balasore,Sambalpur,Rayagada,Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur,Sundargarh,Sonepur, Cuttack, Bargarh, Khurdha,Jharsuguda ,Jajpur,Kendrapara, Bhadrakk, Dhenkanal,Bolangir and Ganjam district. The state government has constituted these courts in consultation with the Odisha High Court. The notification has been issued after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi approved the proposed amendment. UNI DP SJC More News Meghalaya filmmaker Kurbah wins big at Moscow International Film Festival 25 Apr 2025 | 4:43 PM Shillong, Apr 25 (UNI) Two-time National Film Award (India) winner and self-taught filmmaker, Pradip Kurbah from Meghalaya, won two major honours at the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) 2025 for his Khasi film 'Ha Lyngkha Bneng.' Kurbah's film 'Ha Lyngkha Bneng', or 'The Elysian Field' in English, tells the story of a secluded village in Meghalaya gradually being deserted due to urban migration. It explores themes of loneliness, resilience, and the strength of human connections through the lens of friendship and survival. see more.. 25 Apr 2025 | 4:42 PM Bhubaneswar , Apr 26 (UNI )The Odisha Government had established 46 new Civil Judge Courts (Junior Division) in the state. see more.. AIIMS Bhubaneswar conducts robotic knee replacement surgery 25 Apr 2025 | 4:34 PM Bhubaneswar, Apr 25 (UNI) AIIMS Bhubaneswar has achieved a significant milestone with the introduction of its state-of-the-art Robotic Knee Replacement facility. see more.. 25 Apr 2025 | 4:03 PM Kolkata, Apr 25 (UNI) Union minister Sukanta Majumdar on Thursday assured the family members of a BSF jawan, detained by the Pakistani Ranger after accidentally crossing the border on Wednesday, that every effort was being taken to get his release at the earliest. see more.. Police evacuate stranded tourists after mud-slides block roads in North Sikkim 25 Apr 2025 | 3:17 PM Gangtok, Apr 25 (UNI) Over 1400 stranded tourists, mostly from West Bengal, were on Thursday evacuated after they got stuck following heavy mudslides and rockfall, triggered by downpour in North Sikkim's upper region of Lachen and lachung, about 110 km from Gangtok, official sources said. see more..
