M MANIRAM’S NEW ASSAMESE MOVIE ‘ XONDHIKHYON ’ RELEASING ON MARCH 23

Renowned fim-maker M Maniram’s latest film ‘ Xondhikhyon ’ (Transition) (2014), exposes the socio-political system in depth by piercing through its thick opaque layers.Releasing on 23^rd March the film stars Sourav Hazarika , Rajen Sarma, Dipak Bhuyan, Bina Baruati, Rina Bora, Madhusmita Borkotoky, Mitali Kashyap, Satyen Sarma, Upakul Bordoloi and Lt. Lakhi Borthakur.The film was screened at the Contemporary Indian Film Festival held in May 2015 at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The 95-minute film depicts the agony of a woman and her family when her husband Abinash Barua was kidnapped by an insurgent group. It unfolds the layers of different political pulls and pushes of the place evoked by the issue.

In the film, Xondhikhyon the Government of India is shown taking up economic development measures in North Eastern India, opening the door for investors. Under the scheme, an Agarwala businessman sets up the Luit Cement Factory at Bholukabari, a village of Tiwa tribes in Karbi Anglong under the PPP model after signing an MoU with the government. Abinash Barua, an officer of the Department of Commerce and Industries is appointed as OSD of the cement factory. The indigenous tribes of Bholukabari opposed the project. Revolutionary Hopun Gogoialso gives a statement to the media protesting the project. The film begins with the camera focusing on a city where vehicles are moving slowly in dim light. Upon these visuals, credit titles roll. It gives the sense of an oppressive atmosphere of lifeless life.

Film is the composition of picture and sound. Maniram uses these two powerful elements appropriately. Sound comes first to narrate the story towards the end of the credit titles.

“On the other hand, today we enter into the third day of the kidnapping of OSD Abinash Barua. But the State Machinery fails in finding a clue to this issue. This incapability of the government is condemned by several organizations and individuals having social concerned”. After the voiceover, the actual picture of the story begins with the television telecasting the news, inside the house of Abinash Barua. Hopun Gogoi is seen criticizing the society on the television screen. “The ‘gods’ made by us can give or take away anything just like an invisible one. Like this, no trace of Abinash Barua. At a time when thousands are losing their dwelling houses and land due to floods, the capitalist like Zakaria, Jalan and Agarwala are busy building their earthquake proof palatial mansions on high lands”.

The film shows the current practices of powerful television channels. It throws light on the unorganized and chaotic situations in the land where the selfish leaders run it. The director very deftly utilizes the television news channel as a character of the film.

M Maniam emphasises the film Xondhikhyon on cinematic values redefining the film technology in narrating the story. He creates the film with elements of suspense. He maintains the tempo maneuvering to avoid the anti-climax in the subsequent scenes of the film that begins with a climax. He puts poetic elements using clock with the effects of sound and music at the ending to give an impact to the audience. Sumon Dowerah’s flawless camera work deserves special mention. He beautifully captures different moods of the characters in close frames closely scanning their feelings and emotions. Manipuri film maker Ningthouja Lancha is the editor and music director of the film. Use of black and white in the flashback romantic scenes of Abinash and Papori, and the clock sequence gives an aesthetic sense. Music has a significant role in the melodramatic situations. The film scripted and directed by Maniram carries both incidents and commentaries in one go to make a well-defined and meaningful film reflecting the contemporary issues.

Born into a Moirangthem family in Assam though originally the family is from a small village called Phumlou in Manipur, M Maniram is now settled in Guwahati. He is now an established film maker and scriptwriter in Assamese cinema. His father Bolbihari who left his home in Manipur at the tender age of 14 to study tailoring in ITI Jorhat in Assam did not return home but decided to make Assam his adopted home and lived there with his family. The family earned their living from a tailoring shop they opened at Tinsukia. This was where Maniram developed a passion for films, and more than that, film making. He used to watch a lot of films during his childhood days in a cinema hall adjacent to his father’s shop. That cinema hall soon became the virtual film learning institute for Maniram, over and above his formal education. He began watching films not only for entertainment but also to observe productions styles and techniques attentively.

Maniram directed his first Assamese film- Mon Jai (I feel like) in the year 2008 under his banner- Moirangthem Movies. He scripted the film. The film was not only selected for the Indian panorama of the International Film Festival of India in 2008, but also it won the national film award for the best regional film in Assamese language of the same year.