Sources: https://bodolandwatch.files.wordpress.com/
KEY Points: Bodo movie film | Bodo movie 2020 | Bodo movie youtube | Alayron Bodo Film
If you were born a Bodo in the 80s and a few decades earlier, it’s
likely that you watched a movie named, Alayaron that is
subtitled, The Dawn in English. It was one of the first Bodo
movies shot on 35mm film and was directed by an enthusiastic movie-maker named,
Jwngdao Bodosa and produced under the banner of Bodosa Film Productions.
Released across theatres
in 1986, the film was the first of its kind among the Bodos and it gained massive popularity among them.
To this day, the movie is fondly remembered by those who got an
opportunity to watch it and has stirred the curiosity in the younger
generations, who have read about it but never got an opportunity to watch it.
The film garnered the
33rd National Film Awards in 1986 for the best feature film in Bodo. There is
information about it on the Wikipedia pages.
With the advent of the digital age, the movie didn’t re-appear
in popular formats like the CD, VCD, or Blue-ray and was not available on free
video-sharing platforms like Youtube, online movie portals, and other online
video streaming platforms.
Mr. Jwngdao Bodosa on the left
When asked in one of his recent interviews about the current
status of the film, Mr. Jwngdao Bodosa revealed that he no longer had copies of
the film. He however mentioned that a copy of the movie was submitted to be
archived at the FTII in Pune and its restoration in the current day would
require a huge amount of money that he couldn’t possibly afford to spend from
his own pocket.
This was like a ray of hope, a silver lining in the clouds for
the people who hoped for its re-emergence in current popular formats.
On 25 September 2021, the official Facebook page of Pramod Boro,
the current Chief Executive Member of the Bodo Territorial Region confirmed
that the negatives of two films in the Bodo language, Alayaron (1986) and Hagramayao
Jinahari (1995) were recovered from the ADLABS FILMS PVT. LTD is located
in Mumbai. The negatives were collected by a 4-member delegate of the Mission
Alayaron team after completing the necessary paper works and paying
Rupees 11 lakhs and 30 thousand to the caretakers of the film archives of this
now-defunct film laboratory.
“We weren’t sure if the mission would be a success and we were
really doubtful initially,” said Mr. Bodosa, also a pioneer of films in the
Bodo language.
“After a week of putting in efforts, we were able to finally get
the movie (Alayaron) in a digitized format. We can confirm that the
movie has been restored in its finest new form. The colors are much better than
it was before. The sound too is now in digital format and hence there’s a
cancellation of noise that was prevalent in the olden days. This is
certainly Alayaron reborn and I believe it’s technically of a
higher quality than it was back then.”
He went on to add, “I am really thankful to the current CEM of
BTR, who took an initiative to get the movie restored. We should have been the
ones to approach him but it was the other way round. While I would like to
acknowledge the investments made by the producers and the artists who put in
their efforts in the making of this movie, I would like to think of the
restoration of the film, Alayaron as a gift to the Bodo people, and let’s consider it as their property now. "
Amar Narzary in a scene from the film, Alayaron.
In an interview with a Bodo news channel recently, Mr. Amar
Narzary, who played the protagonist in the film said, “I got the news about the
restoration of the film, Alayaron through the social media and
I’m greatly elated. I’ve since been in touch with Mr. Jwngdao Bodosa to get
updates on the developments.”
About the disappearance of the film, he said, “I won’t be able
to tell the exact time when it went into the verge of extinction. Back in the
day the movie actually ran in many theatres across the state for quite a long
time. There was also a time when the copies of the movie were made available in
the VHS format but this wasn’t an initiative of the production house. It was
actually done by some video pirates. The production house didn’t understand the
importance of conserving and making the movie available in contemporary formats
back then.”
He also stressed the importance of ensuring the film is
preserved for ages and urged the government to facilitate such endeavors. He
opined, “The main reason for Bodo movies disappearing is because of the absence
of archives and the facility to store and preserve these.”
Rohila Brahma, who bagged a leading role as an amateur actress
shared a fond memory of the audition for this film and the shooting that ensued.
“I was studying in 12th back then. When I got word about this project, I sent
the production house a passport photograph and a full-length body shot as part
of my portfolio.
I was called for an
audition when the director saw my pictures. I was asked to do some sort of ramp
walk and a voice test was also done during the audition. Being an amateur, I
wasn’t comfortable initially but as the shooting progressed, things looked fine
to me.”
She added a very interesting unknown fact, “Halfway through the
shooting of this film, I got a marriage proposal and thereafter I got married
leading to the film getting stalled for some time. I wasn’t sure I could live
up to the commitments for this film.
The picnic scene in the
film was in fact shot after my marriage. They came to get me and somehow
managed to convince my family members to allow me to complete the shooting of
this film.”
Explaining the reason for her not working in any other films she
said, “my father-in-law had a very conservative outlook and had issues with me
working in films. He certainly didn’t believe in a career in films.
I couldn’t give any
further commitments for films although I was approached for another film, Khwmsi
Lama.”
The Mission Alayaron team returned to Bodo
Territorial Region on 8th October 2021. They returned with the film, Alayaron reborn and restored from the
negatives within the dust-laden, rusty film cans. Through their social media
posts, netizens who took a keen interest in the developments saw the team pose
with the negative cans and provide a day on daily updates. The negatives were
scanned using the Lasergraphic Scan station before it was finally restored in
the digital format.
A few days later a show of the restored film was organized at
the auditorium of CIT, Kokrajhar for select guests. An aged Tikendra Narzary on
the occasion said, “Humans are born, get old and then die but they need to
leave behind an epitaph that denotes a strong sense of culture, which can be
remembered for ages by the future generations.” Tikendra Narzary played the
role of the protagonist’s father in the film, Alayaron.
He added,” I’m at a stage in life where I can hardly lift my
legs to walk and I’m thankful to Mr. Pramod Boro, who has taken the initiative
to collect and archive all the works of art that are on the verge of
extinction. I will remain ever grateful to him.
If I had the time, I would have loved to work in more films. I
have a message for the Bodos. We must survive in the future.”
More films of the past in the Bodo language are likely to be
restored in the days to come. At the time of writing this, it wasn’t clear how
the restored film will be made available to the public again. I personally
believe making a collector’s edition available in DVD, Blue-ray format at a
nominal rate will benefit a lot of cinephiles.
Words
by Nayan Lahary
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