Filmmaker Lakshmipriya Devi’s Manipuri film Boong recently made India proud by winning the Best Children’s & Family Film award at the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) in London. Starring Gugun Kipgen, Bala Hijam, Angom Sanamatum and Vikram Kochhar, the film is about a little boy’s quest to find his missing father. After being screened at various festivals around the world, the movie was released in theatres last year in September. However, after its victory in BAFTA, it will be re-released in cinemas on March 6.
Boong is backed by Vikesh Bhutani and Shujaat Saudagar under their banner Chalkboard Entertainment, along with Alan McCalex's Suitable Pictures and Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Entertainment. Vikesh and Shujaat shared their jubilation at the film's triumph in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama.
Shujaat admitted that he was taken aback when the announcement was made. “We were very pleasantly surprised; actually shocked because we were honoured,” he said. “Only to be nominated itself was a very big deal for us and a matter of pride. Winning it was something like a cherry on the cake. Not that we were not expecting. We were hoping that the outcome would be that we would win. Everyone wants to win. We were secretly hoping. But when the film made it to the shortlist was when we started getting excited about it. Having said that, till the name was announced, there was a moment of gleeful shock for us and it is still, kind of, sinking in.”
Vikesh revealed his reaction saying, “We were overcome with a lot of emotion, more than anything else. We worked so hard behind the film and got so much love. So, we are thankful to the audiences, jury members of various festivals. The film had travelled to a lot of festivals and had already won a lot of awards. But winning at BAFTA was really validating the faith and belief we had in the film.”
He continued, “It was pitted against some big international films, so we thought we are happy with the nomination. So, we were very thrilled when we heard it. It was a surreal moment for all of us till we started seeing a lot of messages coming and people started acknowledging. So, it is validating that a film like Boong has moved that far.”
Shujaat and Vikesh have been close friends with Lakshmipriya Devi and have collaborated with her on various advertisement films and feature films for two decades now. “The idea and script is her birth child, her baby,” said Shujaat. “She came to us and she narrated the script. The moment we heard, we knew this film needs to be made. It was absolutely stunning and heart-warming what she had written. It won us over. It was something very poignant as well. We were just happy to be associated with this film. It was a great learning process for all of us involved in the film.”
Shujaat said that their expectations from Boong, when they decided to back it, were to see the film earn a name, which it has. “Lakshmipriya is from Manipur and she wanted to tell this story. What was beautiful about the film was that it was this child’s journey. And you can see this world through the innocence of this child. We just wanted to be as authentic and as real as possible. It isn’t a film that demanded any star value. The script itself is a star of the film. We didn’t have any commercial kind of expectations from the film. We knew that this film will resonate with Indian and global audience. We were very confident of that,” he said.
After winning the award at BAFTA, Lakshmipriya’s awards speech touched a lot of hearts as she spoke not only about the film but also about the situation in Manipur. Reacting to her speech, Shujaat said, “It was amazing. I think what she said was from the heart. That is what was important. She said what she has been feeling and it was fantastic and heart-warming. It was out of love and peace. It was a nice and beautiful message that she passed on.”
In recent times, makers of a lot of small and, especially, regional films have been complaining that their films aren’t receiving the due they deserve from OTT platforms. Sharing his thoughts on this, Vikesh said, “The regional films are also being picked up by platforms. It’s not like they don’t. Malayalam and south Indian films are picked up more easily more than any other region. But I think sometimes there is a validation and it becomes easier to present it on their platform. It’s not like they don’t; they do. But there is a limitation for sure.” He also said that they are currently in talks to get a good digital platform on board for Boong’s OTT release in the future.
Summing up the film’s triumph, Shujaat said, “This, actually, gives us a lot of hope and courage to keep doing such films and not to give up on taking films to a much larger and bigger canvas and audience.”
Also Read: BAFTA-winning Boong to return to theatres on March 6 with wider release
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