PHOTOGRAPH BY AYUSH DAS
MOVIEMAKER.COMWORLD CINEMA
WINTER 2019 85MontclairFilm.org (^) MontclairFilm MontclairFilmFest
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at the 8th Annual
Montclair Film Festival
STEPHEN COLBERT
MERYL STREEP
RACHEL WEISZ
ETHAN HAWKE
JEFF DANIELS
NICK OFFERMAN
TALK OF THE TOWN: DAS’ ROOTS IN
THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF CHHAYGOAN
HAVE DRIVEN THE GROWING GLOBAL
DISCUSSION OF HER UNIQUE WORK
the heady materialism and “fake-
ness” of Mumbai, she explains,
in order to form the perspec-
tive from which her renewed
appreciation of “home” could
emerge. Gradually, a calm settled
over her, amidst the garrulous
double-talk of the metropolis.
“I was living with nothing,” she
muses, sans bitterness. “Nothing
can also bring you happiness. In
emptiness, there are things, too.”
Among such “things” were the
embers of Das’ inner storyteller;
her films’ fixation on her return
to innocence; her bravura choice
to be a one-woman film crew
(assisted only by her cousin,
who did location sound for
Bulbul Can Sing); her intuition
for casting non-professional
actors; and her patient guidance
of her protagonists toward their
respective lyrical destinations.
Das’ films have now toured
several festivals. Her notoriety
is new and organic, and her
demeanor in Q&As thoroughly
disarming, even hesitant and
deflective. Surrounded suddenly
by well-wishers not too different
from the overzealous village elder
characters of Bulbul Can Sing,
she now hears warnings about
the complacency that often comes
with success. But she affirms with
the tenderest confidence that she
is beyond that danger: “Making
Village Rockstars was a journey
on which I felt the connection to
my cast and crew more than just
as a moviemaker—as one human
being to other human beings,” she
explains. “I’ve been in Bollywood,
and I’ve seen how glamour and
fame in Bollywood can destroy
everything. It’s not that I don’t
want fame, a comfortable life, or
money. But to be connected is
to know real happiness. In the
village, I saw that people can be
happy. Success can’t get to my
head now.”
The rural-urban dichotomy is
but one manifestation of Das’ gift
for transcending time and place
in order to tell stories that reso-
nate with audiences on a global
scale. “Movies are universal,” she
says. “When I first started watch-
ing films at festivals, I realized
that whether they’re from China,
Russia, wherever, they are for the
whole world. Language should
not be a barrier. From the begin-
ning, I never thought that making
an Assamese film meant that my
audience would be Assamese
only. When I started making
films, ‘Think local and act global’
was always in my mind.”
Das is a world moviemaker
because she works through
the noise she encounters—be
it festival applause or the loud
discriminations of hegemonic
media industries—and then lends
narrative and cinematic earthiness
to her heroes and landscapes.
Though some have described
Bulbul Can Sing as a coming-of-
age film, she says she is interested
only in “mystery... I don’t like films
where I understand everything.
I enjoy people’s interpretations.”
Would it offend her if people had
the exact opposite perspective
of her film than what she had
intended? “Sometimes,” she
admits. “But I’m leaning more and
more to detach myself from those
things. Fortunately, for now, the
reviews are good.” MM
Bulbul Can Sing screened in the
Contemporary World Cinema
section at the 2018 Toronto
International Film Festival.
Village Rockstars is India’s official
entry to the 91st Academy Awards.