A shout-out for Boong

Good to see a fairly packed hall (at PVR Select Citywalk) for Lakshmipriya Devi’s Boong, about a Manipuri boy setting out to find his missing dad – the recent BAFTA award probably played a part in raising the film’s profile, but hoping word of mouth will take over. It’s a lovely film, quirky and engrossing throughout – right from the opening scene where little Boong recites Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” at his school assembly. Very fluid mix of the personal and the political (the absentee-parent trope can obviously work at both levels, given the treatment of the more marginalised Indian states by the Centre ) – though you don’t consciously have to think of any of that while watching this. Wonderfully performed by Gugun Kipgen, the other children, and Bala Hijam as Boong’s mother.
 
There’s a good chance it will play for another few days now, what with new shows having been added in Delhi halls mid-week – but either way, try to go for it soon.

P.S. one of the images here is from an amusing scene where a local pradhan surreptitiously watches Hindi films (banned in Manipur) in his screening room - and is threatened with exposure. Ah, the many Indias…