Village Rockstars 2

Rima Das’s Village Rockstars 2, which won the Kim Jiseok Award at the 29^thBushan International Film Festival this year, was screened at the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival on Sunday, 8^th December, 2024.

This was the first screening of the film in India. Village Rockstars 2is a sequel to Village Rockstars (2017), showing a grown, adolescent Dhanu(of the earlier film) facing some of the hard realities of life.

In talking about the art of the novel, Milan Kundera said that the great tragedies and the epics do not speak about the real life-experiences of ordinary human beings, although ordinariness is the stuff with which our lives are made of. Rima Das’s talent is precisely in her acute observation of ordinary rural life in Assam and in her consummate skill in portraying the struggles, frustrations, pleasures, hopes and tragedies that ordinary people in an Assamese village experience.

In other words, she makes extraordinary films out of what may perhaps be termed as ordinary events.

The film has a linear story-line, without disruptions of chronology and can be said to be episodic, with a string of specific events in Dhanu’s life making up the story. Bhanita Das does an exceptionally good job of playing the energetic Dhanu who can beat boys of her age in climbing trees. There are scenes of her actually climbing areca nut trees with a sickle tucked at her back, and harvesting the mature areca fruits.

In one scene, she climbs down from quite high up in a tree, possibly a pipaltree. In this scene, she lands on the ground using the branches of the tree that bend downwards. The fatherless Dhanu and her brother are brought up by her mother, ably played by Basanti Das, whose strugglesDhanu appreciates very much, and whom she tries to help by lending a hand in the daily chores.

Manabendra Das who plays the role of Dhanu’s brother is able to bring forward the gloomy inwardness of adolescent frustrations. There is one scene in which he is showing shovelling sand to earn something for the family, while there are scenes in which he is shown to be drunk, partly through the machinations of a land-broker, who, unable to coax Dhanu’s mother to sell her land, tries to have his way by using Dhanu’s brother.

This becomes clear when it is disclosed that Dhanu’s brother signed some papers given by that broker to facilitate the process of selling the land.

The villager’s connectedness to the land is shown in Dhanu’s mother’s blunt refusal to sell her land for whatever amount of money the broker and his client offer. In one scene, Dhanu is told by her ailing mother that she must take care of the land even as she was taking care of her (the mother) because the land is also mother.

The death of the mother leaves Dhanu utterly without any support except that of her brother. There are some scenes in the play in which Dhanu is shown going out, shouting for her brother, but without any response from the brother. These scenes create a sense of tension concerning the brother’s desire to have money and perhaps live a better life than the hard life they are accustomed to.

The boy is shown to fall for the temptations that the land-broker offers. However, towards the end of the story, when Dhanu and her brother are left without even the support of the mother, there is some suggestion of a positive change in the boy’s attitude.

In one scene, he is shown lying on the ground, on the land that is theirs perhaps, while Dhanu goes in search of him. Then a brief scene of the two siblings frolicking together is also shown, suggesting perhaps, that the boy is bonding with his sister and most importantly, with the land, too.

The poor villagers who are Dhanu and her family’s neighbours are shown to be involved and together as a community, while Dhanu’s friends are also quite supportive. The frustrations of young people of Dhanu’s age are shown in their attempts at performing at Bihu functions in the town.

Once the rains disrupt their performance, and once the organizers refuse to pay them because they do not have many male members in the group.

Thus, patriarchy is shown to raise its ugly head even in the matter of performances in cultural functions. Misogyny prevalent in rural society is also shown when the land-broker, confronted by Dhanu’s mother and a group of village women, repeatedly says that he wouldn’t like to talk to women.

Dhanu’s friends are shown to be quite supportive, and one of the assertions that is repeated among them is “I am your friend; you are my friend. I understand you, and you understand me.” In one scene a girl, Dhanu’s friend, treats her to sweets in a roadside restaurant, and also offers her some money, understanding the financially difficult times that Dhanu’s family is going through.

The film has a strong ecological message with scenes of people protesting against the felling of trees in the name of development. Also, there is a scene in which Dr Purnima Devi Barman, who has earned laurels in her efforts to save the greater adjutant stork, is shown with a group of village kids, campaigning for the greater adjutant stork, known as Hargila in Assamese.

The film makes the important point that when it comes to environmental consciousness and ecological wisdom, the poor villagers seem to appreciate these things easily while those drunk with power and wealth seem to favour so-called development, destroying nature, the habitat of countless creatures and the livelihood of rural people.

Briefly, Rima Das has done it again. She has once again demonstrated her ability to brilliantly portray rural Assamese village life in Village Rockstars 2. Additionally, the film takes a strong stand against environmental destruction, and also offers a critique of patriarchal prejudice in rural society.

Sanjeev Kumar Nath, sanjeevnath21@gmail.com

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