Talent from Aruchal making mark in showbiz world

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Itagar, January 1: Whether it was Aruchalee filmmaker Sange Dorjee Thongdok, who was praised for ’Crossing Bridges’ or actress Mari Doye, who made her acting debut with ’Ladies First’, artistes from the North–East state crossed boundaries to make their presence felt in showbiz this year.

Thongdok made his directorial debut with ’Crossing Bridges’, about a young Mumbai based web designer Tashi, who after losing his job returns to his tive village located in the remote northeast region of India.

Alieted and disconnected from his culture, Tashi begins an emotiol journey to rediscover his roots and in the process discovers his identity through the people he meets.

Made with an estimated budget of Rs 2.5 crore ’Crossing Bridges’, shot in Shergaon, Bombila, Chuk village and garjiji in Aruchal Pradesh, is the first film to be made in Sherdukpen, a tribal dialect spoken in the state’s West Kameng district.

Starring Dorjee Phuntso as Tashi along with Anshu Jamsenpa, the film was earlier selected for the Work In Progress Lab as part of the NDFC film Bazaar 2012. Mari Doye is the latest model–actor from the state to enter Bollywood.

She starred in ’Ladies First’, whcih released in early 2014 and is now stars in ’Life Mein Twist Hai’, directed by Dinesh Soni and produced by Shyam Kedia, Umesh Sethiya and Jitender Srivastava under Shree Shyam Entertainment banner.

"To break the traditiol bondage to fly while remaining alive to my roots in my tive Seren village, promoted me to choose Bollywood as a career," Mari said. ’Life Mein Twist Hai’ is a suspense movie, in which Mari plays a young college lecturer. The movie also stars Alok th, Mustaq Khan, Gulshan, Banwali, Sahil Akhtar, Chandan Kumar, Archa Singh, Mihseel Sah, Manish Uppal, among others.