'Ishu' Screened at Film Festival in Nagaon

The Assamese feature film by Utpal Borpujari, 'Ishu' was screened recently at the two-day Film Festival being held in Nagaon on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Film Festival, being organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India in association with the district administration of Nagaon.

The film festival has been organized at the Khagen Mahanta Auditorium, Nagaon. On the inaugural day, the Hindi film 'Making of Mahatma' (1996) directed by Shyam Benegal was screened. Utpal Borpujari's 'Ishu' (2017 was also screened on the same day. 'Ishu', which has been produced by Children's Film Society, India, received the Best Assamese Feature Film Award at the 65th National Film Awards. The film is based on Assamese writer Monikuntala Bhattacharya's novel with the same title.

The issue of witch-hunting has been portrayed from a boy's perspective in the children's film, 'Ishu'. The film has already been screened at various film festivals across the world. The film critic-turned-director of Assam, Utpal Borpujari, who had also worked as a journalist for many years, has so far made five documentaries, including 'Mayong: Myth/Reality', 'Songs of the Blue Hills', 'Soccer Queens of Rani', 'Memories of a Forgotten War' and 'For a Durbar of the People'. Borpujari is one of the prominent film critics from Assam who bagged the National Award in 2002. Hindi film 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' (2006) directed by Rajkumar Hirani and 'Swachh Bharat' were also screened. In the closing ceremony, 2018, English film 'Gandhi' directed by Richard Attenborough was screened.