Village Rockstars: Assam Govt announces Rs 50 lakh aid for the film's promotion

The Assam Cabinet has sanctioned an amount of Rs 50 lakh as a reward to filmmaker Rima Das as her coming of age musical movie Village Rockstars has been nominated from India to Oscars 2019.

The decision was taken after a meeting of the Assam State Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati on Tuesday.

As per latest media reports, the State Cabinet also decided to offer 50 per cent discount in entertainment tax on movie tickets during screening of ‘Village Rockstars‘.

Worth mentioning that a few days before, noted Assamese origin global actor Adil Hussain wrote in microblogging site Twitter and appealed Assam Government to release an amount of Rs 5 crore for the promotion of the film at the Oscars.

“I hope that Govt. of Assam and CM Sarbananda Sonowal will immediately release at INR 5 crore for the promotion of Village Rockstars. Since all other countries have already started their campaigns already in the US. ” Adil wrote in tweeter.

On October 22 Assamese Village Rockstars was selected as India’s official nomination to Oscars 2019.

The film which gained massive and widespread critical acclaim went on to win accolades at the 65th National Film Awards by winning the Best Feature Film ‘Swarna Kamal’ award.

In 2017, the film was premiered at the prestigious 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In India Village Rockstars was premiered at the Jio MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival in October last year. The film has been screened in more than 70 international and national film festivals and won 44 awards, comprising four National Awards for the best location, sound recording, editing and child artiste (Bhanita Das).

Rima Das’ Village Rockstars tells a story about a young girl who wants to be a guitarist in a society where almost every step taken by females is scrutinized. 10-year-old Dhunu (Bhanita Das), who hails from a remote village in Assam, wants to make a mark by her music and fulfill her dream in the world of music.

The film also challenges gender stereotypes in India, but in an organic way. Director Rima Das explained according to Scroll “I wanted to show it in a very subtle way,” she said. “It is just a part of life. In my childhood, I was the only girl who used to climb trees. It is a mindset with people that generally girls do not do these things. Such things are not forbidden. But if you do these things, they put you in boxes and call you a tomboy. Dhunu likes to do all these things.”