A Nationwide Award profitable movie finds itself on the centre of an argument in Assam, with organisations representing the Dimasa neighborhood accusing ‘Semkhor’ of “misrepresenting” its customs and “falsely” displaying them as practising feminine infanticide.
The controversy has acquired political overtones as Aimee Baruah, the lead actor, director and producer of the movie, in addition to a well known movie persona, is the spouse of the state Parliamentary Affairs, Water Assets, and Info and Public Relations Minister, Pijush Hizarika.
Whereas the movie had a theatrical launch on September 23, it was subsequently pulled down by some cinema halls owing to the controversy.
With criticism mounting, Baruah tendered an apology on social media. “Though the plot line of my movie Semkhor was created on the premise of knowledge that we collected from newspapers, books, magazines and some people, the actual fact stays that the story is totally fictional. It has by no means been our intention to harm anybody’s emotions or self-respect by way of this movie,” Baruah wrote on Fb, including that she solely needed to attract consideration to “the fantastic thing about the situation, the native language, the apparel and so forth”.
Set in a small village known as Semkhor, the movie is predicated across the customs, traditions and livelihood of the Dimasas, who’re largely based mostly within the Dima Hasao district of Assam, other than components of Nagaland. It has been touring nationwide and worldwide movie circuits since final 12 months, and received the 68th Nationwide Movie Awards for finest jury point out and finest function movie in Dimasa this July.
For the reason that starting of this 12 months, Dimasa teams have been calling for the movie’s boycott. On September 29, the Jadikhe Naisho Hoshom, an apex Dimasa physique, and a number of other Dimasa scholar and youth teams wrote a joint memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu to cease additional screening of the movie. “The movie has already been screened in lots of movie festivals world-wide. Now the world is aware of us and our customs, traditions and livelihood by way of the lens of Aimee Baruah’s Semkhor and that is fully flawed,” the memorandum learn.
Aimee Baruah with husband and state Parliamentary Affairs, Water Assets, and Info and Public Relations Minister, Pijush Hizarika, and others. (Fb/Aimee Baruah)
Calls for within the memorandum embrace withdrawal of Aimee Baruah’s claims of “authenticity” concerning the movie, an apology from Baruah, and compensation to the Dimasas for “defaming the customary morality” of the neighborhood.
Probably the most controversial depictions within the movie, as per the protesters, includes the killing of a kid, performed by a child known as Claring, within the movie.
All Dimasa College students’ Union president Uttam Langthasa mentioned Claring died later as she “was uncovered to chilly and tough climate on the time of manufacturing”. “They shot the movie with an 84-day previous child. A number of the taking pictures was achieved close to river Panimur. That point, the newborn developed a cough and he or she died 5 days after (the taking pictures),” Langthasa mentioned, including that “not one of the movie’s artists, producers or director tried to assist the household in any manner after their loss”.
A poster of ‘Semkhor’ (Fb/Aimee Baruah)
Langthasa additionally known as the movie’s portrayal of feminine infanticide as “completely false,” including that “no such customized is practised by the Dimasa neighborhood”. He demanded that the awards obtained by the movie be withdrawn.
Langthasa additionally objected to the portrayal of animal sacrifice within the movie. “It’s a customized like many others. To say we do puja for meat alone is such a blatant lie,” he mentioned.
The Dimasa Moms’ Affiliation additionally mentioned: “We, the Dimasas, have by no means had problems with such acts of gender discrimination nor have we ever seen or learn it in any historical past of the Dimasas.”