Anshuman G. Barua’s Dooor

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

        Jahnu protégé in Hindi debut
Anshuman G. Barua’s Dooor — The Distance speaks of alienation                         Guwahati, July 18: His mentor Jahnu Barua made an acclaimed Hindi debut last year with Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, the story of an elderly man hallucinating about Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Young filmmaker Anshuman G. Barua has not only followed his guru to the Hindi film industry, but chosen an equally weighty subject — the “mental” distance between the Northeast and the rest of India — for his first film.
  Appropriately titled Dooor — The Distance, Anshuman’s 94-minute film encapsulates two decades of insurgency in Assam through the eyes of an “outsider”. Its main protagonist is a strict army officer, Abhimanyu Singh, who comes to the state with a mission to end terrorism. During the course of his mission, Abhimanyu sees and hears about aspects of insurgency that force him to do a rethink. 
  On what made him decide to do the film in Hindi, Anshuman said he wanted a large audience for a subject as universal as his. “Certain subjects with universal appeal demand to be treated in popular languages and get a wider audience than regional cinema can hope to get. Hence I chose Hindi.” 
  Mumbai-based Ghanshyam Varma produced the film and the cast and crew were drawn from both Bollywood and the Assamese film industry. 
  Anshuman, who assisted Jahnu Barua in three of his award-winning Assamese films — Pokhi, Kanikar Ramdhenu and the documentary Brahmaputra — shot the film in the lush locales of Lakhimpur district in the span of a mere 20 days. 
  National award-winning film producer Sailadhar Barua said after a preview of Dooor — The Distance that he was impressed. “It is a welcome sign that some of our filmmakers are spreading their wings. Jahnu set a great example by giving successful films both in Hindi and Assamese. As a newcomer, Anshuman has done a great job by bringing the best out of his crew. Moreover, it is a bold decision on his part to take a realistic stand on the insurgency problem.”
  Anshuman used a digital beta camera to cut costs. “These days video films are as popular as 35 mm or 75 mm films. In any case, Anshuman’s cinematography is captivating,” Sailadhar Barua said.
  A critic, however, said the dubbing was a letdown. “The director had to dub the voices of most of his actors as most of them could not speak Hindi fluently. Due to the dubbing, parts of the film lost their flavour. Otherwise, all the actors did justice to their roles,” he said.

 				
---------------------------------
Want to be your own boss? Learn how on  Yahoo! Small Business. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/assam_assamnet.org/attachments/20060718/da223777/attachment.htm