Images sources IMBD
VILLAGE-ROCKSTAR an Assamese film by Rima Das was India's official entry for the 2019 Oscars, in the Best Foreign Language film category.
A film made with very limited sources. It's a story of and village Chayagaon in Assam, an Indian State.
The film was choosen amongst other big-budget contenders like Raazi, Padmaavat Hichki, October, Love Sonia, Gulabjaam, Mahanati, Pihu, Kadvi Hawa, Bhogda, Revaa, Bioscopewala, Manto, 102 Not out, Padman, Bhayanakam, Ajji, Nude and Gali Guliiyan and other.
The film was first world Premiere at Toronto films festival.
Story line: sources Wikipedia.
***Dhunu is the protagonist amidst a group of real Village Rock stars. Growing up in deprivation, she learns to manage her life within surroundings of hostile natural calamities and how to weave dreams of owning a guitar!
Ten-year-old Dhunu (Bhanita Das) lives in Chaygaon village in Assam with her widowed mother (Basanti Das) and elder brother Manabendra (Manabendra Das). While helping her mother sell snacks at a local event, she becomes mesmerized by a band that’s performing there. The part that’s so delightfully hokey: the boys belt out their hits with musical instruments made of Styrofoam. She proceeds to copy them, carving a guitar Jimi Hendrix would be proud of.
Impressionable and tenacious at the same time, Dhunu reads a comic book and decides she wants to form a band playing real instruments. Rupee by rupee, she begins to save for the guitar. She reads an article in a scrap newspaper and decides that positive thinking can make the possession of the guitar materialize. But as floods destroy the family's crops, Dhunu must choose her priorities. The whole premise sounds endearingly naive, yet Dhunu’s brilliance in everything she does transforms the cheesy bromides into a rallying cry for hope and self-reliance. The language of the movie is Kamrupi, a distinct dialect of Assam.***
IMBD rate the film 4.6 out of 10
Sources