Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 20, 2017)

"Everything is possible with hardship,” declares Rima Das, who has toiled away for the last four years on her second film, Village Rockstars.

Her self-confessed hardship has borne fruit — the film bagged the Golden Gateway Award at the recently concluded MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Not just that, it was also honoured with the Oxfam Best Film for Gender Equality and Young Critics’ Choice award.

Overwhelmed with the recognition, Das says, “When a film like ours achieves such an honour, it helps in reaching a wider audience. More people will write about it, which serves our purpose of putting across the message. We are hopeful that it will get a theatrical release now.”

Advocating women empowerment and self-actualization, the story revolves around a young girl who hopes to own a guitar someday and how her mother supports her musical dreams. Besides being an emotional mother-daughter story at heart, the film also delves into the socio-political scenario of Assam. “I am a solo producer on the project, so it was a task to amass funds. I shot with a single camera and used only natural light. Since major part of the cast included kids, we could only shoot as and when their school timings allowed us. As exhausting as it sounds, it was a thrill all along.”