Guwahati: Manipur was weeks away from the worst ethnic conflict in its history when filmmaker Lakshmipriya Devi finished shooting her debut feature in the India-Myanmar border town of Moreh in 2023.

Almost three years later, on Sunday, the film Lakshmipriya made—Boong, an urban folktale about a boy’s journey to find his missing father —had her holding the bronze mask for Best Children’s & Family Film at the 79th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).

A small big film born in the very cauldron of the violence that ravaged Manipur until 2025 had just beaten two Hollywood productions—Lilo and Stitch and Zootropolis 2—and the animated French sci-fi movie Arco to an award considered as prestigious as Oscars.

At the Royal Festival Hall in London, Lakshmipriya collected the trophy from Paddington Bear, the lead character of the West End show Paddington: The Musical. “The walk up till here felt like the last few steps to reach a summit of a mountain we never knew we were climbing in the first place,” she said.

Lakshmipriya described Boong as a film “rooted in a place that is troubled, overlooked and underrepresented in India”.

“We pray for peace to return to Manipur. We pray that all the internally displaced children, including the child actors in the film, regain their joy, their innocence and their dream once again. We pray that no conflict is ever formidable enough to destroy the one superpower that all of us have as human beings, that is forgiveness. So, thank you BAFTA for giving us not only an award but this stage to express our hope,” she said.

The child actors she spoke of are children from communities on opposite sides of Manipur’s Meitei-Kuki divide, cast together in a story that mirrors the ethnic fault lines around them.

At the heart of the story is little Brojendra Singh, aka Boong, played by Gugun Kipgen, a child from the Kuki-Zo community. He lives in a small village with his single mother Mandakini, portrayed by Bala Hijam, a Meitei actor.

Both struggle with the absence of his father Joykumar, who left for work and has been mysteriously incommunicado since. Determined to trace him as “a surprise gift” for his mother, Boong sets off for Moreh with his best friend Raju, a Marwari boy played by Angom Sanamatum.

PM Modi wrote on X, “Congratulations to all those associated with this film. This is indeed a moment of immense joy, especially for Manipur. It also highlights the immense creative talent in our nation.”

The new BJP-led govt in Manipur described Boong as “a tribute to a homeland that remains resilient despite hardship” and hailed the BAFTA win as “a victory not just for cinema, but for hope”.

Lakshmipriya was an assistant director in Bollywood productions like Lakshya, Luck By Chance, Talaash, PK, A Suitable Boy and Dahaad before her independent directorial debut with a film produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani.

Boong premiered in the Discovery section at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024. That same year, Lakshmipriya won the Award for Excellence in Feature Filmmaking at the International South Asian Film Festival in Canada. In 2025, Gugun received a Special Mention for Best Actor (Male) at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. The film was released in India in Sept.

Bala, Boong’s screen mother, expressed her gratitude to the producers “for believing in a story emerging from one of the smallest states in Northeast India” and helping it “resonate far beyond regional boundaries, allowing global audiences to witness and appreciate stories from Manipur”.

Director Lakshmipriya Devi’s debut film Boong has made history as the first Indian movie to win a BAFTA Award. Actor Vikram Kochhar, the only Bollywood name in the Manipuri-language film, calls the moment “extremely elating” yet bittersweet.

“It’s a proud moment for all of us, especially with Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating the team. I’m happy my choice to back indie cinema paid off. But it’s also sad that we’re celebrating the film only after the West recognised it,” he says.

Released last year, the film struggled for screens in India. “My parents in Hyderabad and friends in Bengaluru couldn’t watch it due to no-shows. It did well at festivals and in the UK, but back home, it’s a brutal reality. We watch global content like K-dramas, yet we failed to support our own,” Vikram adds.

The 42-year-old reveals he signed the film while shooting Dunki (2023) where Lakshmipriya was assisting director Rajkumar Hirani.

He shares, “Raju sir even offered me an ad with actors Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi, but I turned it down as I had committed to Boong. I believed in the film, just never imagined it would win a BAFTA.”

Celebration is in the air for producers Shujaat Saudagar and Vikesh Bhutani, who along with Excel Entertainment, backed Boong that made history as the first Indian film to score a win at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards. They still remember director Lakshmipriya Devi’s first narration of the coming-of-age drama. A historic win in the Best Children’s and Family Film category wasn’t even on their minds; all they knew was that the story deserved to be told.

“The first time I heard the script, I had goosebumps. I knew Lakshmi needed to tell this story because it was so personal. It was also a peek into India,” Saudagar told mid-day, over a conference call.

But they knew that making Boong wouldn’t be easy, given that not many films are shot in Manipur. The project rolled in 2023, the unit unaware of the conflicts that would follow soon in the state.

“We brought some talent from Mumbai, who could bring an international quality to the production. We went on floors in 2023 and faced a lot of logistical issues. We shot over 45 odd days, spread over two months. A week after the shoot got over, the clashes started erupting,” recalled Bhutani.

The conflict that began in Manipur in May 2023 has continued since, leaving the state devastated, and its people displaced. In her acceptance speech at the BAFTA Awards, Devi called for peace in the state. Echoing her sentiment, Saudagar insisted that at such times, stories of innocence and resilience are a must. “There’s no dearth of hate in this world. The least we can do is use our craft and platform to spread love.”

‘Boong’ had a limited release in 2024. Now, with a BAFTA Award to its credit, the makers are keen to take the Manipuri film to a wider audience. “We are waiting for Lakshmipriya, Farhan [Akhtar] and Ritesh [Sidhwani] to return and discuss the next step. Our aim is to get a [streaming] platform,” said Saudagar.