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Village Rockstars 2

Farhad Dalal Founder
By-
Farhad Dalal
Rating
4 Star popcorn reviewss

Introduction

It is early on in the film Village Rockstars 2 that you are privy to the lush green landscapes and clear blue skies in a village setting in Assam that play important characters in the drama that has clearly progressed to the adolescent stage for Dhunu. In the first film, you were privy to her life from early days wherein she is seen to be having fun with her friends even taking a keen interest in learning the guitar (here you see her as a part of a local band). Yes, there were floods in her village too, a reference of which is made in her school wherein she is asked by her friends on whether her father was a victim of them, to which she barely nods. This, even as you see Dhunu spending most of her time gazing at the skies that behold her aspirations even while being grounded in reality. In a scene, you see her being questioned on what is bigger than the skies, to which she replies, ‘You Mother’. At the heart of it, Village Rockstars 2 focuses on the warm dynamics between Dhunu and her mother that is beautiful enough to embrace you with a lot of emotions. Yes, she has her brother for company too and while she is caring towards him, you can see that the only person that is actually close to her in the purest form of love is her mother, to a point that you fear the worst.

Story & Screenplay

One of the interesting facets of the drama is the unflickering lens through which this docudrama treats its characters. For instance, Dhunu’s mother is a liberal in every sense of the word – wanting her children to do well in life at any cost. Despite being discouraged from allowing Dhunu to learn the guitar, she doesn’t budge one bit, an emotion probably stemming from her own childhood that didn’t offer her too many opportunities. As a result, she is all the more protective about her children even while putting up a strong stance of happiness as opposed to the turmoil of emotions that she has withheld inside her. In a moving scene, you see her sitting with a group of women, only to say that she has seen a lot of sorrow in her life, so much so that she doesn’t feel like crying, while also revealing that she cries but not in front of her children.

There is a searing commentary reserved in the drama with regard to the environment of the place. The lush landscapes are meticulously mowed down by the government officials, all in the name of ‘development’ while paying no heed to the environment or even the land of the villagers. The rate of capitalism that does take over the village is rather alarming even as a saddened Dhunu looks on in a scene while sighing that if she had all the money, she would have bought all the land and never sold it. In fact, in a separate scene you see the camera focusing on a tree with rays of sunlight passing through, while completely changing the mood of the scene in the same breath – you are privy to the tree being axed, a stark reality of today’s times that is only spelling doom for humans. Yet, the social commentary is only used in fleeting passages while the focus remains on Dhunu who slowly develops feelings for Bhaskar, a local boy keen on joining the army, even while being jealous of her best friend with a good enough reason that she would now be able to create music.

Yet, the life of Dhunu is far from being simplistic something that is also symbolic of the change in the skies. The different hues of the sky is replaced with shades of grey, and even as Dhunu spots a rainbow, her mother warns her that rain might soon arrive. And it sure does, while flooding the nearby areas, another representation of the life of Dhunu which was soon about to change. You do notice that Dhunu’s mother soon falls ill while taking care of her children and not her own health. What this means for Dhunu is that the entire responsibility of running the show falls on her tender shoulders, even as her brother slowly resorts to alcoholism while giving permission to sell their land (something that was opposed by their mother). This phase is the drama was absolutely gut-wrenching and deeply moving that had me teary-eyed on more than one occasion, simply because the purity of the relationship between Dhunu and her mother was soon met with an expiry date.

Yet, the docu-drama doesn’t wish to delve into melodrama neither is it interested in providing any solutions. It just ends with a hope that is essentially a coming-of-age moment for Dhunu who is positive about her crops prospering next year while shown to be hugging a tree, a dual symbol of being close to her mother and mother nature, both. And notice, the return of yellow hues in the sky that represent hope in the form of a glow (Dhunu in Assamese means ‘Glow’). The screenplay is deeply moving even as the drama lingers on long after the film has ended.

Dialogues, Music & Direction

Given that this is a docu-drama with no pre-planned lines, the only evaluation for me was that the lines are authentic and deeply rooted to the area where the drama is set in. The musical notes are often emitted out of musical instruments that are played by locals, be it the guitar or some local tunes that beautifully blends itself with the searing and fleeting mood of the drama. The use of natural surrounding notes are well utilized to keep the drama grounded. The cinematography offers an unwavering focus while being content in just following the chronicles of the village through the gaze of the protagonist. This, while frames beautifully capture the surroundings and turn them into characters. The editing is crisp and sharp here. Director Rima Das has to be one of the more prolific and unique voices on celluloid at the moment. The sensitivity that often is a by-product of her docu-drama here is so beautifully laced in the narrative, that it makes you feel for all the characters here, including the surroundings. The tenderness in the drama is definitely present, and she constructs a searing social commentary without wanting to dwell in any solutions, often treating the fleeting narrative as life itself. The direction is remarkable here.

Character Dynamics & Analysis

This section is often reserved for the performamces but because this is a docu-drama, I decided to further probe the character dynamics through the lens of Dhunu. In a scene, you see Dhunu sitting while her ailing mother was gently patting her head. The two don’t necessarily exchanges any words (perhaps a glance along the way) but it said so much about the relationship that the two shared. A few days back, my mother had opened up to me on how much she misses the gentle pats on her forehead from her mother (my grandma), something that made me feel for Dhunu too. To think of it, she was never close to her brother who has slowly resorted to alcoholism. She was attracted to a local who had to leave for the army, with their relationship ending up being uncertain. And so the only person she was close to was her mother, a relationship that also had an expiry date. Gone were her days of early childhood that were stress-free, and her resilience of hope at the end was symbolic of her circumstances – what could be more worse than not being with her mother (who passed away ironically due to a delay in treatment owing to a tree having fallen during the floods, see how the screenplay was connected?). It is this feeling of void and emptiness that lingers on with the viewers long after the film has ended.

Conclusion

As a part of our MAMI coverage, Village Rockstars 2 follows the heartfelt and deeply moving chronicles of life in an Assamese village laced with social commentary, grief and hope packaged in a docu-drama that comes with my highest recommendation.

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