(EXCLUSIVE: By Gautam Sharma)
It may be more by design than accident that the cast and crew of Borun Thokchom’s Battlefield may not be mindful enough that their product has ended up becoming a Cannes-level film, and if it happens to cross the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), then it’s like entering a game of probability on the path towards the Oscars.
Unlike other non-fiction, the 86-minute-long Battlefield explores more of the “why” rather than the “what” is forgotten, and analyses the barriers to connecting the invisible long dots between “what is forgotten” and “why it is forgotten” — a history that is often passed on through generations, but yet to be highlighted at the institutional level; as they came here, fought the war, shed blood, but forgot to clean the stains left — and why is so?
“What Director Borun Thokchom attempts in Battlefield is not the reconstruction of a war but the reconstruction of an absence. The Battle of Imphal, one of the most decisive turning points of the Second World War in Asia, has somehow slipped through the cracks of public memory,” also wrote Manu Shrivastava, The Draft News Network, just after its world premiere at the 58th Film Festival of India on Saturday, 22 November, at INOX Audi II, Old GMC Building, Campal, Panjim, Goa.
What makes Borun’s film interesting is his modern approaches and techniques of storytelling that arrest the interest of the audience as if they are not watching a documentary film, backed by in-depth research on the content and context, and the battle itself, which took nearly years in its making.
“What is important to treat is the content, not the forms. If interest is high, then one can make it with a mobile phone too,” Borun Thokchom shares his perspective with young people who want to venture into non-fiction film. And sometimes, you really need to know the subject; sometimes it can turn into an intellectual thing that requires lots of research, Borun stated.
Before Battlefield, Borun Thokchom’s first film Silent Poet (2011) helped him develop his wings to soar higher in non-fiction films alongside his journalistic career, in which he himself became the director, cinematographer, and producer, and won the National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director (2012). His second project I Rise, produced by Films Division (under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting), also won Best Documentary Film of Sport at the 13th State Film Awards (2020) of the Manipur State Film Development Society and got official selection at the 17th Mumbai International Film Festival (2022). He was also selected as a jury member for non-fiction films at the 69th National Film Festival Awards, Delhi 2023, and invited as a preview committee member at the International Cinema Section at the 55th IFFI, Goa. Apart from this, he was also line producer for Harmony with A.R. Rahman Documentary Series featuring Manipuri folk singer Bedabati Louremba.
Now, Borun is eyeing global audiences for Battlefield, exploring opportunities to screen it at international events like the Yamagata International Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Toronto Film Festival, etc.
Early Life
Borun’s adolescence period during school and college, and his straight-to-ground-zero journalism career, also helped shape and contribute to his journey of becoming an award-winning non-fiction filmmaker from Manipur.
Not many people know that Borun grew up joining rock and roll crowds in Imphal during his early days, performing small gigs in Imphal in a little-known band called “Hena’s Dad” as a drummer with his age group and friends from St George High School, Imphal, where he passed his matriculation examination (High School Leaving Certificate Examination of Manipur).
He dramatically entered the journalism realm with a Handycam after getting his degree in “Mass Communication and Video Production” (2004) from St Anthony’s College, Shillong. He joined NETV (a regional news channel) as a reporter in 2005 and continued working till 2009, and later joined DY365 (regional news channel) as a correspondent from Manipur and continues to work till now.
Borun is the youngest among three siblings, son of Dr. Thokchom Herald Singh and Sanjenbam Kiranmala Devi, from Kongba Nongthombam Leikai in Imphal East district. His early interest in music is driving him currently towards exploring folk music for film, alongside his regular journalistic career.
If you want, I can also tighten this for publication style or shorten it into a feature article.
