A historical narrative

Casualties of war

It has been over 50 years since the 1962 Indo-China war, but memories of the time are still fresh in the hearts and minds of locals residing in the affected region. Years later, Chow Partha Borgohain happened to read former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s address to the nation during the war in which he had said, “...My heart goes out to the people of Assam”... and the words still echo in his ears.

“At that time Arunachal (Pradesh) was a part of Assam... I was really disheartened as I thought how our supreme leader could give up on us so easily. We wanted a leader who would die fighting for us, and I expected Nehru to be like great Lachit Borphukan (a commander in the Ahom kingdom) who was always in the front fighting the enemy and putting his life at stake rather than being at the back and saying such things,” says Borgohain.

Born and brought up in Arunachal Pradesh and having spent 25 years of his life there, Borgohain always wanted to work on a project where his place of birth is of prime importance. So one day while returning from work as an assistant at a production house, when he received a call from a school friend, he started discussing a possible movie script with her. Recollecting, he tells Metrolife that things started shaping up and they decided to work in collaboration. “However, I told her that my weakest point was my inability to pitch and market a script to prospective producers. But she wanted to help, and said she is best at that... and the scripting for 1962: My Country Land began,” he says.

“Whenever people talk about Arunachal, stories of 1962 Indo-China war take forefront. This really pushed me to write the story further. I managed to search the archives and also interact with many people and thus the plot began evolving,” he adds.

 Written, cinematographed and directed by Borgohain, 1962: My Country Land is an English language feature film based on the month-long war which India lost. Recently showcased at the Cannes International Film Festival, its story revolves around Luitya, an Army Lance Naik who is given the responsibility to map along the Indo-China border.

While at work, Luitya and his porter lose their way and reach a village where they meet Chan, a Chinese trader with dark secrets and intentions. However, Luitya realises that the village is neither mentioned on the Indian nor the Chinese map and a fierce conspiracy and conflict begins between Chan and him to take over the patch of the land to include it as an integral part of their respective nations.

Summing it up, the Dibrugarh-based filmmaker says that the story is about how the powerful dominant want to expand, and end up suppressing the weak and imposing their ideology, faith and culture only to destroy indigenous people, their lifestyle, ideology, faith and culture.

 “We shot for 75 days. About 90 per cent of the film was shot in Arunachal Pradesh, mostly in Tawang and Mechuka. A few scenes were shot in Shillong, Sohra (Meghalaya) and Guwahati. The film covers the problems and consequences of the war, and covers the indigenous people’s take on the warring countries. I think in my film, Arunachal is more important than the war,” he says.

 Starring Aham Sharma, Lhakpa Lepcha, Daniel Shin Han and Ketholeno Kense in lead roles, the film showcases the struggle and life of the characters during the approaching war.  “We had an interesting cast as everyone was from different fields. Aham Sharma is from the Hindi film industry; Daniel Han is an hardcore physical acting practitioner on Jerzy Marian Grotowski methods; Lhakpa Lepcha is an National School of Drama (NSD) alumnus; Ketholeno Kense is a model; and Riken Ngomle who is also a NSD pass out. So, there was so much to learn from each other,” says Borgohain.

 While he is elated that his film was screened at such a prestigious festival, Borgohain says the team overcame a lot of challenges while shooting.

“The biggest challenge was people management. We trekked on high hills where the oxygen level was very low and some from our team couldn’t make it with our camera equipments. We shot in below-freezing points in chilly winds and fog, snow and rain. But yes, I learnt so much from it that I now enjoy thinking about the moment and happy that we could come this far,” he says.