‘I didn’t want the easy way out while making the sequel’| Interview with Rima Das on Village Rockstars 2

This film is among Das’ most emotionally affecting work, deeply soulful, wise and expansive in enquiry. Premiering at the Busan Film Festival last year, where it won the Kim Jiseok Award, Village Rockstars 2 is now headed for its European premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in the Generation 14Plus section. Outlook’s Debanjan Dhar caught up with Rima Das for a chat, where she shared why the sequel took a longer time to edit, opening up to co-productions, emphasizing ecological mindfulness in development initiatives. Edited excerpts:

Could you talk about developing the emotional tone of the two films? There’s so much sadness and loss and tumultuous change, but there’s this incredibly life-affirming quality, this hope, resilience and defiance in Dhunu, which, of course, comes from her mother. Talk to me about building her character as she progresses through loss and quick growing-up…

ꦦIt’s a portrait of life. I put on screen what I see. In the first film, Dhunu was a little girl. When I look back at my childhood, even the flood was a celebration for us. We’d make rafts from banana leaves. But when you grow up, you see challenges differently. You have to manage new responsibilities. Dhunu comes from an economically under-privileged background; her father is dead and her mother has to fend for a better life for the family. I am a hopeful person, I look at the light in any situation, how to balance hardships and urgent decisions. I stopped thinking and leaned into spontaneity. Sometimes, amidst whatever’s happening to you, you just need to surrender.

Sequels come with certain apprehensions, twitchiness. Was there anything you felt especially cautious of when you embarked on the follow-up?

Not really. My main concern was how Bhanita Das (the lead actress playing Dhunu) would perform. In 2020, I started shooting 𒁃the film. At the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018, I saw a story right when I saw the film on the big screen. There were many developments and layers that trickled in over the eventual course of the making. When I started, I had just two main plots in mind. The rest evolved over the four years it took to make the film.

You said that you found several gaps tied to the screenplay, while editing this film, which took you a much longer time than the earlier one. You did several reshoots. Could you speak about the areas of the film you felt needed reworking?

The earlier films, Village Rockstars (2017) and Bulbul Can Sing (2018), had smoother periods of editing, both within two months. But for the sequel and Tora’s Husband (2022), they took much longer time. I think it was the pandemic. I was not in a good state, though I was working a lot. Although the scenes were beautiful, what I wished to convey was coming through, the issues were mostly with the screenplay. There were several layers and I was struggling to connect. With Village Rockstars💎, the story is about my community. We were talking of nature, developmental changes in the film; I didn’t want to compromise because I also sought to convey a message. I didn’t want the easy way out but the difficult one.

Tell me about reuniting with Bhanita Das, observing her growth as an actor…

🌺It was such a wonderful experience. She is brave, hard working. This film was harder than the earlier one, which was a lot of fun.

Does Bhanita ask a lot of questions? Is she an inquisitive performer?

🃏It depends. Mostly she gets quickly what I’m trying to convey. She’s familiar with the environment. We needed to work together especially for the emotional scenes, because she isn’t a trained actor and doesn’t have the tools.

There’s this incredible receptiveness your films have to spontaneous intonations of everyday life, a sense of present-ness to scenes. Do your scripts have all the dialogues, particular scenes in place or you leave some of it open to conversations and improvisations?

Mostly, my films travel in my mind. I keep writing scenes, dialogues, notes. Though I follow intuition, I am focusing more on writing. After editing Village Rockstars 2 and Tora’s Husband🌜, I realised it’d be helpful if I wrote more. Then we wouldn’t have to shoot too much footage and cull down from there. I’m also now collaborating with other partners and this requires me to write a good deal. But I’m enjoying this as well. It’s nice. For almost ten years, I’ve been going by intuition, shooting in excess without a clear-cut structure. Now I feel I have to tell more stories. I could have finished the film within two, instead of four long years, if I had this process. But I won’t deny there is freedom in the usual way I’ve worked all these years.

Could you speak a bit about your relationship to Assam over the years, the grabs for development, the churn Village Rockstars 2 captures, the changes you’ve witnessed?

🐷I’ve been in Mumbai for more than a decade. But right from my debut feature, I’ve felt increasingly connected to Assam. There is quite some difference between the way I looked at the land in my childhood and now when I’m shooting there. In the last couple of years, drastic things have been happening. Companies are coming in, the hills are being cut down, trees felled. There are less rains, rivers drying. When I go back now to Assam, it’s painful but I value it deeply. But I can also understand the perspective of whoever’s living there. They want something new. When a fair comes to the village, they are excited. When there’s a new park, they are happy. They may not be able to see the damage around them, that I can from my vantage point of living somewhere else and returning in intervals. I cannot deny the privilege I have in inhabiting both these worlds, which they don’t have. All I’m saying is to be mindful of development. In its name, you can’t go around destroying what existed earlier. You can’t buy everything with money and certainly wouldn’t be able to in the future.

I’m also curious about your branching out from making everything on your own at Flying River to having Akanga Films Asia as co-producer. How do you navigate this world of international co-productions. What about the Singapore company felt like a right fit as a partner, when you first came in touch with them?

It's quite nice. When I’m collaborating with co-producers, it gives me knowledge, much visibility. We can share a lot of things and bounce off ideas, unlike previously having to worry over each little decision in a film’s journey myself. With Akanga, I’ve been working on another film, Malati, My Love🍰. It was at the Busan co-production market. I showed them the rough cut of the sequel and they came onboard.

Village Rockstars 2 is having its European premiere at Berlinale in Generation14plus, where Bulbul can Sing got a special mention in 2018, and you have been a jury member in 2020. Can you talk about your memories of the festival over these years and what you are most looking forward to this time around?

🅘Mostly, I’m self-taught. I’m curious and learning new things. Coming to a great festival like Berlinale is always exciting. You can watch so many kinds of films from all around the world. It opens new windows into how other people are making films and you can observe how films are evolving with time. The craft, the visual language of films excite me. That’s the reason why I’m doing cinema for more than a decade. Even now, I’m still hungry. I don’t feel bored at all. I don’t feel stuck ever. Everyday, you are discovering something. The energy at festivals like Berlinale is great. There’s such a strong sense of community. It’s a celebration and a big motivating force.

Do you watch a lot of films at festivals?

🍬I do. Sometimes I also travel to festivals to watch films. But when I have a film selected, I have a lot of other responsibilities. But I try to watch as many as I can.

Finally, I read that you have been working on three projects, Malati, My Love, a father-daughter story, and a folk horror film, which just sounds delicious. Have you finished writing any?

🤡Yes, they are all going on at various stages. I have also started work on a documentary. Let’s see.

Village Rockstars 2 will have its European premiere at Berlinale 2025 in the Generation 14Plus category.