Rima Das Says Popularity Of Village Rockstars Wasn’t Reason For Sequel

Filmmaker Rima Das says it was unique narrative of her beloved film Village Rockstars, rar than its popularity, that influenced her decision to create a sequel.

Das me "Village Rockstars", an Assamese-language coming-of-age film about a 10-year-old girl Dhunu, who befriends a group of boys and dreams of becoming a rock star, in 2017. film toured many international festivals and was later selected as India's official entry for 91st Acemy Awards.

filmmaker is now coming with a sequel, titled “Village Rockstars 2”, which is currently doing festival rounds.

It was a pivotal moment in "Village Rockstars" that inspired her to make sequel -- scene where protagonist Dhunu's mor presents her with a guitar.

“‘Village Rockstars’ is my most popular film. It is like a brand and people liked film but it isn't reason why we me part two. Like, ‘Bulbul Can Sing’ people loved film and characters but I didn’t feel like continuing with story.

"With ‘Village Rockstars’, I felt re could be a story because re’s a musical instrument with which we can bring different elements. It is rare in a village where a mor buys a guitar and I thought we could continue with story,” filmmaker told PTI in an interview.

“Village Rockstars 2” revisits life of Dhunu, seven years after events of last film.

Das said she started working on second part sometime in 2020.

“I h to plan a few things like writing story. How will I be able to do it? What would be or things that I can bring to story? So, all se things took some time,” she said.

With sequel, a key was to maintain original film’s purity and yet make it a bit different, Das ded.

While first part of “Village Rockstars” showcased her childhood memories, like climbing trees and swimming in rivers, she said sequel offers a broer, observational lens on village life.

“It is more relatable. I cannot say it is my personal life but it comes from my deep bonding with children, and teenagers,” director said.

For follow-up, Das also experimented with various editing styles that were a departure from calm, silent long shots from first instalment.

Choosing right title for sequel proved to be anor task as director grappled with wher to retain “Village Rockstars” name or to introduce an entirely different name.

“In beginning, I thought of giving it a different name. Some people suggested that I should go with a different title, orwise festivals would think it’s a part two film, so how are y going to select film? re are so many good films at international festivals, and y probably select two or three films from India, so in such a scenario how will this film fit? "Some said, ‘Keep name because re’s a set audience worldwide and y will be interested in watching film,” Das said.

At heart of “Village Rockstars” lies a powerful mor-daughter story, emphasising role women play in supporting one anor, she said.

“We always keep talking about women's stories and how we can support women, so this is a story that conveys that message, that how a mor or women can support each or strongly, and it is so important to do so.

"This story is of love, love for her mor, land, roots, music, dreams, and love for friendship. re are a lot of nuances in film like how to be more giving, how mors are so giving, and what we can give back.” Das said “Village Rockstars 2” will be released atrically next year, and also revealed that she is in talks with a distribution company in Japan and Singapore.

“At se two places, we are hoping to have a release soon,” she said, ding she has simultaneously started working on a couple of films.

“I’m writing a folk horror, n I’ve got a film based in Mumbai about a couple, it is more like a love story, and re’s a far-daughter story. So, I’m writing different stories, I don’t know which one I’ll shoot next,” director said. 

---PTI ---