Guwahati/Kokrajhar; November 27, 2024: Filmmaker Kenny Basumatary’s first Boro film – ‘Bibo Binanao’ (My Three Sisters) – was showcased at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.
Produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), ‘Bibo Binanao’ is a dramedy, a story of four sisters in rural Bodoland. Pansy Brahma plays the youngest sister Mizi, who stands by her sisters as they try to raise chickens, deal with deaths in the family, an abusive husband, life-threatening health scares and other hurdles that life throws at them. The other three sisters are played by Sangeena Brahma, Helina Daimary and Mithinga Narzary.
“It was an absolute pleasure to work with all these actresses. They were all always prepared with their dialog, so we could happily shoot long takes without having to frequently cut. And all of them have fabulous scenes that they’ve performed exactly as I envisioned,” Kenny said.
Rubul Boro, the Boro film industry’s most regular supervillain, who also played Dog Da in ‘Local Kung Fu 3’ recently, has his first gentlemanly role in ‘Bibo Binanao’.
At IFFI, Kenny walked the red carpet along with National Award-winning director Kulanandini Mahanta, who worked as production designer on ‘Bibo Binanao’, and Alex Leo Pou, executive producer from NFDC. In fact, Kenny walked the red carpet a second time as part of team ‘Swargarath’, which is in the Panorama section of the festival.
Speaking of the first show of ‘Bibo Binanao’, Kenny said: “We were actually apprehensive. Who on earth would come to watch a Boro film, and that too by me – I’m not exactly a festival famous director. But to our pleasant surprise, around 70 people turned up. While the film isn’t an out-and-out comedy, it was good to hear the audience laugh at the right places. Many of them came up to us after the end and said that they really liked it.”
People in Guwahati can watch ‘Bibo Binanao’ at the upcoming Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival (BVFF), where it will have its Assam premiere in the competition section. A theatrical release isn’t on the cards yet. “NFDC will hopefully send the film to more festivals,” said Kenny.