Ishanou
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''Ishanou'' (
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
: ''The Chosen One'') is a 1990 Indian Manipuri film written by M. K. Binodini Devi and directed by
Aribam Syam Sharma Aribam Syam Sharma is an Indian filmmaker and composer from Manipur. He debuted in the first Manipuri film '' Matamgi Manipur'' as an actor. In 1974, he directed his first movie '' Lamja Parshuram''. It became the first Manipuri film to run for ...
. The movie stars Anoubam Kiranmala and
Kangabam Tomba Kangabam Tomba (born 10 June 1946) is an Indian actor from Imphal, Manipur. He started his career in theatre. His first appearance in movies is in '' Matamgi Manipur'', the first Manipuri full-length feature film where he played a college guy. ...
in the lead roles. It was screened in the
Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...
section at the
1991 Cannes Film Festival The 44th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1991. French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski served as jury president for the main competition. American filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, ...
. In 2023, it was recognised as a "World Classic" by the Cannes Film Festival 2023 and it was the only film selected from India for the event for that year. The movie was first aired in
Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...
and later released in Usha Cinema, Paona Bazar on 6 July 1990. ''Ishanou'' was screened at many film festivals, including
Singapore International Film Festival The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Simplified Chinese, Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore, founded in 1987. The 35th Singapore International Film Festival took place from 28 Novem ...
,
London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...
, Des 3 Continents, Festival of Festivals Toronto,
International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
,
Fribourg International Film Festival The Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Grand Prize is the main award of the Fribourg International Film Festival. ...
,
Hawaii International Film Festival Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...
,
Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...
,
Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind the ...
,
Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...
and
International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...
. Ishanou was restored by
Film Heritage Foundation Film Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization, based in Mumbai, India, dedicated to film preservation, restoration and archiving of India’s film heritage. History The Film Heritage Foundation was founded in 2014 by Shivendra Singh Du ...
and the restored film was selected for a red-carpet world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2023.


Plot

"Ishanou" by Aribam Syam Sharma is a moving story of love and grief immersed in Manipuri culture. The video beautifully contrasts the spiritual world of the Maibis with the rhythm of everyday life, emphasising the coexistence of the occult and the tangible in the same reality. To the mesmerising sounds of the Pena (traditional string instrument), the bamboo flute, and incantation hymns, the drama unfolds. The director's straightforward approach, delicate camerawork, and understated acting, combined with the vivid depiction of Maibi culture and the use of Manipur's traditional music in the film's score, lend the film an authenticity that blends storytelling, documentary, and ethnography. He claims that music was his first love. Aribam Syam Sharma, a singer, songwriter, actor, and theatrical director, studied philosophy, music, and drama before venturing into the field of movies. The film "Ishanou" (The Chosen One) is a palimpsest of this outstanding filmmaker's various talents, as well as another treasure that arose from the filmmaker's close collaboration with the famed Manipuri writer M.K. Binodini Devi, who penned the screenplay for the film. Their shared interest in telling a story based on the life of the Maibi sect, Binodini Devi's observations and stories shared with her by Maibis, and Aribam Syam Sharma's documentary on Lai-Haraoba, an annual ritual festival celebrated by the Meitei community to appease the gods through songs, dance, and rituals performed by the Maibi, all contributed to the creation of the film. Tampha, a gorgeous young woman with a loving husband and a small daughter, lives a peaceful life in the Manipur valley, preoccupied with banal matters like preparing for her daughter's ear-piercing ceremony or discussing the purchase of a used scooter with her husband. Suddenly, she begins to act strangely, talking to flowers, having dizzy spells, and wandering out of the house in the middle of the night. The family goes from pillar to post in search of a treatment for the strange illness. Finally, they realise she is not suffering from a common illness, but rather is responding to the inexorable call of the deity.


Cast

* Anoubam Kiranmala as Tampha *
Kangabam Tomba Kangabam Tomba (born 10 June 1946) is an Indian actor from Imphal, Manipur. He started his career in theatre. His first appearance in movies is in '' Matamgi Manipur'', the first Manipuri full-length feature film where he played a college guy. ...
as Dhanabir, Tampha's Husband * ''Baby'' Molly as Bembem, Tampha's Daughter * Manbi as Tampha's Mother * Soraisam Dhiren as Tampha's neighbour * ''Baby'' Premita * Nungshirei Maibi, Dhani Maibi * Mema Maibi, Sakhen Maibi * Tekpicha Maibi, Bino Maibi * Sakhi Maibi, Mema Maibi * Memcha Maibi, Rupobati Maibi


Reception

Derek Malcolm Derek Elliston Michael Malcolm (12 May 1932 – 15 July 2023) was an English film critic and historian. Early life Derek Elliston Michael Malcolm was born on 12 May 1932. He was the son of Douglas Malcolm (died 1967) and Dorothy Vera (died 196 ...
, in 1991, wrote about the film on
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
, "''Perhaps the best film in the panorama, largely because it tells a good story with great honesty and lack of guile, came from the State of Manipur, where two or three directors have worked against all odds for a decade or more''". Former director of Sydney Film Festival and Film Critic
David Stratton David James Stratton (born 1939) is an English-Australian film critic and historian. He has also worked as a journalist, interviewer, educator, television personality, and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Austral ...
also wrote in the Variety published from New York on 11 April 1991, "''One of the best Indian films of the past year, The Chosen One looks though it’ll make its way on the international film circuit. Specialized art house release also is possible''".


Accolades

''Ishanou'' won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Manipuri The National Film Award for Best Manipuri Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kama ...
and Special Mention (''Anoubam Kiranmala'') at the
38th National Film Awards The 38th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1990. Ceremony took place in 199 ...
. The citation for the National Award reads, "''For effectively portraying the tragedy behind the institution of Maibi which unfortunately shatters a family''". Special Mention's citation reads, "''For a debut performance depicting various levels of conflict effectively''".


Film restoration

Ishanou was restored by Film Heritage Foundation utilizing the best surviving elements, including the 16 mm original camera negative held by the
National Film Archive of India The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964. It was a member of the International Federation of Film Archives. In March 2022, it was merged with th ...
and two 35 mm prints held by
Aribam Syam Sharma Aribam Syam Sharma is an Indian filmmaker and composer from Manipur. He debuted in the first Manipuri film '' Matamgi Manipur'' as an actor. In 1974, he directed his first movie '' Lamja Parshuram''. It became the first Manipuri film to run for ...
. When conservators from the Film Heritage Foundation examined the negative, they discovered it was in poor condition. On some reels, the negative suffered
vinegar syndrome Vinegar Syndrome is an American home video distribution company which specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films". The company was founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, who created it to restore ...
degradation, mould and warping, broken perforations, scratches, emulsion halos, and base distortion. Conservators from the
Film Heritage Foundation Film Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization, based in Mumbai, India, dedicated to film preservation, restoration and archiving of India’s film heritage. History The Film Heritage Foundation was founded in 2014 by Shivendra Singh Du ...
labored painstakingly to fix the negative before it could be digitized using a wet-gate scanner at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna. The significant issue was the usage of inter-negative areas in the original camera negative, which resulted in wide changes in image quality, making it quite grainy in parts and not matching the rest of the film. The sound design in this film is particularly essential because of the subtleties in the film's silence and, of course, the music composed by Aribam Syam Sharma. The film was shot on 16 mm on a low budget in varying available light circumstances, resulting in focus and lighting difficulties that damaged the image. In keeping with its aim of restoring and revitalizing forgotten gems of India's film legacy, the
Film Heritage Foundation Film Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization, based in Mumbai, India, dedicated to film preservation, restoration and archiving of India’s film heritage. History The Film Heritage Foundation was founded in 2014 by Shivendra Singh Du ...
has restored the award-winning film "Ishanou" (1990) by revered Manipuri filmmaker
Aribam Syam Sharma Aribam Syam Sharma is an Indian filmmaker and composer from Manipur. He debuted in the first Manipuri film '' Matamgi Manipur'' as an actor. In 1974, he directed his first movie '' Lamja Parshuram''. It became the first Manipuri film to run for ...
. It was done in 2022. The restoration has been chosen for a red-carpet global premiere at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
's coveted Cannes Classic section in 2023. The 91-minute film was also an official entry in Cannes' Un Certain Regard division in 1991. Ishanou is just the second Manipuri feature film scanned by the SN Chand Cine Archive and the Museum of MSFDS, and the first to be restored.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chosen One, The 1990 films Films directed by Aribam Syam Sharma Meitei-language films Meitei folklore in popular culture 1990s rediscovered films Rediscovered Indian films