Boong director Lakshmipriya Devi has revealed how, after filming the movie, she couldn’t edit for quite some time as she broke down after watching the footage. Speaking with news agency PTI, she said it took her a few months to “look at the footage objectively.” Boong, a Manipuri language film, won the BAFTA award recently.
Lakshmipriya Devi shares why editing Boong footage affected her
Though the film came about relatively easily, post-production took a long time because of tensions in the northeastern state, grappling with societal polarisation and political unrest in her homeland, she said. “I could not edit the film for a very long time. I would break down every time I would see the footage. Knowing that the entire second half of the film was shot in places that were now in rubble… it affected me. It took a couple of months before I could look at the footage objectively from a distance,” said Lakshmipriya.
Lakshmipriya talks about her BAFTA win
The filmmaker, who grew up in Imphal, is still coming to terms with the incredible win and the moment she got it. She recalled being “in a daze.” Lakshmipriya added that now she wants “to go back more under the radar after this and not let this get to me.” She added, “With film festivals like BAFTA at least the first step of awareness has been created, which is like giving people the idea that, ‘Hey, there’s a place called Manipur and films like this are outside of Bollywood indie’ but beyond that it’s up to to audiences to take that knowledge forward and apply it.”
Lakshmipriya says Boong isn’t a political film
The director, who admires filmmakers like Sai Paranjpye, insisted the film is not intentionally “political”. “This is not a political film. It is the story of a boy who lives in a place where these kinds of things happen… If somebody thinks it’s political, it’s their perspective,” she said. Recalling the making of the film, Lakshmipriya said the cast and crew comprised different ethnicities from Manipur and maintained a “spirit of community” after the conflict began.
All about Boong
Boong is the first Indian film to win a trophy at the awards gala, organised annually in London by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). The 2024 coming-of-age drama was announced as the winner in the Best Children’s and Family Film category last month. It was the only Indian film nominated at the awards and beat international competition from other nominees such as Lilo and Stitch, Arco and Zootopia 2 to bag the trophy.
Set against the racial tensions of Manipur, her film follows Boong, a resilient schoolboy determined to bring his absent father home to surprise his mother. The young boy searches for his father in conflict-scarred Manipur. Boong explores themes of love, discrimination and belonging through the emotional cross-border journey of the child.
Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, it stars Gugun Kipgen and Bala Hijam in the lead roles. Boong had a limited theatrical release in September last year. After its BAFTA win, the film re-released Friday.
More about Lakshmipriya
Lakshmipriya, niece of the renowned Manipuri writer MK Binodini Devi, has been working in the Hindi film industry since the early 2000s as an assistant director on Excel Entertainment’s movies such as Luck by Chance, Lakshya, Talaash, Rajkumar Hirani’s PK and others.
