Tribeny Rai, an alumnus of SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute), travelled back to her village in Sikkim to tell the story of a resilient young woman named Bishnu who, like her, retraces her steps home and has to choose between conforming to tradition or claiming her independence. That has shaped the widely acclaimed Nepali language film Shape of Momo, now playing in theatres, which is executive produced by directors Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Payal Kapadia and released by Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media. t2 chatted with Tribeny, Zoya and Reema.
Tribeny, Shape of Momo is very personal to you, you even shot it at your home in your village. How much of the protagonist Bishnu is you?
Tribeny Rai: It is not my story, but it allowed me to bring in some of my experiences, as well as those of some women in my community. I grew up in a household of women, comprising my four sisters and mother. So I know what it is like to live in the middle of the jungle in a house full of women — that constant fear of invasion, of being looked at....
I studied at SRFTI in Calcutta and then went back to my village, thinking I would make a difference. That aspect is similar between Bishnu (Gaumaya Gurung) and me. I had a certain life and agency in Calcutta and I went back to my village thinking: “Now I am going to change the world around me” (smiles).
But things are far more complex in the real world. I am not just a woman. I am from the Northeast, I am also a filmmaker. There are so many layers — emotional and social — around me. That is how I co-wrote the script with Kislay. I started writing from a place of angst about how this society is really not working for me. But I started looking inward because my co-writer brought in a lot of objectivity, and that helped me.
Zoya and Reema, what is it about Shape of Momo and of Tribeny’s voice as a filmmaker that made you want to back this film?
Reema Kagti: I found it to be a truly original film, which is so simple but deals with big things with a lightness of touch. It is very nuanced. I am from the Northeast and you barely see any representation of that region in our cinema. In Shape of Momo, it is beautiful to see people from my part of the world. In the case of the Northeast, there is also the problem of misrepresentation. Shape of Momo presents a very real take and gives a good view into what life in rural Sikkim is like. I knew I had to back this film.
Also, I want to promote indie films. I do love the big tentpole films, but the ones that invariably stay with me are mostly those done from the perspective of heart and a lived-in experience.
Zoya Akhtar: Shape of Momo is a very authentic and real experience; it doesn’t take you into Sikkim as just a tourist. There is a confident, steady voice that tells you a very deeply felt story. It shows you life as it is over there... it gives you a sense of the foreign and the familiar. I loved the way the story unfolded.
Zoya and Reema, though Bishnu hails from a different background and socio-economic status, did anything about her resonate with you?
Reema: She’s not very likable, and I have been told several times that I am not very likable! (Laughs) But she is a very identifiable woman because she is real and nuanced. She is not a cardboard cutout. She is a person you can connect to because all of us have good and bad in us.
Zoya: She doesn’t fit in, she isn’t a cookie-cutter person. I identify with that because I am a non-conformist.
Tribeny, Shape of Momo talks about the absence of a man in the house, but the shadow of patriarchy hangs heavy over the women. Was growing up with a houseful of women liberating or limiting for you?
Tribeny: My mother gave me the sort of upbringing that has made me a strong, complete individual. I don’t know if that would have happened if I had a brother. In that way, I feel happy and content. But I think being a woman in a house full of women in a conventional society is liberating in only a few ways. For instance, the road came to my home just four years ago, before that, it was a kilometre away. I have even carried a gas cylinder on my back!
But otherwise, it is a liberating space where everyone is an equal, where I don’t have to cater to a man in the way patriarchy wants. So, it has been a mixed experience.
Zoya and Reema, how important is it for you to show messy, resilient and imperfect women on screen?
Zoya: It is very important because somewhere, everybody wants to feel seen and not be like: “I am difficult” or “I am cantankerous” or “I am not good enough.” Everyone is multifaceted, layered and grey... in different degrees. Also, men need to understand that women are not just one thing. They are complex and messy beings as well.
Reema: It is not about writing messy men or women. As a writer, you want to create characters that are real. And real people have nuances, faults....
A part of Shape of Momo deals with the migrant story of India here and now. Why do you think we haven’t explored it as much as we should have in our recent films?
Zoya: I think because most of Hindi mainstream cinema is experienced as escapist cinema. Most people want to go to movies to feel uplifted and to feel better about their lives. So a lot of the narratives push themselves towards that. Having said that, we just had Homebound, which was an amazing migrant story. So also was All We Imagine As Light. Hopefully, we will have more now.
Reema: As Zoya said, we have to stop looking at commercial films for this kind of thing. It is primarily escapist. People have hard lives, they want to go to the cinemas and be entertained. Even my sister asked me: “Why do you have to go so dark and serious? Why can’t you make happy films?!”
Tribeny: The kind of discrimination people from Northeast face, we are always in the news for that. But when people come from the mainland, especially in Sikkim, like the daily wage labourers from UP and Bihar, they face the same kind of discrimination. In Shape of Momo, I wanted to be critical of my society and say that we are also doing the same. I want to start a conversation around it because somewhere or the other, we are all migrants.
A lot of Indian women filmmakers have recently broken out on international platforms and festivals. What do you think has enabled that?
Zoya: There is a very strong interest in the female gaze from South Asia. It is a completely different lens, a different life and culture. These voices have been very loud and they have made very strong films, whether it be All We Imagine as Light, Songs of Forgotten Trees, Girls Will Be Girls, Santosh, Shape of Momo, Boong.... it has been consistently good quality cinema. So, when the next woman filmmaker from here comes out, everyone will be like: “Okay, let’s check her out.”
Tribeny: It has taken years of filmmakers like Zoya and Reema to make a place for us. They have consistently put out such great work. We are coming to a point where we are like: “Okay, don’t call us women filmmakers. We are just filmmakers because they have worked so hard in the industry to bring forward this equality just purely based on their talent.”
Tribeny, the beginning of your film has a wonderful dedication that goes: “This film is for you, Papa, who believed I was a bird”. How have your fathers empowered you in who you are and what you do?
Reema: We are three sisters and from a very young age, our dad told us that we had to be economically independent and instilled a work culture in us. He wasn’t very happy when I told him I wanted to make films, but when he saw the choices I was making, he came around.
Zoya: I grew up in a space where there was no difference between how I was brought up or the freedom I was given as opposed to my brother (Farhan). There was no sexism in my family on both sides. From a very early age, my opinion mattered. It was very important that I be independent. Being enabled to be who I am is my real privilege.
Tribeny: For me, it was about my father not giving into the pressure of society and family when he was constantly told: “You don’t have a son, you don’t have anyone to carry forward your legacy.” I belong to a conventional background, so just for him to allow me to follow my passion, even though he barely watched films himself, was a big thing.
To end on a lighter note, Tribeny, please set the record straight — is the plural of momo also momo and not momos as most of us think?
Tribeny: Yes it is just momo! (Laughs) In the middle, to be honest, I also got confused and then my friend corrected me and said: “No, the plural is also momo!”
Reema: I had no idea about that! You live and learn.