Ahead of the theatrical release of her debut feature Shape of Momo, filmmaker Tribeni Rai has said culture and language are not a limitation for a story to resonate with others.
Shape of Momo, which won accolades at the Busan International Film Festival, is set for a theatrical release across India and Nepal on May 29 through Spirit Media, the distribution banner founded by Rana Daggubati.
“It is such a personal story that when I was writing it, I did not know so many other people would resonate with it and are going through the same experience somewhere, and not just in India. Culture and language are not a limitation for that,” Tribeni told PTI.
“I am so grateful to be able to take a story in my language, from my region to places and be representing our country and my state,” she added.
Set in a Himalayan village in Sikkim, the film follows women from three generations of a family as they navigate emotional legacies, buried histories and the rhythms of everyday life.
The cast includes the late Bhanu Maya Rai alongside Gaumaya Gurung, Pashupati Rai, Rahul Mukhia and Shyamashree Sherpa.
“We had older ladies, younger women and even men walking up to us and saying, ‘I am that protagonist in your film’,” Tribeni further said.
A graduate of the Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Tribeni said returning to her village after finishing her studies inspired her to make the film. She described the project as a tribute to her late father and her mother, who is credited as a producer.
“The start was my own personal experiences and the experiences of other women around me. When I grew up, I started to question why we were not as equal as men living around me. For instance, we are four daughters, and we are a house full of women. My father passed early on, so I live with my mother and I have three other sisters. We constantly grew up with fear, insecurity or the pressure to compensate for not having a son.”
Sharing her experience about developing the script for the film, Tribeni said, “It (my story) was filled with angst about how the world is not working for a perfect modern woman like me, and then I think he (filmmaker-writer Kislay) brought in a lot of objectivity, where we started becoming critical of her (protagonist;s) privileges as well.”
“I was a bit scared when I kept saying that it’s a personal story. (I thought) people will judge me, but friends who know me, they know that I am one of these characters,” Tribeni further noted.
Filmmakers Payal Kapadia, Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti are attached to the project as executive producers
“Shape of Momo comes at a time when stories from women directors from the northeast are being recognised globally,” she further added.
The film is produced by Dalley Khorsani Production in co-production with Kathkala Films. Tribeni co-wrote the screenplay with Kislay, while Archana Ghangrekar served as director of photography. The production employed a predominantly female crew.
After premiering at Busan, the film screened at the San Sebastián International Film Festival before continuing its international festival run.
