Dancers pose in front of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, one of London’s most-frequented tourist spots

Guwahati, Aug. 20: A Bollywood chiffon drama is seldom complete without a song in either London, Switzerland, Amsterdam or New York. For Assamese filmmakers trying to recreate the same ambience, Shillong or Tawang is probably as far as they can go with their shoestring budgets.

National award-winning filmmaker Siba Prasad Thakur is about to break the financial shackles and shoot his latest venture, Ahir Bhairab, in the city where the largest number of Assamese NRIs are known to have settled. London will form the backdrop of the film, revolving around the lives of three generations of an Assamese family based in the metropolis.

“London is not just a place but an integral character in the script,” Pankaj Thakur, who has penned the script, revealed.

Giving a sneak preview into the theme of the film, Thakur said it would be about “the social stigma attached to a particular mental disorder and how three generations of a family staying in London deals with the disease”.

The ace director said before leaving for London to shoot the film that the script determined the location.

Finance has always been a major constraint for Assamese films, but Thakur and his unit have been lucky to get the support of the UK-based production house Kay Bee.

“My film has a huge budget, something unheard of in the Assamese film industry. Till date, no Assamese film has had a budget above Rs 50 lakh. But we needed a big budget this time because of the expenditure involved in travelling and arranging for accommodation in London for the cast and crew,” the director said. However, he declined to reveal the amount he would spend on the film. “Let me just say that I am lucky to get whatever I have asked for from my producer.”

Thakur, whose Son Moina fetched him the national award in 1995, has directed 11 feature films and several documentaries and television serials. Ahir Bhairab’s cast includes Kapil Bora, Jerifa Wahid, Bidyut Chakraborty, Purabi Sarma and Mridula Baruah.

Hemanta Goswami is the music director and Nirmal Deka the cameraman for the film. Jatin Sarma has been roped in as the sound designer.

Industry watchers have hailed Thakur’s attempt to make a grand film and reach a wider audience. “His vision as a director is unquestionable. I am hoping to see a good film that is also commercially successful. Moreover, at a time when the Assamese film industry is going through a bad phase, a film with a foreign backdrop can attract audiences in the overseas market,” a senior film critic said. Several organisations working for the development of Assamese cinema, including the Assam Film Finance and Development Corporation, have been trying to create an overseas market for Assamese films.