Guwahati, April 18: Director Bobby Sarma Baruah's Rajbongshi film Sonar Baran Pakhi (The Golden Wing) won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at the 15th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) 2017.

The festival took place at Los Angeles, California, from April 5 to 9.

The film is based on the life and times of celebrated Goalparia folk singer Pratima Barua Pandey.

Goalparia lokgeets are a part of a cultural community, largely the Rajbongshis, which has been historically scattered around a vast territory, including Assam, Bengal, Bihar, southern Nepal and even Bangladesh.

"As a film lover, I intended to capture the uncommon threads of life of this gifted artiste, who, despite being a girl child and being born and brought up in a royal family, braved all odds, mingled with 'mahouts', elephants herders and river boatmen, humming rustic ballads in a rural ambience," director Baruah said.

Baruah's debut film Adomya was adjudged the Best Feature Film in the spiritual category at the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival in 2014, besides being screened in a number of other film festivals.

Popularly known as hostir konya (daughter of elephant), Barua Pandey took part in several hunting expeditions as a child with her father, Prakitish Chandra Baruah also known as Lalji, who encouraged her to learn the soulful folksongs from the mahouts, in addition to giving her the strength to overcome against all odds that came her way. Fighting through personal struggles, she continued to dedicate her life to collecting and tuning folk songs.

As a child, she was thoroughly captivated by the lilting notes that resonated in the air around her. Intent upon carving her own path, she went on to master other forms of folk songs. Bhupen Hazarika incorporated one of her Goalparia lokgeet in his debut feature Era Bator Xur.

"The simple lyrical melodies, played with traditional instruments like do-tara, sarinda, dhol and so on, are about the human experiences that each of us can relate to. That's why I believe these Goalparia folk songs are special for us. And my intention is to preserve them through this movie," Baruah said.

Although Barua Pandey was born and educated in Calcutta, she was always in close touch with the people of her ancestral place. Her innocent nature, down-to-earth personality, devoid of any artificiality, ensured that she always remained in the hearts of the common people.

The biopic had also won the Audience Choice Award in the recent Dhaka International Film Festival, and has already been screened in several festivals, including the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, 15th Third Eye Asian Film Festival and IFFSA, Toronto.

Sonar Baran Pakhi has been produced by the Assam State Film Finance and Development Corporation and co-produced by Basanta-Bobby's BB Entertainment Private Limited.