A biopic on Khasi church legend Nabon Sawian is set for release.

Nabon, a legendary figure of the Presbyterian Church, was born at Mawmluh in the picturesque Sohra region of Khasi hills in present day Meghalaya in 1832.

She did her primary education in the village before moving on to study at the mission school in neighbouring Nongsawlia village.

She is an icon of the church as she became the first Khasi woman to embrace Christianity amid stiff opposition from her family and clan.

The Presbyterian Church at Nongsawlia is 177 years old and it was here that the seeds of the church were first sown in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and in the Northeast in 1841.

In 1847, Nabon became a member of the Presbyterian Church and was baptised on July 16 the following year.

She died at a young age of 25 at Shella, not too far from Sohra, in 1857.

Now, 161 years after her death, a biopic of the legendary figure, titled Nabon, A Journey of Faith, is ready for screening. Nabon’s role has been played by Lasubon Lyngkhoi. The biopic has been selected for screening at the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival on November 13.

“Nabon developed a thirst for education at an early age. She was allowed to attend school at her village and later at the mission school in Nongsawlia. When her family learned that she was interested in Christian belief, her mother and uncle tried their best to bring her back home,” film director K.K. Kharlukhi said.

Nabon was abused, tortured and threatened by her family members but she stuck to her new found faith. Her plight continued with challenges and trials.

“Amidst alienation and sufferings, Nabon firmly believed that God’s way was beyond human reach of understanding. Her strength in faith enlightened her spiritually,” Kharlukhi said.

Her sufferings at the hands of her relatives and society at that time drew sympathy and her struggle to uphold her new found faith amidst opposition and alienation endeared her to the successive generations in the church.

The film is based on the research by late H.B. Kharlukhi, and is produced by the youth ministry (Jingiaseng Samla) of the Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Synod Sepngi. It is in Khasi and is of 99-minute duration. Shot in locations in and around Sohra, the film director said the making of the biopic posed a great challenge as it dealt with a subject belonging to a distant past.