His name is Brojendra but he’s known as Boong, little boy. It suits His Impishness better. What else to call someone who, when asked to sing at his school, bursts into Madonna’s Like a Virgin?
Madonna fandom is one of the threads in Lakshmipriya Devi’s comfort blanket of a movie. Made in 2024 and originally released in September, the Manipuri-language Boong is back in cinemas to mark its recent BAFTA award. Devi’s feature debut won the top prize in the Best Children’s & Family Film category – the first Indian production to do so.
Devi’s screenplay begins with a yearning by the ace slinger Boong (Gugun Kipgen) to meet his father Joykumar, who has seemingly abandoned him and his mother Mandakini (Bala Hijam). Mandakini isn’t one to mope or mourn, but Boong’s pleading and gossipy relatives remind the independent-spirited singleton of her absent spouse ever so often.
Boong resolves to find his father, who appears to be in Moreh, on the Manipur side of the state’s border with Myanmar. Somewhere in this steaming wok of tribes, languages and cultures, where even Tamil migrants have made a home for themselves, lies the secret behind Joykumar’s vanishing.
Accompanied by his best friend Raju (Angom Sanamatum), Boong sets out on a journey that’s child-like in its unfolding and grown-up in its understanding of the human-made boundaries between communities and genders.
The 94-minute film is always looking for lines and gags to lighten the context for Boong’s adventure. Devi doesn’t labour the sadder aspects of Boong’s fatherless situation, matching the boys in their cheekiness ever so often.
Although the story is set in 2015, long before the present-day tensions in Manipur, the state’s history of insurgency, the cultural divisions between various communities and the geographical as well as psychological distance from mainland India all snuggle into the warp and weft of Lakshmipriya Devi’s tapestry.
Raju is frequently reminded of his Marwari roots even though his family has been in Manipur for generations. Raju’s father Sudhir (Vikram Kochhar) switches effortlessly between Hindi and Manipuri. Tensions between locals and so-called outsiders sometimes infect the friendship between Boong and Raju – one of the gentle ways in which Devi explores intolerance.
A boyish grin and an awkward hug resolve the issue. There is another yearning at work in Boong, for a world ruled by simplicity, diversity and humour. Seen from a knee-high perspective, the complexities of a conflict-ridden zone magically appears to be navigable.
The boys are always united when it comes to girls, especially their classmate Juliana (Nemetia Ngangbam). Juliana, alongside Sudhir, are among the secondary characters who stand out in a film dominated by Gugun Kigpen’s utterly charming hero.
Bala Hijam is striking too as the no-nonsense, dignified Mandakini. As Raju, Angom Sanamatum is a delightful playmate for the eternally playful Boong. Jenny Khurai performs an adorable Madonna tribute that offers further evidence of the fluidity that can survive amidst rigidity.
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