Mumbai, Mar 9: Lakshmipriya Devi’s Manipuri-language film Boong won the BAFTA for Best Children’s and Family Film, a victory she says will remind the world that “there’s a place called Manipur” and that audiences must “take that knowledge forward.” The 2024 coming-of-age drama, about a young boy searching for his father in conflict-scarred Manipur, was announced as the winner last month and is described by producers and the director as the first Indian film to win a trophy at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts gala in London, the filmmaker told PTI.
Devi, who grew up in Imphal, said the win still feels surreal. “I was in a daze. The only thing I told myself, ‘Oh my God, this is so heavy,’” she laughed, adding that as a low-budget director she does not yet feel any dramatic change. “I’m still the same. In fact, I want to go back more under the radar after this and not let this get to me,” she said.
Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment with Chalkboard Entertainment, Boong stars Gugun Kipgen and Bala Hijam. The film explores themes of love, discrimination and belonging through the cross-border journey of a resilient schoolboy determined to bring his absent father home to surprise his mother.
Devi described the film as “deeply personal,” inspired in part by her grandfather’s yearning for his father, who lived in exile in Myanmar. Having worked as an assistant director on Hindi films including Luck by Chance, Lakshya, Talaash and Rajkumar Hirani’s PK, she turned her journaled memories into a script and decided to direct it herself. “It was such a deeply personal story and I couldn’t give it to anyone else to direct,” she told PTI.
Post-production was delayed by tensions and unrest in Manipur. “I could not edit the film for a very long time. I would break down every time I would see the footage,” Devi said, noting that much of the second half was shot in places that later lay in rubble and it took months to gain distance from the material.
Despite international acclaim, Devi said she is in no hurry to capitalise on the BAFTA. Based in Mumbai, she plans to celebrate quietly with her crew, return to Manipur to screen the film with locals, rest, read favourites such as George Orwell and Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me, and take up scheduling work. Buoyed by the BAFTA win, Boong was re-released on March 6 after a limited theatrical run in September last year.
Original Source: https://assamtribune.com/north-east/bafta-win-for-boong-puts-manipur-in-global-spotlight-lakshmipriya-devi-1609240
Category: North East,Featured
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Publish Date: 2026-03-09 17:21:00
