Village Rockstars 2

Bluesky

In the opening moments of Rima Das’ sequel to her Oscar-nominated Village Rockstars, you could be forgiven for thinking you might be watching a documentary. Naturalism is the lifeblood of Das’ films and this one is no different, although her eye for cinematic framing and strong images quickly clues you in to the fact a director is at work.

She returns to the Assam village of her first film and to the life of Dhunu (Banita Das), who is now a 17-year-old - although you don't need to have seen Village Rockstars to get on board with this standalone story. She still plays the guitar but that is a fringe concern for the writer/director, who focuses instead on the challenges she and her community are facing. At the same time she paints a vivid picture of teenagehood in these places, where phones provide a window to the wider world and where all the usual conversations around boys and family apply.

Rima Das falls into the rhythms of life in the village, particularly focusing on the strong and often playful bond between Dhunu and her single mother (played by the younger actress' real-life mother Basanti Das). She captures the women’s natural dynamic, particularly in scenes in which her mother offers swimming lessons or Dhunu carries the older woman on her back. A sense of threat comes from the older woman’s failing health.

While the back-breaking work of the fields may take its toll physically, women are shown to be practical and mentally strong in stark contrast to the men represented here. They include a predatory broker who is desperate to buy the land Dhunu and her mother own and Dhunu’s brother (Manabendra Das), who is more interested in short-term materialism and what is in the bottom of the nearest bottle.

The filmmaker’s low key approach to all this avoids melodrama, while bringing home the modern problems that the community faces. Chief among them is the climate crisis, with floods, like the one that took the life of Dhunu’s father, becoming an increasing occurrence and adding to the pressure for villagers to sell their land. Banita Das might still be described as a ‘non-professional’ - although you might question how many young stars of her age are truly experienced - but she digs deep here and delivers a performance that feels emotionally alive while still being naturalistic. Her character, meanwhile, is utterly in tune with the landscape, whether she’s shinning up trees, tackling the problem of leeches or beign caught, shivering, in a thunderstorm light show. By sensitively connecting us to nature via Dhunu, the director brings home a real sense of loss as we watch a mature tree being felled by developers.

Village Rockstars 2 brings home the sense of co-dependence between landscape and those who live on it and while the natural cycle of life may not always bring happiness for Dhunu, she works in harmony with it nonetheless.