Ishanou (The Chosen One). 1990. India. Directed by Aribam Syam Sharma. Screenplay by M. K. Binodini Devi. With Anoubam Kiranmala, Kangabam Tomba, Baby Molly. North American premiere. North American premiere. 93 min.
The past decade has witnessed a remarkable efflorescence of film restoration in India, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and the Film Heritage Foundation. Aribam Syam Sharma’s Ishanou is their latest rediscovery, a drama unlike any you have ever seen from one of the least appreciated filmmaking regions in an otherwise movie-obsessed nation. As the filmmaker himself observes, in this story of “tragic sacrifice,” about a seemingly ordinary young mother who abandons her family to follow the spiritual calling of the Maibi (the priestesses of the Manipur Kingdom), ”lies the sublime art of performance—song and dance attuned to elevate souls beyond the mundane…. The music that I have used in Ishanou is the traditional music of Manipur, the creators of which have been long forgotten with the passage of time, but which has become a common treasure of Manipur. Perhaps Manipuri culture is the only one in which a whole philosophy of genesis is propagated purely through the performing arts of Lai Haraoba [the traditional Meitei religious festival of dance and musical theater in honor of forest deities]. This unique aspect of Manipuri culture is the mystical canvas against which the human tragedy of the chosen one plays out.”
4K digital restoration courtesy Film Heritage Foundation, with funding provided by Film Heritage Foundation with the generous support of Dr. Richard Meyer and Susan Harmon.