Notes from a battle zone: Partha Borgohain talks about his movie '1962: My Country Land'

Mention the 1962 Indo-China war in Arunachal Pradesh and the memories brim over — how, for instance, the locals helped terrified Indian soldiers flee from the invading Chinese army by dressing them in local attire; people also remember how the Chinese army, instead of being hostile, offered them beautiful silk, Chinese pottery and kind words.

These are some of the ideas that helped Chow Partha Borgohain make 1962: My Country Land. A period drama that unfolds in the backdrop of the 1962 war, the English film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the non-competition category. Produced by Marbom Mai and her NGO Living Dreams, the film's music was composed by Guru Rewben Mashangva and Shankar Shankini.

"The 1962 war is prominently etched in the state's imagination. And when we talk about it, we cannot help remembering Jawaharlal Nehru's immortal line, 'My heart goes out to the people of Assam.' He could have worded it otherwise, yet, he chose to give us away to China," says Borgohain.

Born and brought up in Arunachal Pradesh, Borgohain was working with filmmaker Rajiv Menon when he decided to venture on his own. "I have been wanting to make a film for a while, and when a friend called me, we decided it was time," he says. He was sure all along that his film had to be set in Arunachal, and that it had to be about the war.

To make do with a budget of Rs2.6 crore, he decided to work on a story that talks about the war, but does not show it. The story centers around Lutiya, a Lance naik sent to map the border villages of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border in NEFA (as it was known then). He goes there with a porter called Gyatso and loses his way only to end up in no man's land.

There the duo meet Yaka, the village chief's daughter, and Chan, a Chinese trader. A fight erupts between Chan and Lutiya over who will win the land for his country. Soon, they meet a rebel leader who does not want the land to be governed by either country and end up joining hands to fight him. The film ends as war erupts, and Lutiya has to go back. He promises Yaka he will return for her. But as the sides are chosen, he has no way of coming back.

Borgohain says he did research for the movie by delving into the historical documents of pre-independence Assam and its development after that. "I learnt that resistance to the Chinese army took place in only two areas: in Wakrow near what is now called the Tiger Neck, and in Jaswantgarh. During my research, I met a tribe in Arunachal Pradesh who became Indian citizens in 2002," he says, adding that this and other such details made their way into his script.

Borgohain recalls that the team was not prepared to shoot there. "Ten people from our 75-member team suffered from high-altitude sickness," he says. Shot over 75 days in Tawang and Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh, Sohra in Meghalaya, and Guwahati in Assam, the film stars Aham Sharma, Daniel Han, Lhakpa Lepcha, Ketholeno Kense and Riken Gomle.

The significance of premiering in Cannes was lost on his mom, Borgohain says. "She was furious and told me: 'Why are you wasting your time screening it there? What is Cannes? You should have shown it to us first.' It was hard to explain to her," he laughs. The team is in talks with distributors to release the movie in India.