Itanagar, June 06: Water Burial has won the best film award on environment conservation at the 67th National Films Awards 2021. Inspired by the popular Assamese novel Saba Kota Manuh, which is written by Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi, Water Burial is in Monpa dialect and has an intriguing storyline around a dark ritual of a local tribe in Arunachal Pradesh.
The film, which is directed by independent filmmaker Shantanu Sen in Monpa dialect, has garnered positive reviews for its uniqueness in portraying the rituals of the tribals of the Northeast and bringing the attention of the mainstream media towards it. Water Burial is presented by Sanjive Narain, Chief Managing Director of Prag News, produced by AM Television and co-produced by Faruque Iftikar.
Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma congratulated producer Sanjive Narain as Water Burial received the National Film Award ‘Swarna Kamal’ – best film on Environment Conservation in feature film category in India. The announcement was made on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5.
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu wish the team for winning the award. He writes on his social media handle:
Extremely delighted to share the news that #WaterBurial, a film based on #Monpa dialect of #ArunachalPradesh, has won the Best Film Award in the environment conservation category at the 67th #NationalFilmsAwards. The film is based on a Assamese novel ‘Saba Kota Manuh’ written by Noted Litterateur #PadmaShri #YesheDorjeeThongchi Ji. Congratulations to the entire team for the splendid achievement.
Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “Today on environment day , I would like to congratulate @Sanjive Narain , CMD of AM televisión for getting the National award # Swarn Kamal #‘ for the movie Water Burial , ‘Best film on Environment conservation in feature film category in india (sic).”
“We are very happy to get the National Award in the environment conservation category. We are looking forward to receiving the award from the President of India. The award was supposed to be given on May 3 but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are now very excited and waiting for that. We had shot the film in Arunachal Pradesh and Karbi Anglong in Assam,” said Sanjive Narain.
Sanjive Narain has so far produced 35 feature films in different languages and won several film awards.
