Mumbai, 12th February 2020: Rima Das’ National Award-winning Assamese film Village Rockstars to be part of the Class VII English textbook in Assam.
The chapter ‘Dhunu’s Guitar’ talks about the journey of the film and narrate its story. The film won four National Awards for Best Feature Film, editing, audiography and child artist. It was India’s official entry to Oscars 2019 is now part of the Class VII English textbook in Assam.
Sharing her joy Rima Das says, “My dad was a school teacher and my mom ran a printing press. I was preparing to be a teacher. We've been a family that placed a lot of emphasis on education. Of all my achievements, my parents are most proud of this one and this has made me very happy. The entire Village Rockstars team is very happy!” “I feel blessed that the children of Assam will be exposed to new ideas and get a glimpse of my filmmaking journey. I hope to see a new generation of filmmakers from Assam. Many thanks to Toronto International Film Festival who premiered Village Rockstars and believed in us,” Rima Das added. Village Rockstars released on Netflix on 15th January 2020. The film traveled to over 80 film festivals across the world and bagged 44 awards. Perhaps India’s most traveled film in recent years. Village Rockstars tells the journey of 10-year-old Dhunu living who comes from a humble background living in a village in Assam and dreams of owning a guitar.
In April 2019, SCERT team was developing the new middle school textbooks under the leadership of Dr Mizo Prova Borah. Professor Padmini Baruah, the reviewer felt that the children in Assam could learn from Rima Das's journey, and become more familiar with the slice of Assam her film had brought home. They approached Rima and she happily agreed. Mizo Baidew, with the complete support of the SCERT Director Dr. Nirada Devi, managed to put the official procedure in place, and so history was made.
