Assam Government releases Rs 1 crore fund for ‘Village Rockstars’ promotion

Assam government on Thursday released Rs one crore for promotion of coming-of-age musical drama film “Village Rockstars” which has been selected as India's official entry to the Oscar 2019 under the Best Foreign Language category.

The government had earlier sanctioned Rs 50 lakh which was decided after a cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal.

Writer-director of the acclaimed film Rima Das wrote in a Facebook post after this laudable step by Assam Government, “My sincere GRATITUDE to the Govt of Assam, all the Cabinet Ministers, Govt officials, Dept of Cultural Affairs for wholeheartedly coming forward to help us promote Village Rockstars at the Oscars. Upon receiving the funds today, I realise that this contribution from Assam Govt will give a definite boost to our journey. We also take this opportunity to thank Assam Gana Parishad for the support you have shown us. Thank you to the media, all lovely people, friends and well-wishers, leaders of our community, esteemed colleagues in the Assam Film Faternity for your overall and continued support to us. This level of engagement keeps our journey alive and I can’t thank you enough for your blessings and love for Village Rockstars. We will keep our efforts to raise more funds. With this contribution from Govt of Assam our journey gets a big push. Keep blessing”

The film which gained massive and widespread critical acclaim went on to win accolades at the 65th National Film Awards by winning the Best Feature Film ‘Swarna Kamal’ award.

In 2017, the film was premiered at the prestigious 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In India, Village Rockstars was premiered at the Jio MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival in October last year. The film has been screened in more than 70 international and national film festivals and won 44 awards, comprising four National Awards for the best location, sound recording, editing and child artiste (Bhanita Das).

Rima Das’ Village Rockstars tells a story about a young girl who wants to be a guitarist in a society where almost every step taken by females is scrutinized. 10-year-old Dhunu (Bhanita Das), who hails from a remote village in Assam, wants to make a mark by her music and fulfill her dream in the world of music.

Earlier, on Wednesday, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) in a press statement had appealed before the State Government to release said fund of Rs 1 crore as soon as possible and further urged to stand by their commitment to the ‘Village Rockstar’ fame director Rima Das. They further stated that this is a shame for the Sarbananda Sonowal led BJP Government for not releasing the funds on time. “Since the Government had failed to release the funds on time, the cast of the film had been going ahead with crowd funding and asking for financial support various other private organizations which is itself is a shame for BJP Government,” APCC claims

in the press statement further.