Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show

2012 • 90 minutes

About this movie

A passionate movie producing family faces a hundred daily battles to make and release a film in the militancy torn Indian state of Manipur, where even Bollywood is afraid to screen. A writer-husband and producer-wife sink their savings into making a film with a make-up man turned director and find their ordinary lives take an extraordinary turn. Together they juggle fried fish breakfasts for the entire unit with a censor board that finds chicken soup offensive. Ingeniously, they adapt violent streets heavily patrolled by army trucks into locations for shooting romance. City walls become billboards while their communities pitch in as film crew. It takes a city to raise a film.
Running parallel to this singular story is an account of Manipur’s chequered relationship with cinema – from the digital theatres of 21st century going back to the first magic lantern show in 1891. Travelling between reality and fiction, past and present, personal and political, this documentary paints a loving portrait of a cinema and its citizens. VIL/1/95/2011-Mum

Ratings and reviews

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