French-U.K. outfit Alief has acquired international sales rights to Indian filmmaker Bhargav Saikia’s supernatural folk horror “Bokshi,” ahead of its world premiere in International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s Harbour section.
The film follows Anahita, a troubled teen who finds solace in Shalini, a mysterious history teacher leading a trek to an ancient site called ‘The Navel.’ The school excursion takes an eerie turn as connections emerge between the site and a cult worshipping Bokshi, a feared folkloric demoness.
“Bokshi,” which means “witch” in Nepali, represents a departure from India’s recent horror-comedy trend, instead offering a darker, more atmospheric take on the genre. “At its core, it is a cautionary tale that sheds light on universal and socially relevant themes of women empowerment and humanity’s relation with Mother Earth,” Saikia tells Variety. “The film attempts to subvert the negative idea of the witch prevalent in society and presents it as a symbol of empowerment of the female.”
Shot over 80 days across remote Himalayan locations during the height of winter, the ambitious independent production faced numerous logistical challenges. “Major portions of the film were shot in dense forests of the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim during peak winter,” says Saikia. “We had a crew of more than a hundred people on the film’s set. I was adamant on shooting entirely in real locations and using every technical resource that we could afford to make the film authentic.”
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The film features dialogue in Hindi, English, Nepali and Boksirit – a constructed language developed specifically for the film by Dutch linguist Jan van Steenbergen. The project was developed over five years by Saikia’s Mumbai-based Lorien Motion Pictures, weathering both pandemic-related obstacles and financing challenges.
“Bokshi is a fully self-financed film,” Saikia reveals. “At one point, I felt the film could be shelved. My family had to go through tremendous hardships and sacrifices to facilitate the film’s completion.”
The genesis of “Bokshi” stems from Saikia’s boarding school experiences in Assam. “I spent my growing up years in a boarding school where every year we were sent on expeditions to the neighbouring hill states,” he explains. “The memories of one particular trip to Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh remained with me during which we had camped next to a Hindu cremation ground by a river. Moreover, a group of students had got lost while trekking and returned to the campsite quite late in the night. This entire setting was surreal and eerie.”
The film arrives at a time when Indian horror is seeing renewed interest from audiences. “There is a clear shift in audiences’ taste since the COVID-19 pandemic,” notes Saikia. “Last year, we had a pure horror film like ‘Shaitaan’ doing well at the box office. And of course, [Venice title] ‘Tumbbad’s’ re-release was a big hit amongst young audiences, which is very encouraging for independent filmmakers who are experimenting with the genre.”
“‘Bokshi’ evoked my own memories of school trip camp-fire tales, when you were finally allowed to set your imagination free,” says Miguel Angel Govea, partner at Alief. “We are delighted to be representing the film and working with a truly great team of filmmakers.”
The film stars Mansi Multani (“A Suitable Boy”) and Prasanna Bisht (“Farrey”). Harsh Vaibhav penned the screenplay and serves as executive producer. Siddharth Sivasankaran and A. Vasanth handled cinematography, with music by Advait Nemlekar and editing by Himanshu Chutia Saikia.
Post-Rotterdam, Saikia hopes to take the film to genre festivals like Sitges and Fantasia. “I am especially interested to see how the film will be received in Nepal and by the Nepali-speaking people since for them, the word ‘Boksi’ is instantly identifiable,” he adds. “‘Bokshi’s’ primary target audience is the young adult segment and I believe the film has good potential to appeal to audiences in India and overseas.”
Alief will present the film to buyers at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin, where their slate also includes Jerome Yoo’s Tallinn Fipresci winner “Mongrels,” supernatural road movie “Horizonte” by Camera D’Or winner Cesar Agusto Acevedo, and BBC Films’ “Edge of Summer” by Lucy Cohen.
The International Film Festival Rotterdam runs Jan. 30-Feb. 9.
Watch an exclusive clip from “Bokshi” here: