Screening trauma and violence: Representation of insurgency in select films from Assam

ABSTRACT

The paper examines two films, Haanduk (2016) and Jwlwi: The Seed (2019), which explore the issues of identity and insurgency in Assam. Insurgency began in Assam during the 1980s when the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), an organisation that emerged along with the Assam Movement (1979–1985), started an armed uprising for an independent Assam. Meanwhile, the Bodos also engaged in violent insurrection, seeking to establish an independent state. As a response to these uprisings, the Union Government implemented several measures, such as the enactment of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), that transformed Assam and the Northeast region into a heavily militarized area. The military executed multiple counter-insurgency operations to quell the armed rebellions. However, in the middle of these occurrences, accounts of violence promoted by the state, violations of human rights, and instances of torture emerged in both local and international media outlets. This engendered a feeling of apprehension and psychological distress among numerous people throughout Assam. The paper aims to critically examine the ideological dimensions of how the concerns related to insurgency are depicted in the select films. Additionally, it will also examine the portrayal of trauma and breaches of human rights in the select films.

KEYWORDS:

• Insurgency
• militarization
• cinema of Assam
• AFSPA
• human rights
• trauma

Acknowledgments

I thank the anonymous Reviewers for their comments on the previous draft of this essay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Northeast Democratic Alliance or NEDA is political coalition, formed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2016.

2. ULFA is a banned armed organisation which seeks to establish an independent Assam.

3. NDFB is an armed Bodo insurgent group which sought to attain a sovereign ‘Bodoland’.

4. Interview with Runumi Gogoi.

5. Aami is an Assamese magazine who in its special supplement in March 1992, tried to create a dialogue between the ULFA and the Government.

6. Secret Killings are state-sponsored extra-judicial encounters that the state used as a CO measure to create pressure on the ULFA cadres. These operations were unconstitutional and highly criticized by all human rights activists across Assam.

7. Interview with Jayanti Saikia.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bornil Jonak Phukan

Bornil Jonak Phukan is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Cultural Studies at Tezpur University. He is currently working as a Guest Faculty in the same department. His research areas cover Assam History, Identity Politics, and Film Studies.