Khasi film ‘Ïewduh’ on Shillong’s iconic market bags 2 National Awards

Guwahati: Bringing laurel to Meghalaya, Khasi film Ïewduh won the award for the Best Khasi Film and Best Audiography (Location Sound) at the 67th National Film Awards held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Monday.

The film is named after Shillong’s biggest bazaar – Ïewduh (‘Ïew’ – bazaar and ‘duh’-biggest) and the people inside the market. In Ïewduh, people from different communities not only work but co-exist.

Ïewduh is about everyday people, with everyday stories, not dignified as heroes, but people who make the lives of each other better. In every lane of Ïewduh lies an untold story. The struggle, the hope to give life not just to themselves, but also to those that they love, those that they care for.

Directed by Pradip Kurbah and produced by Shankar Lal Goenka, this film’s duration is 95 minutes long and has not yet been released on OTT or other entertainment platforms.

Ïewduh had previously also received the prestigious Kim Jiseok Award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival in 2019, the Human Spirit Award at the Pune Film Festival and the Best Asian Cinematographer at the Asian Cinematography Awards in Manila, the same year.

“When we go to the market, we tend to ignore the people there; people that struggle and survive there. The film talks about unfamiliar families, where every lane has thousands of stories,” filmmaker Pradip Kurbah told EastMojo.

While filming, they realised that the market was almost always busy and nothing was in their control. The people’s movement, closing and opening of shops were all a challenge. It did, however, give more colour and character to their narrative and they took the situation in their stride.

Shankar Lall Goenka received the Award for Best Khasi Film at the 67th National Film Awards in Delhi.

“The film is about relationships and human bonding that keeps the world going. Ïewduh is not just an inanimate market in the narrative, but very much a part of the film,” said the Director who won his third National Film Award this year.

Kurbah had also received Best Khasi Film Award at the 61st and 63rd National Film Awards for his films ‘Ri-homeland of uncertainty’ and ‘Onaatah-Daughter of the Earth’. 



“The crew was at the beck and call of nature, Shillong having dynamic weather; we never knew when it would rain and when it would be sunny. Despite shooting one of the busiest markets, the entire film is sync sound,” Kurbah further added.

“The place was extremely crowded and it got difficult for me to capture the natural sounds with natural dialogues due to the noisy atmosphere. It was a challenge for me but I’m very glad to receive the award,” Debajit Gayan, recipient of the Best Audiography Award for the film ‘Ïewduh‘, told EastMojo.

During the pre-production period, the team had done extensive research, planning and recce after which they managed to get the sounds right. “I had 2 assistants with me who held boom mics, we had individual lapel mics for each character to capture their dialogues and all, together, took us 8 tracks,” he explained.

The 67th National Awards were delayed from last to this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Superstar Rajnikanth also received the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour awarded to those from the Film Industry, for his contribution to Indian cinema.

Kangana Ranaut won her third Best Actor prize for her performances in Manikarnika (2019) and Panga (2020) while Manoj Bajpayee and Dhanush shared the Best Actor award for their respective roles in Bhonsle and Asuran, which also won the Best Tamil Film award.

Also read: 67th National Film Awards: Here’s a list of winners being awarded