Poignant & heart-wrenching, Aimee Baruah’s ‘Semkhor’ is bound to stir up a storm

• Release Date: 23/09/2022
• Cast: Aimee Baruah
• Director: Aimee Baruah

Assamese cinema is going through a great phase and Semkhor is yet another burning example of that very fact. Even though the film is in the Garo-Dima language, the language, and the Dimasa people are an integral part of Assam. It must also be noted that the producers, director, lead actors, and a large chunk of the technical team are primarily from Assam. Hence Semkhor is as much an Assamese film as it can be.

The story of the film chronicles the life and tragedies of a lady played by Aimee Baruah who is categorically referred to as “the mother of her son” and the “wife of her husband”. The story takes us through the many tragedies that pile upon her within a very short period. Aimee Baruah skillfully drives the film touching upon numerous social and cultural issues and evils using the protagonist and her different tragedies as the means of expression and propagation. While she is at it, she also uses the protagonist’s life and struggles to document the different aspects of life and practices in a typical Dimasa village. The social and familial status of the women living in a world that borders on being stuck in ancient times and culture are organically brought out through discussions and dialogues between different characters.

Before I start with all that I loved about the film, I would like to inform my readers that I am not an expert on Dimasa culture and society. I have no idea how a traditional Dimasa village operates and I can never be sure if the depiction of the social evils and practices in the film were accurate. My review of the film involves only the cinematic aspects of it like the storytelling, screenplay, performances, cinematography, editing, etc. It concentrates on how all these elements gelled together to provide a compounded impact that affected me at a much deeper level. I looked at it as a film that documented a particular village and a set of people and never generalized whatever was shown as the way of life of the Dimasa people.