On one hand, Rima Das’ Assamese film Village Rockstars 2 is gearing up to compete for the Kim Jiseok Award at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival. On the other hand, closer to home, there seems to be no takers for Assamese films. A case in point is Sikaar, starring Adil HussainZubeen Garg and Urmila Mahanta. When producer Sam Bhattacharjee approached Prime Video India three weeks ago to be the streaming partner for the film, the platform’s executives turned down the offer. In an email sent to the creators, the streaming giant revealed that its focus for 2025-26 programming is limited to mainstream films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati. Interestingly, it excludes Assamese-language productions from consideration for its slate.
For the filmmakers, this exclusion is another example of the cultural and linguistic marginalisation faced by people from north-east India. Director Debangkar Borgohain, whose drama will be released on 20 September, criticises the measure. “We are facing massive visa rejections.” [for the UK] “It was a treat for our cast and crew when Sikaar was being made. Now, with streaming giants ignoring our language, it seems like we are being denied our right to be a part of India’s cultural landscape,” says Borgohain.
Bhattacharjee
At a time when audiences are transcending the language barrier to enjoy films from different parts of the country and the world, Prime Video’s catalogue seems to lack Assamese feature films. For Bhattacharjee, this raises questions about inclusivity as he says, “Amazon may be able to deliver to the Northeastern states, but its process of selecting content for Amazon Prime Video is questionable, especially when they don’t even consider screeners. While OTT platforms have their policies, Amazon’s exclusion of content from Northeast India is offensive and smacks of regional racism. The issue of linguistic demarcation within India continues to fuel debates, especially when foreign-owned companies like Amazon make business decisions that seem to deepen the divide.”
Mid-day has reached out to Amazon Prime Video representatives for comment. Despite multiple reminders, they have not responded by the time of publication.
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