Rima Das’s Village Rockstars is part of Assam's English textbooks

After being screened in over 80 film festivals and winning 44 awards, Rima Das's Village Rockstars (2018) can add one more honour to its list. The National award-winning film is now part of the Class VII English textbook in Assam in a chapter titled ‘Dhunu’s Guitar’ which traces the journey of the film and narrates its story.

Village Rockstars, about 10-year-old Dhunu from a village in Assam with dreams of owning a guitar, won four National awards for Best Feature Film, Best Editing, Best Audiography and Best Child Artiste and was India’s official entry to the Academy Awards in 2018.

Last year, in April, the Assam SCERT (State Council for Educational Research and Training) team developed the new middle-school textbooks under the leadership of Dr Mizo Prova Borah. Professor Padmini Baruah, the reviewer, felt that children in Assam could learn from Das's journey and become more familiar with the slice of Assam her film had brought home.

They approached Das and she happily agreed. Mizo Baidew, with the complete support of SCERT director Dr Nirada Devi, managed to put the official procedure in place.

In a statement, Rima Das shared her joy and said, "My dad was a school teacher and my mom ran a printing press. I was preparing to be a teacher. We have been a family that placed a lot of emphasis on education. Of all my achievements, my parents are most proud of this one and this has made me very happy. The entire Village Rockstars team is very happy!

“I feel blessed that the children of Assam will be exposed to new ideas and get a glimpse of my filmmaking journey. I hope to see a new generation of filmmakers from Assam. Many thanks to Toronto International Film Festival who premiered Village Rockstars and believed in us,” the filmmaker added.

Village Rockstars is now streaming on Netflix.