MartinDietrich8 at 10:09, 5 January 2026

2026-01-05T10:09:40Z

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{{Short description|Kokborok language film industry}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox cinema market
| name = Kokborok Cinema
| image = File:India film clapperboard (variant).svg
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| screens = 2
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| distributors = SSR Cinemas PVT. Ltd <br> Shine Film Production <br> King Films Production
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'''Kokborok Cinema''' also known as '''Tripuri Cinema''' refers to the [[Kokborok|Kokborok language]] [[film]] industry in [[Tripura]], [[India]] and among the [[Tripuri people]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Debroy |first=Prajapita |date=2024 |title=Tripuriness Endangered? Identity Politics and the Aesthetics of Indigeneity in Post-Globalization Kokborok Cinema |url=http://mzuhssjournal.in/images/resources/v10n1/debroy.pdf |journal=Mizoram University Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=541 |issn=2395-7352 |eissn=2581-6780 |via=}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Barma |first=Aloy Deb |title=Reading the Refracted Identity of Disability in Tripuri Cinema: Politics of Representation and Identity Negotiations |date=2024 |work=Disability and Peripherality: Perspectives and Narratives from India’s North East |pages=87–105 |editor-last=Gogoi |editor-first=Pankaj Jyoti |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-96-0511-8_6 |access-date=2025-02-28 |place=Singapore |publisher=Springer Nature |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-981-96-0511-8_6 |isbn=978-981-96-0511-8 |last2=Dey |first2=Sayan |editor2-last=Biswas |editor2-first=Debajyoti|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Tripura's Kokborok film industry began in 1986 with ''[[Longtharai (film)|Longtharai]]'' (1986) directed by Dipak Bhattacharya adapted from Bimal Sinha's novel ''Karachi theke Longtharai'' depicting the struggle-ridden life of jhum cultivators in the rural hills of [[Longtharai]] followed by the Kokborok film ''[[Langmani Haduk (film)|Langmani Haduk]]'' (1993) directed by Ruhi Debbarma can be read as a critique of the modern regime.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barma |first=Aloy Deb |date=2024 |title=Talking Back through Peripheral Visions and Negotiating Identity: Kokborok and Bengali Films and Music Videos in Tripura |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/article/931184 |journal=[[Journal of Film and Video]] |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=33–48 |issn=1934-6018 |via=Project MUSE}}</ref> The Kokborok film [[Mathia (film)|''Mathia'']] (2004) directed by Joseph Pulinthanath, is the first International Award-winning Kokborok film.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mathia becomes first Kokborok film to bag International Award |url=https://zeenews.india.com/home/mathia-becomes-first-kokborok-film-to-bag-international-award_102467.html |access-date=3 April 2021 |work=Zee News |date=3 June 2003 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matta |first=Mara |date=2016 |title=Multilingualism and Indigenous Cinema in Northeast India: The Case of Kokborok Language Films |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501302848.ch-017 |journal=The Multilingual Screen |doi=10.5040/9781501302848.ch-017|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Maharaja Birchandra with Maharani Manamohini.jpg|left|thumb|225x225px|The first Indian woman to practise photography in India; [[Manmohini Devi]]]]
Before it became a recognised form of artistic expression, cinema already existed in [[Tripura]]. Its predecessors, such as painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, dance, theatre, acrobatics, textiles, and photography, all contributed to the development of cinema. The birth of Tripura's modern era was thus heralded by [[Bir Chandra Manikya|Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya]] (1862–96), a master painter, photographer, composer, scholar of Vaishnava literature, and patron of all artistic endeavours.<ref>Barma & Debroy, 14</ref> About one and a half centuries of the royal family's rule saw the continuation of the core musical interests and practises. More so than art or architecture, the [[Manikya dynasty|Manikya kings]] of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were fascinated by literature and music. Upon the death of [[Birendra Kishore Manikya|Maharaja Birendra Kishore]] in 1928, [[Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman|Maharaja Bir Bikram]], who had a passionate interest in theatre and other forms of art and culture, took over as ruler of the realm. Just like his father, [[Birendra Kishore Manikya|Maharaja Birendra Kishore]], he was a genius in playing the [[sitar]] and [[esraj]]. Ustad Munne Khan, [[Enayat Khan]], Muzaffar Khan, Masid Mia, [[Adam Box]], and [[Allauddin Khan|Ustad Allauddin Khan]] are among a few well-known artists who have performed in [[Tripura]]. [[Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman|Prince Nabadwip Chandra]], the father of [[S. D. Burman|Sachin Debbarman]], who was a well-known music director in the nation, was particularly talented in the musical arts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barma |first=Aloy Deb |date=2025-04-01 |title=Singing Kokborok, dancing Bollywood: Neo-Bollywoodized Tripuri identities and indigenizing the global in contemporary Kokborok music videos |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/safm_00094_1 |journal=Studies in South Asian Film & Media |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=21–41 |doi=10.1386/safm_00094_1 |issn=1756-4921|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The first Indian woman to practise photography was [[Manmohini Devi|Maharani Khuman Chanu Manmohini]], [[Bir Chandra Manikya|Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya]]'s third consort. She arranged her self-portraits with the Maharaja as a contemporary royal photographer and received training from her husband. She organised photographic exhibitions in the palace where the Maharaja presented self-portraits of both himself and his wife [[Manmohini Devi|Maharani Khuman Chanu Manmohini]]. The May 1890 issue of The Journal of the Photographic Society of India focused on the portraits of the Camera Club of the [[Ujjayanta Palace|Palace of Agartala]].<ref>Barma & Debroy, 15</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Singha |first=Memchaton |date=2014-08-31 |title=Matrimonial Alliances between the Royal Houses of Tripura and Manipur in the Days of Monarchy |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2489572 |journal=International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies |language=en |location=Rochester, NY |ssrn=2489572}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kumar |first1=K. G. Pramod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x8U3NAEACAAJ |title=Posing for Posterity: Royal Indian Portraits |last2=G |first2=Pramod Kumar K. |date=2012 |publisher=Lustre Press |isbn=978-81-7436-878-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sengupta |first=Debjani |date=Spring 2014 |title=Zenana Studio: Early Women Photographers of Bengal, from Taking Pictures: The Practice of Photography by Bengalis, by Siddhartha Ghosh |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.7977573.0004.202 |journal=The Trans-Asia Photography Review |volume=4 |issue=2 |doi=10.1215/215820251_4-2-202 |hdl=2027/spo.7977573.0004.202 |issn=2158-2025|doi-access=free }}</ref> The relationship between Nobel laureate [[Rabindranath Tagore|Rabindra Nath Tagore]] and four generations of [[Tripuri kings]] is another important incident in the history of the princely state of [[Tripura]]. Understandably, this resulted from [[Ratna Manikya I|Maharaja Ratna Manikya]]'s liberal support of [[Bengali language]] and culture by the [[Manikya dynasty]] rulers of [[Tripura]] (1464–68). In his first letter to [[Bir Chandra Manikya|Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya]] (1862–1896), dated May 6, 1886, [[Rabindranath Tagore]] made reference to this familial relationship while searching for historical details about Tripura to draw inspiration for his celebrated book "Rajarshi."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Barma |first1=Aloy Deb |title=Cinema as art & popular culture in Tripura: An Introduction |last2=Debroy |first2=Prajapita |publisher=[[Tribal Research and Cultural Institute]] |year=2022 |isbn=978-81-958995-0-0 |edition= |location=Tripura |language=en |ol=44969662M}}</ref>

== Notable films: 1993–2022 ==
{{See also|List of Kokborok-language films}}This section covers notable Kokborok feature films released between 1993 and 2022. Notable films, in this context, include those films which have participated or won awards in national and international film festivals, and the films which have made history (for example, first full-length film, first filmmaker, first color film, longest movie).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year of release
! Film
!Notes
! Director
|-
|1986
|''[[Longtharai (film)|Longtharai]]''
|'''First Kokborok Feature Film of Tripura'''
|Dipak Bhattacharya
|-

|1993
|''[[Langmani Haduk (film)|Langmani Haduk]]''
|'''Kokborok Feature Film of Tripura'''
|Ruhi Debbarma
|-
|2004
|''[[Mathia (film)|Mathia]]''
|A 2004 Indian [[Kokborok]]-language full-length feature film. Awarded as best feature film in the international film festival held in [[Warsaw]] 2003.
|Joseph Pulinthanath
|-
|2008
|''[[Yarwng]]''
|First Kokborok film to win best feature film award at [[56th National Film Awards]], awarded by the ex-Indian president [[Pratibha Patil]].
|Joseph Pulinthanath
|}

==References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* Barma, Aloy Deb. Reading Contemporary Kokborok and Bengali Films and Videos in Tripura: History, Technology and Infrastructure. 2022. Jadavpur U.
* Debroy, Prajapita. Is Tripuriness Endangered? Reading the Diffused Substance of Tripuri Indigeneity and Hybridity in Contemporary Kokborok Films against Bollywood in a Post-Globalization Era. 2023. Tripura U.
{{Cinema of Tripura}}{{Cinema of India}}{{World cinema}}

[[Category:Cinema of Tripura]]
[[Category:Kokborok]]
[[Category:Cinema by culture]]
[[Category:Films shot in Tripura]]
[[Category:Kokborok-language films]]

Kokborok Cinema - Revision history

MartinDietrich8 at 10:09, 5 January 2026