Ishanou (1990)

Manipuri family melodrama combining upward mobility with the strange ritualism of the matriarchal Meitei cult. This cult, according to the film, claims its female adherents through a series of mystical signals which the chosen woman cannot ignore. A small and happy family lives in the Manipur Valley under the care and protection of an old woman. Suddenly the young wife Tampha (Kiranmala) becomes possessed by the divinity Maibi and leaves her home to be initiated by the guru of the Maibi sect. Much of the film’s second half features the exotic dance rituals, ending with a brief encounter between Tampha, her now estranged husband and grown-up child.