Sanakeithel (1983)

Melodrama featuring criminal violence in Imphal, the (for most Indians) exotic capital of Manipur. It addresses issues like unemployment, drugs and the nexus between an oppressive state power and an entrenched feudal elite through the story of a widow, Nungshi (Memi), and her son Ibungobi (Master Tony). When the independent-minded Nungshi is gang-raped and becomes a crazed beggar, her son joins a group of criminals operating in Imphal’s ‘Golden Market’. Ibungobi eventually realises that the beggar is his mother, but is too late to help her even though one of his criminal friends is a local politician. Shot under very difficult conditions, the film is a courageous effort to go beyond the exotic and miserabilist stories featured in many art-house films originating in India’s smaller film industries