Imphal-born filmmaker Lakshmipriya Devi has made a remarkable directorial debut with Boong, chosen as the Spotlight Film for the 2025 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange described Boong as “a story that is as bold as it is intimate” and praised Devi’s debut as proof of the extraordinary talent emerging from India’s film industry.
Starring Gugun Kipgen alongside Bala Hijam, the film was celebrated at the IFFM Awards night as well, with its young male lead receiving a special mention in the Best Actor category. Boong was also the first-ever fiction film from Manipur to be showcased at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), having a world premiere in September 2024 under the Discovery section.
The story is rooted in the director’s childhood memories and her grandmother’s folk tales, told against the backdrop of Manipur’s turbulent years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Devi recalls nights spent under a mosquito net, listening to her grandmother’s stories while gunfire echoed outside. She describes Boong as her personal version of those childhood memories.
The film centres on a mischievous young boy named Boong, played by Kipgen, who embarks on a journey with his friend Sanamatum in the hope of reuniting his fractured family. Set in Khurukhul village in Imphal West and the border town of Moreh, the story blends childhood innocence with a quietly unfolding reflection of Manipur’s social tensions.
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What makes Boong distinctive is not only its narrative, but the way it was created. Devi shot the film in Manipur with a largely local cast and crew, many of whom were newcomers to cinema. She has spoken about the challenges of filming under such circumstances but emphasised how the support of communities across Manipur carried the project forward. This sense of collaboration, she believes, is at the very heart of the film, which she describes as a tribute to the resilience and spirit of her home state.
The production of Boong brought together some of the most established names in Indian cinema, backed by Excel Entertainment’s Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani alongside Chalkboard Entertainment and Suitable Pictures. For Devi, who has previously worked as first assistant director on acclaimed projects such as Luck by Chance, Talaash, PK, and Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy, the film marks a transition from working behind the scenes of large-scale productions to finding her own directorial voice.
Critics praised the film for its ability to capture the spirit of Manipur through a child’s eyes, maintaining a tender and often humorous tone while also acknowledging the deeper fractures in society. Reviewers noted that the casting of Gugun Kipgen, a Kuki-Zo actor, as a Meitei boy in the film, was an especially poignant choice given the state’s current ethnic unrest, offering a symbolic vision of harmony.
At its core, Boong is a tale of a boy trying to bring his family back together, but its resonance lies in its layers. It is simultaneously a family story, a portrait of a community, and a memory piece that connects the past to the present. For Devi, it is both a tribute to her grandmother and a testament to Manipur’s enduring capacity for storytelling.
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