TRADITION vs MODERNIZATION

 

NAME: Chow Chow Momo Na Haobra Shingju Bora na Oinambra

DIRECTED, SCREENPLAY AND WRITTEN BY: R.K. Jiten

PRODUCER: Leisangthem Dayabati Devi

CAST: Bony, Bala, Sushmita

GENRE: Drama

               

        Besides being a successful lyricist and writer, R.K Jiten’s role as a director in Chow Chow Momo Na Haobra Shingju Bora na Oinambra is a nice start up. His songs are always well appreciated by audiences. Here in this film, he tries to show that cinema is the mirror of the society.

          The film brings out the clash between modernization and traditional norms in the contemporary society. Thoibi is a simple village girl who goes at her uncle’s place to attend college. There she meets Mani and they gradually falls for each other. After some time Mani goes to Central Agricultural University in Imphal for higher education. In the later part of the film, an A-rated video clip goes viral all over the state. Interestingly it stars a young girl named Manglembi and a Mani looked alike person. This incident leaves several relation tangled giving a wakeup call on the deteriorating culture of the society. 

           The film focuses on the changing social norms and loss of morality among the youths in the present society. Here a 12 standard girl student becomes victim of cyber-crime due to her naivetés. The sudden generation gap in these few decades, rapid growth of technology and wrong use of all these advancement is shown as the root cause of these social ills. 

           The overall plot of the film acts as a social messenger. Crimes cause by mobile phones and restaurants and immature youths is discussed in the film. However in the film when Manglembi’s video clip goes viral, it is surprising to see that everybody including school students get hold of the video. But looking on the other side of the coin, it may be a bitter truth that nobody ones to admit. It is too ridiculous to see Mani holding his file cover wherever he goes. It is high time for the directors to consider developing a unique style of all leading characters of a film because audience are sure to get fed up seeing the actor in the same costume, giving the same dialogue delivering style. However Ratan Lai’s new role as a local goon but a good one is appreciative and humorous too. Bony, Bala and Sushmita continue to do great as actors. But again the background score pulls down the film with its horrible continuity and rhythm. The best part of the film is the smooth reconciliation of the social issue with great ease, wisdom and proper investigation by the social organization is worth praising. It shows that unlawful dismantling of houses, burning of properties and isolating victims of such crimes is wrong. The part when Manglembi, Keba, Mani and Thoibi express their opinions about the crime and reconciles their broken relation is too unrealistic in total contrast of the on-going scene. The ending part of the film showing the indigenous eateries in the traditional open air food stalls gaining popularity after the viral video clip is for the audience to think upon. 

 Like its contemporary film Thajagee Mahing dealing with almost the same issue, R.K. Jiten has done a fair job as a director but can do much better with little effort in the near future. With its beautiful songs and social issues the can be watched at least once if not twice.