Gorai Phakhri / Wild Swans

Synopsis

Set in the foothills of Bodoland in Northeast India, the story explores the lives of women in a patriarchal society recovering from decades of armed conflict between the State and separatist groups. Their experiences of repression and fighting back are interwoven. Preeti, a doctoral student from the city comes to the village for her fieldwork. Her romantic ideas of rural life are crushed after witnessing the effects that militarization and patriarchy have on the everyday lives of these women. Mainao and Gaodaang raise their teenage children as single mothers. Mainao's husband, a rebel, was killed by security personnel. Gaodaang's husband is a soldier in the Indian army posted along the country's border. Once inseparable friends, they are now struggling with the bitter legacies left behind by their husbands. Middle-aged Malothi is gang raped by an armed patrol one night. Her husband abandons her labeling her "unclean". But winds of change are about to blow.