Rima Das' 'Bulbul Can Sing' to be released on Friday in Assam

Award-winning filmmaker Rima Das' Assamese film 'Bulbul Can Sing' will hit the theatres in Assam on Friday ahead of its pan-India release on September 27.

The film, which was screened in 40 film festivals across the world, has been submitted for selection as an entry for the Academy Awards, Das told reporters here on Thursday.

"The film must be released by September 28 for being considered as an Oscar entry and that is why we have planned to release the film early'', she said.

Das said she did not get enough time to promote the film but hoped the audience will "support and accept the film with the same enthusiasm and goodwill" as they did for her 'Village Rockstar'' film.

The Assamese movie is a coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl, Bulbul, living in a village in Assam, fighting her way through love and loss as she figures out who she really is.

''We have got less screening space than 'Village Rockstar' but I am sure that if people accept the 'Bulbul Can Sing', arrangements can be made to screen the film in every part of the state'', she said.

Das further said that she considers it to be ''her responsibility to release the film first in Assam and then across the country''.

The filmmaker is best known for her 2017 feature "Village Rockstar", which had bagged the Best Feature Film award at the 65th National Film Awards. The movie was the country's official entry to the Oscar's last year.

'Bulbul Can Sing' has so far won 13 awards including the National Award for the Best feature film in Assamese.

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival where it received the Jury's Special Mention Award.

"The film has been very special for me as a filmmaker and I am sure the teenagers will identify themselves in it. It is not a simple narrative as Village Rockstar but the characters are complex but reals, who experience the pangs of growing up before they understand the values of life,'', she said.

The filmmaker said that she is making a sequel to 'Village Rockstar' which may not have the same name and plans to begin its shooting from early next year.