22-year-old Devsree Nath presents her degree film, a documentary that is inspired by the National Register of Citizens for Assam. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a registry maintained by the Government of India containing names & certain relevant information for the identification of genuine Indian citizens in the state of Assam.The register was specifically made for Assam. However, on 20 November 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah declared during a parliamentary session that the register would be extended to the entire country. The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently. The final updated NRC for Assam, published 31 August 2019, contained 31 million names out of 33 million population. It left out about 1.9 million applicants, who seem to be divided roughly equally between Bengali Hindus, Bengali Muslims and other Hindus from various parts of India
Noor Islam screened at the Herat International Women's Film Festival
The documentary traces the struggle of one man who has to register, but seems to have lost his memory, thus making the procedure impossible, in an eloquent comment on both the law and the concept of identity. We see him broken, trying to raise money to contest the decision in court before he loses everything, although the approach Nath takes does not move towards the melodramatic, but towards simply observing, and in a somewhat abstract fashion.
One could say that Nath presents her comment through hyperbole, considering the story of “Noor Islam”, but there is no proof that these is not just reality, while its presentation, definitely communicates her message eloquently.
At the same time, the life of the poor in Assam is also highlighted, along with the beauty of the area, with the camera-work being quite accomplished, particularly in the long shots, which induce the film with an art-house sense. The antithesis of the tranquility of the area with the inner turmoil Islam experiences, also works quite well for the narrative.
The presentation of the actual registering procedure on the other hand, moves directly towards the documentary format, with the experimental nature of the combination with art-house aesthetics working quite well.
“Noor Islam” is quite interesting, well-shot considering its budget of $844 and shows great promise for Devshree Nath.
