Lai Lai had no intention of romanticizing her hometown. Sikkimese’s filmmaker’s debut, “Momo’s Shape of Momo,” presents an attractive portrait of a woman who deliberately avoids romantic mountain communities and instead navigates patriarchal expectations in a Himalayan village.
“People always want to make places like us romantic and turn them into beautiful backgrounds for the stories of others.
The Nepali drama continues with Vishnu. As tensions grow along with the arrival of a pregnant sister and the budding relationship with the “appropriate” boy in her community, Vishnu has to choose to follow tradition or assert her independence.
Celluloid Dream has won global sales rights to the film and marks a key milestone in Southern India-Korea co-production.
For Lai, the story came from what she describes as a “quiet struggle” familiar to many of her generation. “We leave behind a place that shaped us in search of opportunities, freedom, and a better life. “I’m still caught up in the space in between and I can’t decide whether to stay in the village or surrender to the city.”
Much of the restlessness of the main character, Vishnu, reflects Rai’s experience. “The quiet anger of growing up as a girl said she was constantly not enough. The exhaustion of having to prove herself every turn. That anger shaped me and it was heading towards Vishnu,” the director reveals.
Working with co-author Kissley, Rai has tried to go beyond personal grievances to build a “world of layered characters and situations that may belong to everyone.” The film’s portraits of multi-generational women examine how the burden of patriarchy lasts even in a female-only space.
“I grew up in a house full of women, and even if men were away from home, the weight of the rules they drew remained there,” Lai said. “I wanted to explore this quiet inheritance, how it would pass from one generation to the next, and how difficult it would be to infiltrate freely.”
The film incorporates contemporary cultural changes, such as the K-Pop and Karaoke Culture, which are popular in northeastern India. Taking inspiration from the Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke’s approach to capturing temporary changes, Rai sees film as a recording medium of cultural evolution.
“In my village, kids now connect with K-Pop more than mainstream Hindi films,” she points out. “We felt that including these details was important not only as a credibility, but as a way to maintain this moment, for this intersection of tradition and global influence, the future.”
The project crosses the impressive festival circuit developed through the labs of Dharamshala, Film Bazaar, HAF and Cannes. The film previously won top honors in an ongoing lab held at the NFDC Film Bazaar in India, and the Hong Kong Film Finance Forum won the Cannes Prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
“When you bring your project to the lab or into the market, you need to be prepared to be overwhelmed,” recalls Rai. “But, fortunately, each of these spaces led to the decision to continue shaping and improving the film.”
As “Shape of Momo” prepares for the festival premiere, Rai is anticipating a variety of viewers’ reactions. “In Asia, I think you’re familiar with the world of cinema. It’s a cultural code, even if the dynamics of family, different languages,” she predicts. “In Europe, audiences may view it as a window into a lesser-known world.”
The film represents some of the broader emergence of Northeast Indian cinema. “I think we’re ready to speak from the margins with clarity and courage,” Lai said of the local filmmaking community. “The films in our region are thriving, and our filmmakers are more committed than ever to bringing underrated stories to screens. This is not just a good time to make films. It’s time to make them.”
“Shape of Momo” is produced by Geeta Rai and Kislay and has co-producers such as Neha Malik, Himanshu Kohli and Jung Woo Lee.
