I’m getting inclined to featuring women as the principal characters of my stories. This is happening naturally; I somehow feel that I can portray women a little better than men,” Assamese director Bhargav Saikia tells us over the phone. Saikia, whose debut directorial feature Bokshi (“witch” in Nepali) will have its World Premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) this week, has crafted a story that weaves together myth and history, combining supernatural and ecofeminist elements and incorporating the beliefs, practices and violence around witchcraft prevalent in the deep forests of Sikkim where the film is set. 

During their travels through Dzongu in North Sikkim to lay the groundwork for the story, Saikia and writer Harsh Vaibhav got acquainted with the local traditions and culture of the Lepchas, and their nature-worshipping and shamanism practices. They also learnt about a mythical female entity named Lamlamey who is believed to impart knowledge about shamanism to prospective candidates and is, notably, more powerful than her male counterpart. “That particular aspect of the female being in power-taking decisions while transforming a person into a shaman stayed with us,” says the director. “And then [on the other hand], there are witch hunts still occurring in different parts of the country that are built on a culture of misogyny and patriarchy… we wanted to subvert the idea of the ‘witch’, which in society has a negative connotation. We wanted to represent Bokshi the ‘witch’ as a symbol of empowerment.”