Seven years after her debut feature film, Village Rockstars, earned her accolades in the film festival circuit, Rima Das is back with its sequel. Earlier this week, Village Rockstars 2 had its India premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the South Asia Competition section. The film continues the story of Dhunu, a teenage girl living in a village in Assam.

However, much has changed for Dhunu since the 2017 film. In the first instalment, we saw Dhunu as a ten-year-old girl, dreaming of playing the guitar in her village band. She has now mastered the instrument that once fascinated her as a child and a boyfriend has entered her life. But she also has to look after her hard-working mother, now frail due to ill health.

For the sequel, Rima has brought the old cast back. While her cousin, Bhanita Das, reprises her role as Dhunu, Basanti Das, Bhanita’s real-life mother, portrays Dhunu’s widowed mother again. The mother-daughter relationship, which was central to the first film, remains vital in this film too.

Dhunu longs to retain the carefree, tree-climbing spirit of her youth while grappling with her role as a responsible daughter. Meanwhile, Dhunu’s village is under threat from flooding and construction projects.

According to the filmmaker, Village Rockstars 2, which originally premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and won the Kim Jiseok Award for Best Film, is more of a docu-fiction. After the screening at PVR, Juhu on Sunday, Rima revealed, “The issues are real but the human stories are fiction. They are born out of my observation of life in the village,” adding, “This is my way of giving back to my village.”

Speaking about her cast, she acknowledged that none of them were professional actors and she hadn’t held a traditional audition before casting them. “None of them are naturally born talents. I met them in the village. There was no audition. I talked to them about the roles. That’s how I cast them,” the filmmaker said.

About her little cousin, Rima said, “Village Rockstars was Bhanita’s debut film. I had to literally spoon feed her at that time. She is grown up now and understands the craft better. I have told her she must carve out her own career now and I cannot handhold her anymore (laughs).”

Thanking the audience for the adulation they’ve showered on her for the 2017 original, Bhanita broke down during the Q&A session held after the screening. “I had no idea about acting or films at that time. But now I have learnt a lot from her (Rima),” the teary-eyed teenager said.