A political exploration gift-wrapped in a coming-of-age drama, Lakshmipriya Devi ‘s debut feature “ Boong ” follows its lively titular schoolboy on an adventure along India’s militarized eastern border. In search of his missing father, Boong (a firecracker Gugun Kipgen) helps paint a portrait of modern Manipur, the isolated Indian state neighboring Myanmar, at a time when violent eruption feels all but inevitable. As it happens, the state did, in fact, descend into ethnic conflict not long after “Boong” wrapped production, making Devi’s film a bittersweet time capsule.
When the film begins, Boong is a mischievous prankster with spectacular aim. His father, Joykumar, taught him how to use a slingshot before leaving for the border city of Moreh in search of work. Boong’s teachers don’t quite know how to handle or punish his amusing practical jokes, like when he recites Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” when asked to lead his school in prayer.
His mother Mandakini (Bala Hijam) recognizes that her son is languishing in this second-tier institution, so she transfers him to a fancier school where English is the lingua franca, in the hopes of giving him a leg up later on in life. However, this also exposes Boong to a wider cross-section of cultural discrimination, from the rich girl in his class who boasts about vacationing in New Delhi, to the casual slurs thrown the way of his endearing, dark-skinned best friend Raju (Angom Sanamatum), an “outsider” whose fathe.