What you possibly wouldn’t miss about Bokshi – A Witch is Born Twice is the movie’s powerful female gaze. Assam-born filmmaker Bhargav Saikia picks a rather complex and uncombed subject matter for his feature debut, but delivers to the hilt. A ruby moon, a freshly minted language and a navel tattoo set the premise for a visceral tale of grief, childhood trauma, curiosity, rebirth and delicate witchcraft. ‘For the mother, she died. For the mother, she will rise’. These lines become the very centre of a troubled teenage girl Anahita Sabharwal’s (Prasanna Bisht) disconcerted life. She lives with her grandmother Kadambari (Swaroopa Ghosh) at a verdant tea estate bungalow in Sikkim. Her father Lalit (Rohit Tiwari) is barely at home, while she’s lost her mother, who belonged to the indigenous Marai tribe, in an unfortunate incident.
Every night, 17-year-old Anahita is pulled to pieces by bad dreams, leading to bedwetting – a concern that her dadi is trying hard to address. Meanwhile, at school, she is bullied by her peers as her long hair supposedly stinks of cow urine. Following a bloody scrimmage with a fellow student, Kadambari confronts Anahita in her room, only to find out that she had been dwelling on her dead mother’s ‘jadoo-totka’ practices. One thing leads to another and they decide to send her off to a boarding school, so that she’s away from the shadows of her ‘evil’ mother. However, Anahita still manages to pack a few bottles of her mother’s ‘foul-smelling’ oil to her hostel room.
In her new school, which is said to be built on a graveyard, Anahita finds an instant connection to her history teacher, Shalini. The class is set to go on ‘The History Club’ trip that would try to unravel the mystery behind two standalone rocks with inscriptions, leading to a labyrinth deep in the forest that they have named ‘The Navel’. ‘That all who approach the labyrinth must continue to walk. That all who seek must reach the centre, like it’s all predestined’ – this being the motto of a curious journey into the belly of an untouched and undocumented terrain.
Realising that Shalini takes interest in the Voynich manuscript and in decoding messages from ancestors, Anahita insists that she too is included in the group of trekkers, even though she is sort of a beginner. A small group of students, led by Shalini and another teacher Avinash (Sandeep Shridhar Dhabale), reaches the Marai Lyang Valley by bus. The local people there believe in the power of a Jhākri (Shaman) to ward off the wrath of a bokshi (witch). In fact, they refrain from talking about a bokshi in the valley, because many fear that she can possess anybody. It is said that she is particularly attracted to girls with long hair. So, the local women are mostly found in oiled braids. On the trip, Anahita befriends another girl, named Rebecca (Dagi Ngomdir), who too seems intrigued by sorcery and aura stones. Somehow, she wants to ‘initiate’ Anahita at the navel because as they say, a witch is born twice – ‘first, the day she comes on earth; and second, the day she meets her sisters’.
What started off like a fun field trip began unravelling into a series of mysterious incidents, one more eerie than the other. Amid all that, Shalini maintains her formidable and enigmatic demeanour. She believes that ‘every trip is an opportunity to leave something behind… something that you’re done carrying’. On the contrary, she is making Avinash increasingly suspicious about her sudden disappearance into the river flowing down the hill, in the pretext of catching fish. Director Bhargav (who has also produced the film under the banner of Lorien Motion Pictures) cleverly dovetails moments that subvert the ubiquitous male perspective. Shalini is determined to march on into the depths of the forest, tackling one obstacle at a time, as opposed to Avinash backpedaling at every bend. That said, Avinash’s fears and apprehensions were not for nothing.
A painstakingly detailed script written by Harsh Vaibhav, Bokshi narrates a story about witches like never before. It strives to look at legends from a different vantage point, and does that quite masterfully and convincingly. Although punctuated by a wave of nightmares, gory sequences, bloodshed and death, you’ll be amazed by the backstory of the ‘Sky’, ‘Earth’ and ‘her’. Cinematographers Siddharth Sivasankaran and A Vasanth have thoughtfully captured some never-before-seen vistas of the northeastern state that are in tandem with the film’s underlying themes. Apart from Sikkim, the movie is shot in locations in and around West Bengal and Assam. The background score by Advait Nemlekar also deserves a special mention here, alongside costume designer Serleen Ingtipi Kathar and Sarita Sharma (hair and makeup artist).
Bokshi ditches the usual elements of a horror film to paint a rather poetic and dreamlike canvas, led by a brilliant cast. Anahita’s character is layered and difficult to say the least, yet Prasanna emotes her fears and anxieties with extraordinary flair and deftness. A well-known face in Mumbai’s theatre circuit, Mansi is the one who anchors the plot of Bokshi. She dazzles as a history teacher and folk sorceress, who caressingly guides Anahita into a maze and her final destination. Composed and indomitable in every frame, Mansi splendidly embodies the essence of those who are said to be ‘born twice’. There’s also a host of local actors – including Pema Rinzing Lepcha (as Gyatso), Biru Tamang (as Lakhpa), Avishek Lama (as Imay), Kasvi Sonkorison (as Jhuma), Trishala Tamang (as Punam) and Prabhat Pakhrin (as John), among others – who have put up a good act.
Yes, the movie is edgy and gripping until the end, but maybe the runtime could have been shorter. Shernaz Patel as the voice of bokshi is another compelling aspect of the film – narrated in Hindi, English, Nepali and Boksirit (conlang created by Jan Van Steenbergen). But more than being a fantasy, folk-horror drama, it’s the manner in which Bokshi upturns the general narrative about witches to infuse more feminine power and agency that thrusts as the biggest takeaway. Watch Bhargav Saikia’s coming-of-age psychological horror drama for a compelling storyline woven with precision, Sikkim’s sylvan charm and a riveting performance by the ensemble cast.
Bokshi
Director and producer: Bhargav Saikia
Writer: Harsh Vaibhav
Cast: Mansi Multani, Prasanna Bisht, Dagi Ngomdir, Bhasker Pradhan, Sandeep Shridhar Dhabale, Siddharth Shaw, Avishek Lama, Aditya Bharakhda, Gaurangi Vyas, Shivangi Vyas, Kasvi Sonkorison, Trishala Tamang, Biru Tamang, Prabhat Pakhrin, Swaroopa Ghosh, Rohit Tiwari and Shreenika Dahal
Voice of Bokshi and narrator: Shernaz Patel
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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