‘Enter My World’ is set to the tunes of a homegrown genre of world music that infuses jazz, rock and pop with tribal Naga chants. It is a sound Arnela Subong has grown up hearing: “how-ee, how-aa, how-ee, how-aa”. For her ancestors across tribes in Nagaland, this was the go-to chant for any group activity, be it farming, fishing, or even dancing. Today, the chant has evolved into a genre of world music. Howey music a mixture of traditional tribal chants with a bit of blues, pop, jazz and rock.

The Howey musical film, ‘Enter My World’ is a 75-minute-musical, that has a simple premise. A writer and her assistant get lost in a jungle and are held captive by hunters in a Naga village suspecting them to be spies. It is then that they realise they are caught in another era altogether: a folk era. The end is electrifying with the tiger spirited man and the boar spirited man confronting each other and the writer and her assistant trying to flee. The unique and colourful Naga costumes and culture, along with the picturesque location of Nagaland makes this film a real treat. But the highlight of the film is obviously the music side of it, in that the spoken dialogues are in English, the tunes are all Howey.

Arenla and her husband Moa (Moa who also acts in the movie), both Dimapur-based musicians and have a thrice Grammy nominated band Abiogenesis., have done a lot of music experimenting with Naga tribal tunes. But keeping with just folk music, would mean, focussing on a niche audience, which made them look further and develop what they call as modern music. The film by Abiogenesis Films has music and dialogue in English, is shot in Nagaland and boasts of a storyline that is captivating and suspenseful.

‘Enter My World’ is a folk era fiction that is intriguing as it is a new form of musical with an exciting story.  Calling it Howey musical, the songs are sung in Naga folk tunes (India) and the script is in English. Howey Musical has been evolved by Arenla Subong, who has directed, acted and is also the playwright of the film. It is full of drama with all its colours.

Some of the noted actors are Zhokoi Chuzo-the Naga Bollywood actor, Arenla Subong of Abiogenesis, Ariensa Longchar of Dreams Unlimited, Moa Subong, V Chishi, Kiry Yimchunger, Toshi Lenda and Daniel Engty. Other special features in the film are the Chicken Dance by Chakesang Zuve Cultural Club, Choreographed by Veswozo Phesao and the Sangtam Dance by Kuyingpong Cultural Club Choreographed by Shiromong Anar.

‘Enter My World’ is a big budget film, even going to the extend of hiring a camera person and editor from outside Nagaland. The film was first conceived and went on the floors in November 2017, and brings out the beauty and the richness of Nagaland, in terms of landscape, culture, language and tribes. Officially the film was ready in July 2019.

The film being an experimental and non commercial film, has been submitted to very select film festivals but due to the pandemic, most of the festivals has been cancelled. Echo BRICS Film Festival (Echo BRICS FF), Moscow had selected ‘Enter My World’ and they have updated the Judging Status to Semi-Finalist. The festival was scheduled from 9th to 12th April 2020 but due to the pandemic, they are going only online to present selected films to viewers and Jury members. The Jury will make the decision regardless, and the winners will be awarded.

The film will be distributed by Filmhub, an Indie Digital Film distributor based in USA and will be released very soon. The pandemic has cancelled almost all the festivals that they have submitted entries to. But once everything is back to normal, they will be releasing the film soon through some online Video On Demand (VOD) platforms.

Do keep a lookout and in the meantime watch the trailer of the film right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gWtrpV9XxA

Collated by Verus Ferreira