While Indian media celebrated Martin Scorsese joining Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions as executive producer for Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound—selected for the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes—another major achievement quietly slipped past the national radar.

Khasi filmmaker Pradip Kurbah’s Ha Lyngkha Bneng (The Elysian Field, 2025) had its world premiere in the Main Competition at the recently concluded Moscow International Film Festival, where it also walked away with Best Film, Best Director, and the NETPAC Award for promoting Asian cinema. Yet, the story received barely a mention in India’s mainstream media.

This silence isn’t accidental. It’s symptomatic of a deeper, long-standing bias in how we define and celebrate ‘Indian cinema’.

When headlines are dominated by Hindi-language films and Bollywood’s international partnerships, there’s little room left for the unique voices emerging from the country’s diverse linguistic and cultural regions.

Kurbah has been making films since 1998, and three of his earlier works—RI: Homeland of Uncertainty (2013), Onaatah: Of the Earth (2016), and Market (2019)—have all won National Awards.

This is no small feat, especially considering the resource constraints and infrastructural challenges faced by regional filmmakers in places like Meghalaya.

That Ha Lyngkha Bneng (The Elysian Field) could go on to such international acclaim is both a testament to his cinematic voice and a stark reminder of how often we ignore such voices at home.

Unlike the heavily promoted Hindi films that come with PR budgets and red-carpet premieres, regional films like Kurbah’s reach festivals quietly, carried not by celebrity buzz but by substance, craft, and vision. And yet, unless a film like last year’s Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light becomes a global sensation, most independent and regional efforts are relegated to footnotes, if acknowledged.

This lack of attention reflects a deeper malaise: a national film culture still struggling to see beyond Mumbai.

The idea of Indian cinema in the popular imagination remains disproportionately skewed toward Hindi-language productions.

But if we’re serious about claiming cultural diversity as our strength, we must start backing that up with visibility, resources, and genuine appreciation across linguistic lines.

Kurbah’s The Elysian Field is not just a triumph for Indian cinema; it is part of a consistent, decades-long body of work that has expanded the creative scope of films made in various regional languages across India.

To ignore it is to ignore the pluralism we often claim to champion.

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