The Portrayal Of The Issues Of Insurgency In The Manipuri Feature Film Mami Sami

Abstract

Media plays a crucial role in disseminating information, ideas, and all societal aspects, and representation of all these facets has been the cornerstone of media studies. As a medium of communication, the film has the potential to reach diverse audiences and is favored by most people. Many research papers and dissertations on the representation of gender issues, class conflict, and particular race in films have been accomplished worldwide. Employing qualitative content analysis (Schreier, 2012), this paper studies how the insurgency issue has been portrayed in one of the most popular Manipuri-language films, Mami Sami, directed by Ningthouja Lancha. Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation guides the analysis. The study analyzed how the insurgency issue and its ensued counter-insurgency operations by state authorities affected the lives of civilians in the Indian state of Manipur via the contents of the film. The outcome revealed how civilians live with a conundrum of how to live a peaceful life while insurgents and the security forces are around them.