More than once while watching Lakshmipriya Devi’s Boong, I was reminded of Aijaz Khan’s Hamid (2018) – another Indian film that used the ruse of a “children’s film” to examine a region riddled with conflict. In Khan’s film, a serendipitous phone call between a seven-year-old local (Talha Arshad Reshi) searching for his‘disappeared’ father and a CRPF jawan (Vikas Kumar) became an unintentional humanitarian bridge in the midst of Kashmir’s paranoia. In Devi’s film, the unrest in Manipur remains an undercurrent, filling even the ‘cute’ scenes with an unease.Brojendro ‘Boong’ Singh (Gugun Kipgen) is the quintessential menace among his classmates. In the first scene, he uses his slingshot to great effect. A scene later, he recites a Madonna song, ‘Like a Virgin’, at the prayer assembly – much to everyone’s amusement. Unsurprisingly, he also ends up in the principal’s office for it. But his mother Mandakini (Bala Hijam) surprises the principal by reacting gently to both incidents. “I did it because I wanted to get expelled from the school,” Boong sheepishly tells his mother after they’ve left the principal’s office. He wishes to go to an English-medium school, like his best friend, Raju (Angom Sanamatum).A still from Boong.Children’s films in India are few and far between, and ‘good’ children’s films are even more rare. A major obstacle facing such films is the inability to differentiate between naivete and daftness. Also, innocence from annoyingness. Devi’s film is successful on both counts, where it manages to be ‘cute’ without grating on our senses, and also manages to do an elaborate dance between childlike wonder and grown-up hurt.Boong’s father, Joykumar Singh (Hamom Sadananda) has been away from home for what appears to be a few years now. Mandakini and Boong, both leave him voice messages, but never get a response. The news mentions how members of a ‘revolutionary party’ – presumably a dissident organisation – have been arrested on the India-Myanmar border. Torn between her pride as a single parent and a longing spouse, Mandakini lays in the midst of resilience and resignation. Boong is still young and hopeful though, and he wishes to turn things around for his visibly-sad mother.A still from Boong.The circumstances of Joykumar’s leaving are deliberately left opaque for a large part of the film’s runtime. Is he away on business? Did something happen to him? A couple of other red herrings too are introduced, to misdirect the audience. However, when the village chief gets a postal envelope with all the documents of Joykumar along with the message that he died, he relays it to Mandakini. A level-headed woman, who finds the lack of details suspicious (or simply is in denial), she tries to find out what happened to her husband. When a road mishap confines her to a bed, it’s Boong who takes up the responsibility to give his mother the ultimate gift: her husband’s return. So, two pre-adolescent boys – Boong and his friend Raju – undertake a journey to the Indo-Myanmar border town in search of Joykumar.Filmed before the ethnic conflict began in Manipur, more than three years ago, Devi’s film packs in quite a bit of social commentary for the region. Primarily in the film, we see how locals from the Northeastern states are victims of racism. Here, Devi shines a light on the identity chauvinism that resides within Manipuris – for which we’ve seen bloody consequences in the ongoing violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities.A still from Boong.Raju – who was born and bred in Imphal after his forefathers migrated from Rajasthan to Manipur a few decades ago – is teased for his skin colour. When Raju’s father (played by Vikram Kochchar) tries to help Mandakini search for proof of her husband’s apparent death – he’s reminded of his status as an ‘outsider’ and asked to not meddle in ‘their matters’. Mandakini’s sister-in-law shoots accusatory looks at her for showing the slightest hints of joy (for a woman whose husband isn’t around), or slut-shamed for having the briefest of conversations with another man.Devi’s handling of the story, especially how the exposition reaches its audience, is slightly underdone. I thought the humour in the film is more assured. But I also liked the way Devi integrates the plurality of her home state through elements – a Madonna fan club, a transwoman exotic dancer, Krishna devotees, Christian burials – all coexisting in harmony. Boong’s search for his father then ultimately becomes a metaphor for a whole state’s people in search of belonging. As Manipur continues to witness civil unrest, with scant mainstream conversation and no noticeable effort to mitigate the conflict, it’s hard not to see Devi’s film as a reminder of a forsaken state.And perhaps, that is Boong’s quiet provocation: in landscapes defined by waiting, hope itself becomes a political act.*Boong is playing in theatres.