With curtains of mist on its blue-green mountains, the land is home to a haunted cliff, a demonic lake and a skully cave. You will actually feel the thrill in your bones as you learn of the ancient lores the tiny landlocked state, Mizoram, is steeped in. They are grandmother’s tales taking you back in time and place. And as you wind your way up the steep and rolling inclines, the zestful gasps of the clean, fresh mountain air remind you of the once pristine earth. But, to reach the loftiest peak in the state, barely 2,157 metres high, one has to travel down to the southernmost tip of Chhimtuipui district, close to the Burma border. The sacred peak is believed to be the abode of the gods and Mizos call it the Phawngpui or the Blue Mountain. The Phawngpui commands a majestic view of the surrounding hills and valleys. There is a semi-circular cliff, supposedly haunted, on the western side called Thlazuang Khamm.

Subir Ghosh: The issue of issue of unity among the Nagas is one of the most written-about subjects. I have raised the issue of the surrenders in 1973 and 1975. Then there was the Phizo-Sakhrie conflict. Do you think such dissension has affected the Naga cause?

With the stage set for the February 15 Assembly polls in the Northeast, a surfeit of names crop up that extend from the ordinary to the bizarre. There are namesakes and names for names' sake. Adolf Hitler, for once, is not a member of the German National Socialist Party. He is not a protagonist of Nazism either for anybody to be alarmed of but just the Congress(I) nominee for the Rangsakona (ST) seat in Meghalaya. Adolf Hitler R Marak is his full name. The Great Dictator of the Third Reich is not the only fiend to contest in the ensuing elections in the state. The very name of a candidate for the Mendipather (ST) constituency would send a shiver down the spine of one too many. One was told that Mary Shelley's monster did destroy its creator. But Frankenstein is alive and kicking for he (Frankenstein W Momin) is the Congress(I) man out here.

“We have reached a time when we must open warfare on mediocrity, greyness and lack of expressiveness and make creative inquiry a rule in cinema.” His oeuvre rests on this simple rule, which lies framed in his study. On the wall opposite is a poster with a pigeon nesting on tangled strips of film. And for Buddhadeb Dasgupta, too, his concerns zoom through the mesh of life to explore the inexorable truth of life and living. But, as Dasgupta himself says, “If creative inquiry is a rule for cinema, then a filmmaker never makes one in expectation of an award. But when one gets one, the feeling is good.” And this reaction comes after his latest cinematic essay, Lal Darja, was adjudged the best feature film for 1997.