Attractions Profile

RETROSPECTIVE

STATE FOCUS
CINEMA OF NAGALAND

Unlike Assam, Manipur and even Mizoram, Nagaland does not have a major film industry, partly because it does not have much of an audience for locally made films. One reason for this is that the people of Nagaland are divided into around sixteen linguistic groups—with Nagamese, a modern hybrid language, stepping in as a link language. Nagamese belongs to no one. For the Nagas Nagamese is a link language, not a language to do any literary work in.An Ao will compose songs in the Ao language. The Tetseo Sisters, who are the state’s most successful pop group, sing in Chokri. Songs don’t cost a fortune to compose; films do. You can write songs for a small audience. But no Naga language has enough speakers to sustain a film industry.

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