Indian cinema has long had a curious blind spot. A country celebrated for its extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity has nevertheless allowed much of that diversity to remain outside the national cinematic imagination. The success of Angh, a Konyak-language film from Nagaland, offers a striking reminder of what becomes possible when that imbalance begins to change. The film’s international recognition is important, but the prize at the Toronto International Film Festival itself is not the most consequential part of the story. What matters is the world the film brings into view and, more importantly, who is doing the looking.

For decades, representations of Nagaland and other parts of the Northeast have too often been shaped by outsiders: colonial administrators, missionaries, travellers, photographers and filmmakers drawn to what appeared unfamiliar or exotic. Such representations could document a culture while still keeping its people at a distance. Angh attempts something different. Set in the early 1960s, it enters a Konyak community at a moment when an inherited way of life is confronting profound religious and social change. The conflict is........

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