Guwahati, Sept. 6 -- Despite having an abundance of mythology and folklore at its disposal, the regional filmmakers of Assam have shown little interest in exploring the rich genre possibilities that can be drawn from its history - fictional or otherwise. In that regard, Siddharth Shasta, a faculty member of the Screen Acting Department at FTII, Pune, deserves credit for recognizing the untapped potential of such narratives. His Baazingg Khwatai (The Cursed Deity), a Hindi feature film with a mix of Assamese and non-Assamese cast, was released exclusively in the cinema halls of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on 8 May 2026.

A fictional story set in Assam that takes the best creative benefit of the region's history of tantric traditions, Baazi...