Daughters of the Polo God
Synopsis: The shimmering emerald state of Manipur, India is the birthplace of modern polo with men having played there for several hundred years. Now it’s the turn for the young maidens to charge forward. A young polo sisterhood is developing in Manipur that ploughs on in spite of adversity and
political turmoil. They are intensely connected to their sacred Manipuri pony and play an international tournament every year. Roopa Barua film is a tribute to these polo players and the modern Manipuri women.
Marjing (25 mins, 2018, documenary) directed by Roopa Barua is a film on the ancient horse-human connect of the people of Manipur (India) that has brought about the game of polo. An intense heritage around benevolent animal spirits converging onto a military tradition around the Manipuri pony brought about the genesis of this game. Roopa Barua’s film is a homage to this tradition which has now seen the sport grow to include an international women’s polo tournament called PoloYatra where many teams from round the world converge to play the game in Manipur.
The shimmering emerald state of Manipur, India is the birthplace of modern polo with men having played there for several hundred years. Now it’s the turn for the young maidens to charge forward. A young polo sisterhood is developing in Manipur that ploughs on in spite of adversity and political turmoil. They are intensely connected to their sacred Manipuri pony and play an international tournament every year. Roopa Barua film is a tribute to these polo players and the modern Manipuri women.
Director Biography – Roopa Barua
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Director's Bio
Roopa Barua is a fan of the cinematic medium. She seeks to create nuanced cinema that goes beyond geography and human boundaries.
An award winning documentary filmmaker, she has been documenting women’s polo in India starting with Team USPA’s Women’s India Visit 2016 for Manipur and Jaipur. She has been involved in shooting extensively in Manipur where polo is played with the native Manipuri pony. She concluded her Team USPA coverage at the Rajasthan Polo Club. She has also covered Team USPA and Hurlingham Women’s Polo team visits to Jaipur, Hyderabad, Manipur and Mumbai in January 2017.
Roopa has won multiple awards in 2015 for her documentary Riders of the Mist – a film about a hundred year old bareback racing tradition in Assam, India with semi-feral ponies. Riders of the Mist premiered in the United States (Houston)in March 2015 and in Europe (Amsterdam) in October 2015. The film continues it’s festival run and TV broadcasts. Her short film Falkland Road was shown at the Afghan Human Rights Festival 2012.Roopa is also a frequent contributor to the movie blog ‘A Potpourri of Vestiges’. She covered the Cannes Film Festival 2015 for films in both the Palme D’Or and the Un Certain Regard categories for this blog.
Roopa has a Certificate in Film Production from New York Film Academy and has also taken film criticism courses at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to her career as a filmmaker, Roopa was a banker with Morgan Stanley in Boston and San Francisco. She has a degree in Economics and Finance from Boston University.