The Northeast has constantly been othered by popular culture,” says filmmaker Megha Ramaswamy, when we ask her the reason behind the focus on the region in Voices of the Land, a new documentary series on JioHotstar that she has directed and co-written. 

“In popular cinema, when it comes to the Northeastern tribes, we’re used to clichés — to Naga headhunters, tattoos, certain kinds of food or festivals,” says Ramaswamy whose show journeys through some of the states in Northeast India to spotlight their rich biocultural diversity. “It’s only now after a hundred years of cinema that films from the Northeast are gaining some kind of relevance. In that too, they’ve had to prove themselves through awards at film festivals.”