Assam to America and Back: Filmmaker Shankar Borua tells stories that matter, with his latest being ‘Blue Ocean’

In the foothills of the Himalayas

Born and raised in Upper Assam, just miles away from the Dehing Patkai rainforest, Borua grew up amidst a landscape where nature, industry and community coexisted in delicate balance. Those early experiences would later shape both his worldview and his creative work.After studying Economics at Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, he moved to the United States for higher education. He earned a Master of Arts in Criminology from Sam Houston State University before completing a Ph.D. in Mass Communications at Texas Tech University.

Today, Borua is based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, where the Himalayan landscape continues to inspire his work as a filmmaker and entrepreneur.

A journey marked by reinvention

Borua is candid about the twists and setbacks that have shaped his professional journey. His career has rarely followed a conventional path.

“My journey has been fairly chequered and littered with colossal failures across continents,” he remarks in a chat with The Global Indian. “Along the way, I got up more times than I fell, dusted myself off and tinkered with multiple endeavours, from robotics to independent films.”

Today, he describes himself less as an artist and more as a craftsman continually refining his skills. What attracts him to filmmaking is the medium’s unique ability to explore human experience, ideas and emotions in ways that few other forms of storytelling can.

Stories that matter

Across his body of work as a filmmaker, Borua has consistently gravitated towards stories that engage with larger social questions.

His award-winning film Grief on a Sunday Morning explored family relationships, memory and trauma. The Curiosity Shop addressed social inclusion and advocated for the girl child through the tagline, “Adopt a Girl Child, Give Her a Life.” Other projects have drawn from themes of identity, community, culture and public life, reflecting his longstanding interest in how individuals navigate the social forces around them.

Beyond filmmaking, Borua has conducted workshops and engaged with students across India, sharing practical knowledge in filmmaking while encouraging socially responsible storytelling. His academic background, combined with hands-on filmmaking experience, has enabled him to bridge scholarship and creative practice.

Shaped by the Eastern Himalayas

While Borua’s films explore a wide range of social themes, the natural world has remained an enduring influence.

Growing up in Assam, he witnessed first-hand the environmental changes brought about by decades of resource extraction in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. The contrast between economic development and ecological preservation left a lasting impression.

Ever since the time oil was struck in the Eastern Himalayas, almost 150 years back, large-scale petroleum and natural gas exploration in the Assam-Arunachal belt has wreaked havoc on one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. As a first-hand witness of this destruction, I couldn’t imagine the enormous amount of diverse insect and plant species lost forever.

Shankar Borua

These experiences continue to inform his understanding of development, responsibility and the relationship between people and their environment.

Blue Ocean: A new chapter

Borua’s latest feature film, Blue Ocean, brings together many of the concerns that have shaped his work over the years.

While environmental concerns form part of the narrative, the film is ultimately a broader meditation on identity, responsibility and the fragile nature of human existence. Borua has described the world of Blue Ocean as one where individuals swear allegiance only to themselves and regard their own bodies as their singular places of worship. Set against the Himalayas, the film reflects a world where beauty and danger, morality and deception coexist, much like the mysterious depths of the ocean itself.

The film’s protagonist, an undercover police officer, shares an emotional connection with the mountains, allowing Borua to explore tensions between ambition, morality, development and preservation through a deeply personal narrative.

Making a film against the odds

Produced independently and shot largely with non-actors, Blue Ocean was filmed on real locations in and around Dehradun using two Apple iPhone 15 Pro devices. Much of the principal photography was completed in just over a week.

Working with sync sound, limited resources and an ambitious non-linear narrative structure presented significant challenges. “The biggest hurdles were not creative, but economic. Like many independent filmmakers around the world, I maxed out all my credit cards,” he says.

Yet the constraints reinforced his commitment to independent filmmaking and to telling stories that might otherwise go unheard.

Sparking meaningful conversations

Outside cinema, Borua has remained committed to causes that extend beyond the screen. Alongside environmental advocacy, he has championed issues related to accessibility and the empowerment of girls and women.

Through screenings, workshops and outreach initiatives, he has encouraged audiences and students alike to engage with questions of responsibility, empathy and social change. For Borua, cinema is not simply about delivering answers. It is about creating space for dialogue.

Hope in the next generation

Despite the many challenges confronting society today, Borua remains optimistic about the future. Much of that optimism comes from his interactions with young people, whom he believes possess both the imagination and determination needed to address complex social challenges.

Having navigated academia, entrepreneurship and filmmaking across India and North America, he sees meaningful progress as a collective effort built on empathy, awareness and engagement.

Across his work, one idea remains constant: stories matter. Whether examining family relationships, social inclusion, environmental stewardship, disability, ethics or community, Borua continues to use cinema as a vehicle for reflection and conversation.

For him, meaningful change begins when people are willing to look more closely at the world around them, and at their own place within it.

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