Distant Thunder, produced by the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHA) and Project Smita traces the roots of the Assam crisis -- which started with the All Assam Student Union (AASU) in 1978 and graduated into the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). ``Kashmir or the Punjab seem close to us, while the gravity of the North-East crisis still hasn't sunk in. Because mentally, even now our eastern border ends with Calcutta,'' says Kumar.

Shot on location over just 10 days, and fortified with breathtaking visuals and on-camera interviews with people from all walks of life,Distant Thunder

speaks of the social, cultural and political alienation of Assam in post-independence India. It runs through the events that led to the first non-violent agitation by the AASU nearly two decades ago.

The film also talks about the economic isolation and deprivation coupled with the influx of Bangladeshi migrants which further aggravated the situation. The general feeling among the people of the state being that they were being neglected by India. ``It is a vicious circle. When the Congress failed to drive out the Bangladeshis, the AASU was born and when that too proved ineffective, the ULFA sprang up. But the fact is the Bangladeshi migrants are still there, and they are quite happy with the AGP government," he says.

Apart from the socio-economic crisis, the insurgency issue and the role of the military, the film presents the case story of Ghose and his colleagues who worked for the river island of Majuli. Ghose went to Majuli and tried to make the people think of self-sufficiency.``His is not a political murder. It is directly connected to the crores of rupees which come to this island by way of World Bank aid, which is then distributed between the government, the bureaucracy and the ULFA. But Ghose was trying to mobilise the villagers and get them to form a Panchayat, which would monitor the funds that were coming to the island,'' states Kumar.

Last year, Ghose was abducted by the ULFA and ostensibly and killed soon thereafter. The film traces his activities prior to his abduction, with his wife and fellow activist Sumita filling in the missing pieces. ``The Assam problem is now spreading to neighbouring states as well. As it is, India has just 20 per cent of the north-eastern border. And if things continue in the same fashion, the region may soon slip out of our hands,'' says Kumar.