- Ruata Lungchuang
Runmawi’s latest production, Chhuak A (“Be Gone”), directed by Raymond Colney, is a refreshing venture into a part of Mizo culture that rarely receives this kind of cinematic attention, the unknown.
It is not every day that one comes across a Mizo production that seriously deals with the supernatural, let alone one that attempts to explore it from a distinctly Mizo perspective. Mizo paranormal and supernatural stories have often been heavily saturated with Christian imagery and familiar horror conventions, leaving relatively little room for the Mizo aspect of the supernatural itself.
Rather than simply placing a horror story in Mizoram, Chhuak A looks into the other world preserved in Mizo cultural memory. It explores the beings, beliefs and ideas surrounding the unknown in Mizo mythology, giving the audience a chance to encounter a supernatural world that existed long before modern horror tropes became part of our storytelling.
For older viewers, this can be a return to things half-remembered. Deities, entities, rituals and beliefs that once formed part of the vocabulary of Mizo life appear again on screen. For younger viewers, especially those who may have encountered these topics only briefly through school textbooks or Mizo subjects, the film offers a chance to experience them through a screen and in a setting already familiar to them.
It also goes beyond the better-known figures of Mizo mythology, bringing attention to some of the more mundane, obscure and less frequently discussed elements of the old belief system. The film does not seem particularly interested in turning these things into exotic curiosities or using them simply for spectacle. There is an effort to make the world feel lived-in.
Much of that depth comes from the work Raymond Colney has put into the story. He has worked meticulously on the subject, consulting Mizo specialists and folklorists and learning about Mizo supernatural phenomena and the traditions surrounding them. The research does not appear to stop at the most familiar material either. Colney goes further into the subject, even employing Hebrew writings and terminology in his exploration of the supernatural world presented in the film.
The costumes are equally meticulous, helping establish the world of Chhuak A as something with its own visual identity. Fashion designer Hannah Khiangte, who was recently named ELLE Fashion Voice of the Year 2026, has been involved in the costume work alongside a number of other well-known Mizo fashion houses and creatives. Khiangte’s own work has long centred on bringing Mizo textiles and craft into contemporary forms, making her involvement particularly fitting for a film concerned with bringing elements of Mizo cultural memory onto the screen.
The cultural details are therefore more than decoration. Clothing, objects, characters and the supernatural elements all help build the atmosphere of the uniquely Mizo world the film is creating.
The film allows its supernatural elements to exist without constantly turning them into a sermon. Christian imagery does not take over the Mizo supernatural aspect. The beliefs, entities and ideas about the unknown are given room to exist within the world of the film, which is one of its more welcome qualities.
The cast is equally robust. Zoparmawii and Timothy Vangchhia take the main roles, with Maruata Rawite, Tommy, Lucy L Pachuau, Vanlalliana, RJ Manoa, Juliet Hnamte and Maruata Hnamte among the supporting cast. Raymond Colney serves as writer and director, with BS Pictures handling cinematography.
Seeing RJ Manoa make his way onto the silver screen is a particular delight. His portrayal of an Ai en thiam (fortune teller) is convincing and memorable, and he manages to fit neatly into the strange world the film creates.
Colney’s writing is perhaps where the film finds its strongest footing. His interest in Mizo mysticism is evident, and the material is handled with enough care that the mythology does not descend into something cheesy or overly theatrical. There is an artistic expression to the work, but there is also what Mizo audiences might recognise as thahnemngaihna, the sense that considerable care and effort have gone into getting the details right.
Without giving anything away, Chhuak A also shows just how far Mizo filmmaking has travelled in its use of visual effects and 3D work. There was a time when the appearance of serious visual effects in a Mizo production itself was a dream, with the rudimentary effects in Lalber Anxian in the early 2000s exciting everyone and becoming a core memory for many Mizo Millennials.
What we can see now is that the dream is beginning to become a reality. The technology is no longer simply there to announce that a film has visual effects. In Chhuak A, it becomes part of the storytelling, and that is worth noticing.
Chhuak A opens up a wider creative space for Mizo cinema. There is an entire imaginative world within Mizo culture that can be explored on its own terms, and it is compelling precisely because it is specific. The Mizo unknown does not have to be borrowed from elsewhere. There is already a world within our own cultural memory, populated by beings, rituals, fears and ideas that existed long before modern horror conventions arrived. Chhuak A opens that old door again.
It is a film worth watching, not only as a supernatural production but as an attempt to bring a less explored part of Mizo cultural memory back into popular imagination. For anyone interested in Mizo folklore, mythology, cinema or simply a different kind of supernatural story, Chhuak A deserves a view.
The film is currently available to rent on Runmawi.
English subtitles: Available
Watch here