| Director: | Aribam Syam Sharma |
| Producer: | Aribam Syam Sharma |
| Story: | Arambam Samarendra |
| Screenplay: | Arambam Ongbi Memchoubi |
| Starring: | Leishangthem Tonthoi Lairenjam Olen |
| Music: | Aribam Uttam Sharma Ibopishak |
| Cinematography: | Irom Maipak |
| Editing: | Oinam Gautam Singh |
| Studio: | Aribam Syam Sharma Productions |
| Distributor: | Doordarshan Kendra Imphal |
| Runtime: | 75 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language) |
Leipaklei is a 2012 Indian Meitei language film directed and produced by Aribam Syam Sharma.[1] It stars Leishangthem Tonthoi in the title role. The story of the film was written by Arambam Samarendra and screenplay by Arambam Ongbi Memchoubi. Leipaklei was screened on the inaugural day of 5th Guwahati Film Festival 2012.[2] [3] [4] It was also screened at the 18th Kolkata International Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) held at Jeonju, South Korea.[5] [6] The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Manipuri at the 60th National Film Awards.[7]
The film Leipaklei tells the story of Leipaklei, a woman named after a Manipuri flower. Like the flower whose habitat is the hard ground, she is surrounded by hard trials and ironies of fate: separation from the one who loved and is still loved by her, abandonment by her husband, the trials of being a single parent, the violence of the gaze of men who sees her as fair game.Not unlike the flower Leipaklei, which hibernates beneath parched grounds – dreaming for a spring past, the protagonist dreams of the return of her beloved. He returns.
Leipaklei won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Manipuri at the 60th National Film Awards.[8] The citation for the National Award reads, "A simple story told in a straight-forward simple narrative highlighting social reality".