Fact Check: Is ‘Mini’ really the first Assamese film to be screened at Rashtrapati Bhawan?

Guwahati, April 3: Recent media reports hailed "Mini", an Assamese film depicting the struggles of the tea tribes in Assam, as the first Assamese movie to be screened at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi. President Droupadi Murmu, along with the film's cast and crew, attended the screening at the prestigious venue.

However, as we delve down, these claims of “Mini” being the first Assamese movie to be screened at Rashtrapati Bhawan were found to be factually inaccurate.

The first Assamese film to be showcased at Rashtrapati Bhawan was “Chameli Memsaab,” a 1975 romantic drama directed by Abdul Majid. Set in a tea estate in Assam, the film tells the tale of a romance between a British tea estate owner and a local tea garden worker, portrayed by George Baker and Binita Borgohain, respectively.

Written by journalist and writer Nirode Chaudhury, “Chameli Memsaab” is based on the real life story of a tea garden damsel in the vicinity of Doomdooma. The film holds the distinction of being the pioneering Assamese film to grace the halls of Rashtrapati Bhawan.

An excerpt from an article written by Dhiren Deka, which was published in The Assam Tribune, says, “It is pertinent to note that except Jogesh Das’s novel Dawor Aru Nai, none attempted to write a novel on the Second World War in Assamese afterwards. In this regard Nirode Chaudhury felt, as revealed by him in his offbeat autobiography Doomdooma, Doomdooma, there must have been enough materials to write a novel on the war. But he was then too young and was not matured enough to write a novel on war, the way he later became capable of expressing his subtle thoughts to write a short story like Chameli Memsaab. Even then Chameli Memsaab gave exposure to Doomdooma in a different way after its release in 1975. This was because till date Chameli Memsaab was the only Assamese story to have been transformed into celluloid in three prominent Indian languages, i.e., Assamese, Bengali and Hindi. Secondly, it was the first Assamese film that won the award for the Best Music Direction for Sudhakantha Dr Bhupen Hazarika. Thirdly, it earned the distinction of being the first Assamese film to be screened in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.”