TEZPUR, May 17 - A platform of cine artistes, directors and producers titled �Film Fraternity of Assam� was launched at the Lumber Dai Memorial Bhawan here on Sunday.
The objective of the platform was to sustain the limping Assamese film industry with the active involvement of all concerned directly or indirectly connected with the Assamese cinema world.
In the presence of prominent Assamese cine artists and producers like Bani Das, Arun Nath, Mridul Chutia, Barasha Rani Bisoya, Purnima Pathak Saikia, Pranjal Saikia and Munin Baruah, among others, the much-awaited aforementioned platform was formally launched with noted artist Arun Nath as president and Bhawani Bhuyan as secretary.
Addressing the meet, director-cum-producer Bani Das presented a detailed history of the Assamese cinema world and said that the industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie Joymoti. Since then, Assamese cinema has developed at a very slow pace.
�However, despite its chequered history and its occasional artistic successes, for a State that has always taken its cinema seriously, Assamese cinema has never really managed a breakthrough on the national scene despite its film industry making a mark in the National Film Awards over the years. Although the beginning of the 21st century has seen Bollywood-style Assamese movies hitting the screen, the industry has not been able to compete in the market, significantly overshadowed by the larger industries such as Bollywood,� Bani said, adding that the origins of Assamese cinema can be traced back to the dreams and imagination of a revolutionary visionary like Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Agarwala, who was also a distinguished poet, playwright, composer and freedom fighter. He was instrumental in the production of the first Assamese film Joymoti in 1935 under the banner of Chitralekha Movie Tone.
Due to the lack of trained technicians, Jyotiprasad, while making his maiden film, had to shoulder the added responsibilities as a script writer, producer, director, choreographer, editor, set and costume designer, lyricist and music director. The film, completed with a budget of Rs 60,000 was released on March 10, 1935. Unfortunately, the picture failed miserably. �Like, so many early Indian films, the negatives and complete prints of Joymoti are missing. Some effort was made by Late Altaf Mazid to restore and subtitle whatever is left of the prints. Despite the significant financial loss from Joymoti, the second picture Indramalati was filmed between 1937 and 1938 and finally released in 1939,� he added.
He further said that from the angle of population pattern, Assam and Kerala are almost similar. However, there are only 35 cinema halls in Assam, while Kerala has 1,000 cinema halls. �The Maharashtra and Kerela Governments are taking initiative to make films on various issues in local languages, thus taking forward the industry and thereby paving a way of livelihood for the artistes involved in the film industry,� he said.
He expected that the new Government in the State would adopt pragmatic steps to rejuvenate the tottering Assamese film industry.
Airing his views, Munin Baruah felt that a concrete film policy should be formulated in order to prevent various constraints that the Asaameses film industry has been facing over the years due to negligence by successive governments.