GUWAHATI, Sept 30 - The early life and work of eminent Assamese writer and editor of monthly Assamese literary magazine Gariyoshi Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora was beautifully captured by critically acclaimed filmmaker Manju Borah in her recently released documentary film A Brew of Memories. The film was produced by Sahitya Akademi.
�Around two years ago, Dr Bora telephoned me and said that Sahitya Akademi would make a documentary on his life and he wanted to recommend me as its director. I immediately accept the proposal because it was a real pleasure to make a movie on such a great personality of Assam,� Manju Borah told The Assam Tribune.
Explaining the making of the documentary, Borah said, �It was a challenge to make a documentary on the life of a writer. Many times, the required visuals were no there. But I faced the challenge head on. Already, I read many of his writings, especially his novels.�
The acclaimed director informed that the script of the documentary is mainly based on the book Kaal Balukat Khoj, the autobiography of Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora. �I read the autobiography on recommendation of Dr Bora. But it was not possible to cover the whole book at one go. So after consulting him, I had taken the first part of the book for the film, which depicts the early life of the writer,� she said.
�Though the film is biopic, it narrates only a particular chapter of Dr Bora�s life. It has information from the days of his birth till his days of studying MSc in Calcutta, his life as a child of a farming family at the village, influence of Vaishnavism in shaping up his personality and thought process, his association with village people and other factors which encouraged him to become a writer, role of Cotton College, his co-students and famous faculties in his life at that time, influence of Bengali literature and Coffee House, and other aspects of his life are depicted in the documentary,� stated the director.
A Brew of Memories is a one-hour-long documentary, the script of which was penned by the director herself. The music of the documentary was directed by noted singer Tarali Sarma. The first screening of the documentary was held recently in Guwahati and the Sahitya Akademi will screen the documentary in various parts of the country in the coming days.
On the documentary, Dr Bora said, �It has lots of visuals on my life. It mainly explores me through my literary works.�