By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Jan 7: Lights, camera, action. After three decades in the doldrums, Jyoti Chitraban is looking forward to better times.
On January 17, 2018, Jyoti Chitraban will complete its 50th year. Bounties, as whopping as Rs 20 crore, are up for grabs for the studio to give filmmaking in the State a decisive boost. A whole lot of highly sophisticated filmmaking equipment and other infrastructure have been lined up for the studio, a brainchild of music maestro Dr. Bhupen Hazarika. Two highly sophisticated auditoria, a 7.1 sound recording studio, an intertiol standard state-of-the-art camera, a highly modernized lighting system and camera etc., are some of the bonzas that are awaiting the studio.
This is in stark contrast to the 30-year long eclipse the studio passed through when its staff members were not even paid their monthly salaries regularly. Government neglect was the bane for the studio in all those years. The situation, however, is set to change for the better under the new dispensation at Dispur.
Jyoti Chitraban, rechristened as Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society, was established by the Govenrment of Assam as a government studio in 1961 at Kahilipara against a scenic backdrop in the foot of rakasur Hills with an area measuring 10 acres. The studio is the outcome of emphatic demands before Dispur from various quarters, including doyens of culture – Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha, tasurjya Phani Sharma, the queen of Bijni Late Sabita Devi, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika and Late Khiroda Kt. Bishaya, among others. As a mark of respect to the Father of Assamese Cinema Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla, the film studio was christened 'Jyoti Chitraban' – Jyoti for Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla and Chitraban is the me of the studio established by Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla in his 'Bholaguri Tea Estate' during the production of Film 'Joymoti'.
The studio has been functiol since 1968 when it was under the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR). It had only one shooting floor which was med after 'Pramathesh Chandra Baruah', a towering persolity of Indian Cinema hailing from Assam. 'Bhadari', a short story of Raxaraj Laxmith Bezbaruah, was the first short feature film shot in that shooting floor under the direction of Nip Baruah. Mahurat of the film was held on January 17, 1968 by the then Assam Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha. Since then, as many as 350 feature films, some hundreds of TV serials, documentaries and other shows have been shot in the studio.
Jyoti Chitraban Studio was converted into a government-controlled registered society in 1973 inducting various heads of departments of the State government as official members and reputed film persolities as non-official ones. The video department was commissioned at the studio on December 29, 1995. With fincial support from the State government and the Centre under the Assam Accord, the Society became well equipped with modern technology.
Two major offshoots of Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society are – Jyoti Chitraban Film and Television Institute (JCFTVI) which was later rechristened as Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regiol Government Film and Television Institute (DBHRGFTI) formed in 1999, and Assam State Film Fince and Development Corporation Ltd (ASFFDC) formed in 1974. However, these two offshoots of the Studio are separate entities now, and DBHRGFTI is set to be shifted to North Guwahati this month from the studio campus. ASFFDC, on the other hand, has its own campus at Panjabari in the city.
Talking to this reporter, Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society chairman Pabitra Margherita said: "Many famous persolities did adorn this film studio as its chairman. The first chairman was BK Handique and others were Dr Bhabendra th Saikia, Girish Choudhury, Phani Talukdar, Nipon Goswami and many others. With Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal laying stress on the development of this film studio, we've been able to hold an intertiol film festival in Guwahati recently, and we're set to hold a children's film festival soon."
"The fillip which the studio has got in its infrastructure in the recent past bespeaks the stress Chief Minister Sonowal has laid on cultural development. We're going to put in place many highly sophisticated film equipment in the studio with Rs 20 crore allocated by Dispur. We're are set to preserve creative arts, including film posters, films, music and the like in the archive we've at our disposal. All such works have received momentum now with Cultural Affairs Minister ba Kumar Doley and staff of the Film society dedicating to Jyoti Chitraban's cause," he enthused.
If Dispur is bountiful with Jyoti Chitraban, the generosity will surely rub off on filmmakers, producers, directors and artistes in the film industry.