Maggi Actor

Dr Banajit Chowdhury

Munin Barua (Bhaimon) was one of the most successful directors of the Assamese film industry. He directed many films like Xon Maina, Nayak, Rang, Kanyadan, Barood, Dag, Pratima, Bandhan, Hiya Diya Niya, PriyarPriyo, Dinabandhu, etc. Besides, he also wrote and directed 102 plays and 7 TV serials. Munin was my cousin, my mother’s eldest sister’s son. He was polite and soft-spoken. He was highly respected in the film industry and by the public as a whole. He was very engrossed in cinema throughout his life. He told me that when he was studying in Delhi, he used to watch at least one movie every single day. He read cinema, talked cinema and lived cinema. He was married to Manjula Saikia, herself a noted film actor and sister of Pranjal Saikia, the famous Assamese film and theatre actor.

Munin was four years senior to me, and I was always after him to give me a role in one of his movies. He promised to give me one. While he was making Xon Maina, Manjula, his wife, came to our house to borrow a few items to be used as props in a shooting and left. She also asked me to telephone Munin. When I contacted Munin, he asked me to meet him the following day at the movie shooting set, and he said there would be a role for me. He also asked me to be present with a formal outfit and carry a stethoscope with me.

The following day I presented myself at the set. Pranjal Saikia was playing the lead role. As per the script of the movie, in a particular scene, Pranjal had to act that he was to donate one of his kidneys to raise money for his sister’s wedding. Bijoy Shankar Das (Aku Da) was playing the role of a senior doctor. In the scene I was supposed to play the role of a junior doctor. I was wearing a grey-coloured safari suit, a dignified outfit in those days: The scene was—Bijoy Shankar, the senior doctor, was at his office table concentrating on some medical issue. I came in and told him that the kidney operation was underway. To this he said, “Oh! No!” Then I told him, “The operation has already begun.” Bijoy Shankar was startled and immediately stood up and hurriedly left the room. I was looking at him in surprise, and that was all about that particular scene. After all edits, I appeared in the film for just about 2 minutes only. After the movie was released, many people, including my patients, telephoned me to congratulate me. A few days after the release, I met Pranjal Saikia, the lead actor, while going through the main Pan Bazar road. The shopkeepers and the businessmen working in Pan Bazar knew me very well, as I used to hang around there every evening with my group of friends. I remember Rishi Awasthi, a partner of the famous ‘Indo-Foreign Surgico’ in Pan Bazar, came running out of his shop and said to me, ‘Congratulations, Dada.’ You acted so well. Please help me in getting a role in a movie as well.” Rishi did not recognize Pranjal. Later Pranjal lamented, “Hey! It appears as if you were the hero in the movie.” The people in the Pan Bazar and Uzan Bazar areas started calling me a Maggi actor. I was curious to know who this Maggi actor is. They told me that 2-minute noodles are Maggi noodles. And therefore the one who acts for 2 minutes is a Maggi actor.