Actor George Baker felicitated in Jorhat

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

JORHAT, January 29: Actor turned politician George Baker, who made his first foray in Assamese cinema by playing the lead role in ‘Chameli Memsaab’, was felicitated in Jorhat today by a socio-cultural organization Chintan in a function organized at the Axom Xahitya Xabha building in presence of noted cine and drama artistes besides Member of Parliament of Jorhat Constituency.

Recounting his association with Jorhat after being picked by noted director Abdul Majid for ‘Chameli Memsaab’ which bagged the tiol award, George Baker said, “The source of every story, every novel is a word which some way or the other, down the line keeps repeating. I dedicate all this love, respect and memories to the persons who gave me birth in the cinema industry and to my character which gave me me and fame. Perhaps this is the only Assamese story which later gave birth to the Bengali version of Chameli Memsaab. I am grateful to KPT whom I address with love for taking this initiative of honouring me and bringing me to Jorhat once again.”

“My first shot in Chameli Memsaab which christened me as an actor, the word actor played a very important part in my life. The first alphabet A made me ambitious, C gave me courage, T tecity or continuous effort, O for observation and filly R for resourcefulness. One must be resourceful to put your observations with tecity and courage to carry out your ambitions. That is what the word actor means to me.” He said.

He said that one of the greatest rivers in the world flow through Assam, the only river known as the son of Brahma, which is Brahmaputra.

“And on both sides of the river resides a culture which was shown generously in Chameli Memsaab where two cultures, totally different, one British and the other a tea garden girl got united. If they could stay together united as depicted through their characters, then why can’t the Assamese people stay united today,” said the noted actor.

Earlier the actor was felicitated by MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and by Sustanto Borkotoky, general secretary of ‘Chintan’.

It may be mentioned that George Baker was born in Tezpur on October 28, 1946 and his initial education was in Lucknow. Besides being a tiol level junior in boxing and swimming, he later joined the Assam Engineering College before taking up acting. His breakthrough which gave tiol acclaim was Chameli Memsaab. He is presently one of the two Members of Parliament appointed by the President.