Sailadhar Baruah memorial film awards announced: Sight & Sound

Prantik Deka

sailadhar baruah memorial film awards announced

The 4th edition of the Sailadhar Baruah Memorial Film awards, instituted in the memory of renowned film producer Sailadhar Baruah, will cover the entire North-East this year. The film awards, which encourages the production of films of high aesthetic and technical standards, will be handed out in 10 categories. Earlier, the awards were limited to the films produced in Assam.

Recently, the winners were announced ahead of the ceremony, which will be held on January 10, the death anniversary of Sailadhar Baruah. Anupam Kaushik Borah's directorial debut 'Bornodi Bhotiai', which celebrates life in Majuli, has claimed the Best Film, while Monjul Baruah was chosen for the Best Director's Award for 'Kaaneen'. The Best Screenwriter Award has been bagged by Rajni Basumatary for the Bodo language film, 'Jwlwi, The Seed'.

Bhaskar Hazarika's wildly original and genre defying 'Aamis' has bagged three awards in the three categories for which it was nominated — Best Actor (female) for Lima Das, Best Music for Quan Bay and Best Sound Design for Gautam Nair.

Manipuri film 'Laman Ama' won in two categories — Best Cinematography for Arjun Ningthemcha and Best Art Direction for Sanad Aribam. Best Actor (male) went to Arun Hazarika for his performance in 'Gobardhan Sorit'.

A Jury Special Mention was given to three child artistes — Maharnav Mahanta, Rishiraj Baruah and Gia Baruah for Bidyut Kotoky's 'Xhoixobote Dhemalite'. Papori Saikia, for her role in the Assamese film 'Pokhilar Pakhi', also got Jury Special Mention.

Mrinmoy Baruah, President of the Sailadhar Baruah trust, said that altogether 15 films were received from the region. "This year, we are covering the entire North-East. We hope to continue like this and grow bigger in the days to come," said Baruah.

The five-member jury team, led by veteran filmmaker Gautam Bora, comprised of National Award-winning filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar, sound designer Jatin Sarmah, film critic and journalist Munin Bayan and actress Zerifa Wahid.

Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Shaji N. Karun will grace the award ceremony, among other celebrities. The Best Film will also be screened on that day.

Sailadhar Baruah's collaboration with Jahnu Barua spawned several award-winning films, including the highly acclaimed 'Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai', which went on to earn the well-deserved National Award for Best Film (Golden Lotus) in 1988, the Grand Prix Leopard and World Ecumenical award at the Locarno International Film Festival, and Best of Asia at the Tokyo International Film Festival among other honours. Indra Bania, who played the role of the protagonist, earned the Special Jury Mention at the National Awards and the Best Actor Award at the Locarno Film Festival. The film is considered the jewel in the crown for the Assamese film industry. After 'Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai', the duo went on to produce films like 'Firingoti', 'Hagoroloi Bahu Dur', 'Pakhi', 'Kanikar Ramdhenu', 'Kukhal Konwar' and 'Tora'.

The films with their local resonance reflected Baruah's avowed pride and passion in representing the land of his birth, people and the cultural ethos before a global audience.

pratima barua pandey remembered

The 17th death anniversary of Goalporiya Lokageet exponent and Padma Shree recipient Pratima Barua Pandey was observed with a day-long programme in Assam's Dhubri district recently.

The programme was held under the aegis of Dhubri District Cultural Development Centre, Gauripur and in association with the local unit of All Assam Students' Union.

After flag hoisting and swahid tarpan by various local leaders, individuals and organizations, floral tributes were paid to the statue of the renowned Goalpariya folk singer Pratima Barua Pandey at the premises of the public library of Gauripur town in Dhubri district.

On the occasion, altogether 70 folk musicians played various songs of Pratima Barua and performed music on dotara, a local folk music instrument at the auditorium of Gauripur Cultural Development Centre and paid their tribute to the great folk music maestro of Assam.

District cultural development officer Jiten Kumar Das said since the past couple of months, a workshop on manufacturing of local folk musical instruments and training programme for local folk artistes is under way at the Gauripur centre. "We have decided to create a world record by bringing 100 dotara and sarangi players together on a single platform," he added.

Similar memorial meetings were also organised across the district to commemorate the famous singer.

Meanwhile, AASU leaders and people from different walks of life placed flowers and wreaths at the bust of the legendary singer at Chandmari in Guwahati as a mark of respect to her. However, in view of the prevailing situation in the State, this year's Pratima Baruah Pandey Award was not given, said AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath.

Pratima Barua Pandey hailed from the royal family of Gauripur in west Assam's Dhubri district. She was honoured with the Padma Shree and the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards for her pioneering efforts in popularising Goalpariya folk music.

'Hastir Kanya' and 'O Mur Mahut Bandhure' were a few of the famous folk songs sung by her.

She was the daughter of Prakritish Chandra Barua (Lalji) and niece of filmmaker Pramathesh Chandra Barua of 'Devdas' fame.

modern assamese poetry came of age by 5^th decade of 20^th century

Modern Assamese poetry with its foundation dating back to the later part of the 19th century reached its full development by the fifth decade of the 20th century with the contributions of poets like Nalinibala Devi, Nabakanta Barua, Nirmal Prabha Bardoloi, Hiren Bhattacharya, Prof Hiren Dutta and scores of lesser known poets.

The latest stage of development of modern Assamese poetry is comparable with the best of any other developed modern languages of India including Bengali, Tamil and Kanada.

This observation was made by senior journalist DN Chakravartty while releasing a book of poems titled 'Man Nandan Kanan' by writer and educationist Dr Surendra Mohan Mahanta, retired professor of Cotton College recently.

The function was held at the residence of Dr Mahanta with Chakravartty. The meeting coincided with celebration of the birthday of Dr Mahanta who was formally accorded the title 'Sahitya Bhaskar' on the occasion.

Several distinguished writers including Dr Swadhinata Mahanta, Dr Bijoy Krishna Deva Sarma and Devaprasad Talukdar, while participating in the discussion, dwelt on the literary contributions of Dr Mahanta who, besides contributing regular columns to a couple of daily newspapers, has during the last six decades of his literary career published over six books on poetry, some textbooks and books on current thoughts and problems.

Chakravartty described Dr Mahanta as a poet of optimism and a votary of truth and beauty. He dwelt at length on the growth and development of Assamese poetry right from the days of Hemchandra Baruah, Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Padmanath Gohain Baruah and Chandra Kumar Agarwala of the Jonaki era and spoke on the literary genius of Nalinibala Devi, Ganesh Chandra Gogoi, Devakanta Barua, Jatindranath Duarah, Ananda Chandra Baruah and Sneha Devi. He also referred to the great poets of the Ramdhenu era such as Navakanta Barua, Homen Borgohain and Nirupama Borgohain, among others.

Coming to the latest position of Assamese poetry, Chakravartty spoke on the literary stalwarts like Nilim Kumar and scores of modern poets.

Dr Mahanta acknowledged the boundless love and affection shown to him on his birthday. Renu Mahanta and Ranajit Sutradhar also spoke on the occasion.

ne women's drama festival held

The first-ever North East women's drama festival, held from December 25 to 28, at the picturesque Khengjonglang complex near Irilbung in Imphal, concluded successfully. Ten women theatre groups of the North-East presented 10 plays, and a national seminar on theatre was also held during the festival.

The festival, which aimed to empower and explore the hidden talents of the women in the region, showcased the plays of several prominent theatre directors like Ima Sabitri, S Thaninleima of Khengjonglang (Manipur), Rojibita Gogoi of Jirsong Theatre (Assam), Bijoli Chakraborty of Jagitri Culture Society (Tripura), Toijam Shila of Prospective Repertory Theatre (Manipur), Kismat Bano of Wings Theatre (Assam) and L Randhoni of PADA (Manipur).

The 10-day festival, held from December 24 to January 2, was organised by Khengjonglang, a centre of theatre research, production and community welfare, in association with the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh, MLA L Rameshwar Meitei and festival committee chairperson K Radhakumar also attended the festival.