Bollywood Ishtyle in Assam

Veteran film critic Pabitra Kumar Deka prefers to label it ‘‘an interesting development’’. He defends the current trends, saying, ‘‘The new generation of filmmakers are at least concentrating on providing entertainment, which translates into economically viable films even in the small market provided by 150 cinemas. Last year, all but one of the 12 films made good profits. This has brought hope to the industry as a whole.’’

Aficionados of Assamese auteurs like Jahnu Barua (Sagoroloi Bohu Door, Firingoti), Bhabendra Nath Saikia (Sandhya Raag, Agnisnan, Kolahol, Sarathi, Itihaas) and Bhupen Hazarika (Pioli Phukan, Sakuntala), however, do not agree.

Complains veteran filmmaker Abdul Majid, whose mid-’70s film Chameli Memsaab was a landmark in ‘good’ Assamese cinema (it also won Hazarika the National Award for Music Direction), ‘‘While things have undergone a major change, what is tragic is that most of the new generation filmmakers are blindly copying Hindi and South Indian films. I myself have been approaching producers for the past three years with a script and being rejected because I refuse to incorporate a Bollywood ‘drill dance’.’’

Equally sore is Saikia, who has won eight Rajat Kamals and a National Award for Best Screenplay over 25 years. ‘‘Simply because two-three films using Hindi film formulae were box-office hits, a lot of young filmmakers are trying the same tactic. But the returns are not commensurate with their investments,’’ he says.

‘‘Till about 10-15 years ago, good, healthy films were the order of the day. Those films were simple stories about people, with a focus on rural life, not digressions from reality. Villagers would hire buses to go to the nearest town to watch those films. Two-three of the Bollywood-Assamese films witnessed similar turnouts, but now the enthusiasm has faded,’’ says Saikia, who is being feted this week for completing 25 years in cinema.

Prastuti Parashar, arguably the busiest artist in the industry, however, dismisses the charges. ‘‘Nobody can deny that more and more young people are watching Assamese films. They need excitement, which producers and directors are trying to cash in on,’’ she says. Film critic Deka spouts a similar line, maintaining that ‘‘once upon a time’’, the handful of people who dared to make films could aim only for the National Awards or the Indian Panorama.

The ‘new wave’ in Assamese cinema can be said to have been ushered in by Ashok Kumar Bishaya, whose Jaubane Amoni Kare ran for 25 weeks in Guwahati and upto 10 weeks in smaller towns in 1995. The film was a cocktail of rural and urban life, mixing fishing and Bollywood-style dishum-dishum, and introduced Bishaya’s daughter Barsharani, now one of the top three actresses in the state.

Bhupen Hazarika, whose films, watched chronologically, depict the socio-economic changes in Assam over the first 25 years of independence, says that while cinema must look for commercial success, quality is a priority area. ‘‘It is good that young people are finding films a remunerative profession. But we should also be constantly noticed in festivals worldwide,’’ he says, expressing unhappiness at the state’s recent dry run at the National Awards.

There are some, however, who believe critical acclaim will follow commercial success. ‘‘Good films will definitely come back,’’ says Nayan Prasad, who has assisted directors like Saikia, Santwana Bordoloi and Charu Kamal Hazarika. On the centenary of two of Assam’s proudest sons, Jahnu Barua’s Konikar Ramdhenu has been selected for the Indian Panorama next year. Saikia, too, has promised to launch his next film once his health improves. Good news, one way or the other.