One of Assam’s best known actors, Santwana Bardoloi made a full-length Assamese movie, which was a successful venture called Adajya (The Flight, 1996) receiving both critical appreciation and international recognition.

A practicing paediatrician at Dispur hospitals, Bardoloi, however, took almost two decades to launch her second movie. Her new film Maj Rati Keteki (Midnight Keteki) is ready for commercial release in the coming winter season. The accomplished stage and radio artiste has repeated her achievement with the new production at the 64th National Film Awards where the movie was named the best Assamese feature film. Popular Bollywood actor Adil Hussain, who hails from Assam, received a National Award with the jury’s special mention for his performances in the 116-minutes movie (shared with the Shubhashish Bhutiani-directed Hindi movie Mukti Bhawan).

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Conceived, directed and produced by Dr Bardoloi, under the banner of her newly launched production house named Udara Films, the movie has other cast members including Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya, Sulakshana Barua, Mala Goswami, Shakil Imtiaz, Mahendra Rabha, Rahul G Sarma, Pranami Bora, Indu Mohan Das, Ashim K Baruah, Ponkhi Kashyap and Kasvi Songkorison among others. It has cinematography by Gnana Shekar VS and music by Anurag Saikia. Maj Rati Keteki’s sound design and mixing was done by Debajit Changmai and only song played with Rupam Bhuyan’s voice. Ushma Bardoloi edited the movie and also worked as the associate director.

Waiting for release on 27 October, the feature film was recently screened in two international film festivals of Kerala and Karnataka, where it attracted rave reviews from the audience as well critics. Maj Rati Keteki has also received invitations from a number of prestigious film festivals across the country and is waiting for more screenings.

The story of the movie, scripted by the director herself, revolves around a sensitive author who returned to his native place after many years and thus encounters a series of events involving different personalities to redefine his old experience and realisations. The title of the movie literary means midnight hawk-cuckoo, which finds reflection in the long whistling cry of a small Keteki bird.

Bardoloi’s first celluloid venture Adajya was based on a much-admired Assamese novel tilted Dontal Haatir Uiye Khowa Haoda, authored by Dr Indira Goswami. Starring Tom Alter, Bishnu Kharghoria, Nilu Chakrabarty, Trisha Saikia, Bhagirothi, Triveni Bora, Chetana Das, Indira Das, Mintu Barua et al, the movie brought laurels at the 44th National Film Awards. Adajya also was screened at various international film festivals.

An FTII-trained cinematographer Mrinal Kanti Das won the National Awardfor Adajya (shared with another Assamese movie Raag Biraag), whichcame for the first time to the Assamese film industry. Raag Biraag (Vacation of a Sanyasi, 1996), also brought a Director’s Best Debut Film award to the seasoned Assamese actor-director Bidyut Chakraborty. It was also based on a literary piece by Jnanpeeth awardee Dr Indira Goswami (popularly known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami).

The music for both Adajya and Raag Biraag was scored by Sher Choudhury. Sadly today, author Goswami, national award-winning cinematographer Das and music director Choudhury along with the acclaimed actor-director Chakraborty faced untimely deaths in the recent past creating a major vacuum in the regional film industry.

Dr Bardoloi admits that there is presently a crisis in the Assamese film industry as the number of moviegoers for regional cinemas has not increased substantially. However, she remains hopeful that the general audience would soon come forward to support the local film industry.

Pointing out that a good movie can be totally entertaining and another one too serious, while the third one may be entertaining as well as serious, Bardoloi claimed that all three productions could be good movies.

Even though she agreed that an Assamese producer hardly gets back the invested amount of money for the production, the visible response from the audience in theatre halls always encourages a responsible filmmaker to start a new venture. She said that the film societies as well as the media promote the culture of appreciating honest cinema in the country.

One feels that Dr Bardoloi seems to be hoping against hope.

(The writer is The Statesmans Guwahati-based special representative)