How do you feel on receiving the Filmfare award? For which film did you get the award?
Filmfare is a dream. It feels good to be good as well as recognised for your work. It must be appreciated that filmfare has made Assamese film a part of it, acknowledging the fact that Assamese cinema exists.
The award is for the film ‘Dwaar’, directed by Bidyut Chakravarty.
What do you have to say about the prospect of Assamese films?
Actually what is happening in Assam is that the very big banner films are eating up the low budget ones. The small budget films suffer as consequence. It is a very wrong notion of the people that a small budget film cannot be good. Even the Yashraj banner has a wing which makes only small budget films, and they are excellent in their own ways.
What is most unfortunate is that people are short sighted, they engage themselves in petty interests, as the crab mentality of the people reflects while trying to sabotage the efforts of others. The focus is certainly lacking, as we look only inward. If it is seen that a business is flourishing, we tend to go for it till the time it comes to a state of saturation. The divided feeling is one of the major reasons behind the lagging behind of Assamese films. The attention should be rather directed towards working for the benefit of our cinema, creating a market first at home, then at the national and global level.
What about organising Film festivals in Assam?
It is the lack of infrastructure that appears as a hazard in organising film festivals in our place. We have no multiplexes for the multiple screening the films. The Assam Government could certainly do something about it. It would be a great idea to make a multiplex in the Kalakhetra campus.
What are your expectations from the award? How is it going to affect the Assamese film industry?
It is surely going to inspire the Assamese film makers, discovering the brighter side of it. It calls for a healthy competition among the film makers as they would not make movies only for the sake of it, and hopefully the quality of the films is likely to improve on that pretext. It will encourage the filmmakers to involve themselves more dedicatedly in their work. Film makers like Jahnu Baruah and Bidyut Chakravarty have made benchmark movies and their works must be highlighted and recognised in the broader platforms.
Tell us about your upcoming project?
Right now I am working in a film called ‘Kotha Nodi- River of Fables’, with Adil Hussain and Kapil Bora. 80%of the work is over.
As it is the time for elections, do you have any expectations from any particular party which would somehow prove helpful to the Assamese film industry?
I would not like to make any opinion about any particular party which might come into power, as we had expectations from all the parties which came to power earlier, but they hardly paid heed to the requirement for strengthening up the Assamese film industry which is not yet recognised as an industry at all. Assamese film industry has the potential to become one of the prime industries of the place and with the scope to provide a huge number of employment. The reason behind the negligence of the film industry is that it is viewed as frivolous and that’s a pity. The Assam Government must pull up their sleeves now, as any art form requires patronage. Moreover, the cultural people need to be vocal and united for the purpose of taking forward our culture, films being an integral part of it.