GUWAHATI: The life story of Deepali Borthakur and Neel Pawan Baruah will now be made into a biopic. Their story is said to be one of the most celebrated stories in Assam with books written about it.
Deepali Borthakur was Assam’s eminent vocalist who was popularly known as the “Nightingale of Assam.”
She passed away on December 21, 2018 at the age of 77 at Nemcare Hospital, Guwahati after a prolonged illness. She is survived by her husband, acclaimed painter Neel Pawan Baruah.
Borthakur started her musical career in 1958. She sang her first song when she was a student of class IX. It is to be mentioned that Borthakur received the fourth-highest civilian award of India, the Padma Shri, in 1998.
In her musical career she has sung less than 30 songs as she had lost her voice at the age of 27 due to a debilitating motor neuron disease which confined her to a wheel chair.
She married eminent painter Neel Pawan Baruah eight years after her disease was detected.
The team behind the project, addressing a press meet in Guwahati said, “Yes, we have acquired the rights of Deepali Borthakur and Neel Pawan Baruah’s sensitive and artistic life story for a full length feature film, and we are in the process of raising funds for the project.”
One of the producers of the film, Mandakini Goswami said, “This is a dream project for us, and we have a huge challenge before us to create the cinematic version of one of the most enigmatic real-life stories involving an iconic cultural couple and are ready to take up the challenge.” The biopic is tentatively titled “Dipali”.
The team is currently working on the script of the film and the shooting is supposed to start by the end of 2020 or the first half of 2021.
A member of the team, prominent filmmaker Utpal Borpujari said, “We are giving utmost importance to the script development process because of two reasons – one , it is story of a much-loved and respected couple, and two we want to make a biopic that can be watched, understood and loved by not only people of Assam but also a global audience.”
It was also informed that the producers have also taken the web series and television rights of the story apart from the feature film rights.
