The Assamese film industry had a fair head-start, compared to film-making in other languages in the Indian sub-continent. It was the tenacity and brilliance of the man Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwal which made the first Assamese film “Joymoti” possible way back in 1930s. Since then, the film industry in Assam has traversed a rainbow of colourful paths, with many highs and lows.
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Of late, we observe that many talented independent film-makers in Assam have been able to stand on their own feet and come out with many thoughtful and diverse films for the audience. The regularity at which Assamese films were released, specially in the last few months of the calendar year 2023 as also the first few months of 2024, for public viewership is commendable, and worth taking notice. Except a couple of films here and there, the subject of the films is well researched, planned and executed. A few of the Assamese, Karbi, Sadri and other language films include, among others, Tora’s husband, Rongataapu – 1982, Nelier Kotha, Satya – the truth, Sri Sri Madhabdev (an animation film by Manju Borah), Raghav, Mini (Sadri/Assamese), Eta nirjon duporiya, Koohi, Anunaad, Wide Angle, eti tumar and Finding Maini. In the festival circuit, akomaan, Ojah – the rhythm of life, Kooki, Jiya and Mirbeen (Karbi) were a few films that were screened. The subjects are as diverse as the simple life of a well-meaning man in Tora’s husband, the struggles of tea-garden workers in Mini, the desperation and story of a young couple in eta nirjon duporiya, thoughtful insights on the massacre in Nelie in 1983 in Nelir Kotha, human trafficking in Anunaad, to the story of a gay relationship in Satya. What comes out is the sheer beauty of original film-making by people of diverse yet independent back-ground. By and large, there is also no big banner backing the films. Neither are these purely commercial ventures, nor do these can be classifies into a particular genre. This is laudable, and signifies the maturity of the local film industry. New names in Assamese film-making like Khanjan Kishore Nath, Parthajit Baruah, Pranab Jyoti Sarmah, and Pranjal Kumar Saikia bode well for the future of the Assamese movie industry. This is beside the established names like Jahnu Barua, Manju Bora, Rima Das, Kenny Basumatary, Jatin Bora, et al. These only augurs well for a better future for the Assamese film industry.
Issues: In-spite of having a fairly good head-start, the Assamese film industry has mostly struggled to be perpetually in the lime-light for good reasons like well-crafted films and backed by the audience response. There has always been sparks of excellence from the individual film-makers, but the industry suffered due to lack of quality products on a proclivity. An odd award in film festivals with critical acclaim has, at best, been the fortune of the Assamese film industry. There was a time, though for a brief period, that films like “joubone amoni kore” ran to full houses in 1990s, and a superhit Bollywood film like “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenga” had to recede to background because of the deluge of movie goers for the above mentioned superhit Assamese film in theatres in Assam. This only indicates that there exists a good market for the Assamese films to be lapped up by the audiences in huge numbers. This opportunity of the Assamese film industry to thrive, however, was short-lived.
Perhaps, the vernacular film industry has got to learn a few lessons learn from the Assamese mobile theatre industry, which seem to be thriving in perpetuity, accommodating new players, artists, crew and the makers every new year, and thus creating an ecosystem where an ever-increasing number of people are making a living, without much governmental support. Many a new talent crop up in from this industry quite frequently. Three distinct templates need understanding from the Assamese mobile theatres: (i) reaching out to the nook and corners of the State, and thus creating attention of the audience, (ii) promotion, marketing and awareness whereby the well-off as well as not-so-well-off enjoy “bhramyaman (mobile)” theatre together, and, (iii) audience connect. The last point is the hallmark of the Assamese mobile theatre industry, and, perhaps, that is the reason why even on harshest of winter nights, people seldom hesitate to be part of a late-night show of a mobile theatre even in remote areas.
Challenges: The challenges of the Assamese film industry are myriad. Fim financing, quality production houses, audience connect, promotion and marketing, and talent are some of the challenges that the Assamese film industry has ever been facing, and continues to do so. With just around 65 odd theatre screens across the State, including those in multiplexes and shopping malls, this challenge is daunting, to say the least. Many vernacular film shows, in multiplexes and non-multiplexes alike, get cancelled because of lack of viewers. It is also agonising and painful to watch Assamese films in empty cinema halls. Whether it is the indifference of the audience towards Assamese films, or the product mix, or the marketing deficit, the fact remains that there is lack of audience in cinema theatres for vernacular language films. It appears that there is a gap between audience connect and the film-makers, and this is cutting across all segments of the society – rural, urban, semi-urban, young and the elderly, rich and the poor, etc. This issue needs to be dissected and addressed well to understand the audience mind, and the requisite steps and corrective measures that can be taken to have a better connect so that the viewers throng the cinema halls.
Opportunities:The challenges faced by the vernacular language film industry in Assam is immense to say the least. However, there are opportunities in the form of silver linings around the dark clouds. One perspective has to be the quality of the movies. One can safely expect lesser dearth of movie-goers, if the quality of the movies is great. Secondly, the experience of watching an Assamese film need also to improve in various places, like in Guwahati, urban, semi-urban, and rural areas. The industry has to explore if the film-makers, actors, actresses, etc become part of the movie watching experience. Thirdly, promotion and marketing of Assamese movies need to improve tremendously for more participation of film-goers. Presence in select social media, and a few posters across certain places may not be sufficient to create sufficient catalyst and awareness to draw the crowds to the cinema halls.
As per a Business Standard report, 15.7 crore Indians bought 94.3 crore movie tickets in 2023, showing that the theatre going population in India increased by 29% over 2022. The audience size of Kerala is comparable to Assam. According to the same report, 1.19 core people watched Malayalam films (primarily in Kerala) in 2023, and bought 6.70 crore Malayalam movie tickets during the year; the average Malayalam films watched is 5.6 films in 2023.
Audience participation is key to the success of many Bollywood and Tollywood movies. Many movies in the Bollywood and Tollywood achieve remarkable success at the box-office because of promotion and marketing efforts behind these movies. This also involves audience-connect. However, this would require a lot of financial muscle, and, as one understands, financial power is lacking in the vernacular film industry in Assam. The industry may do well to learn a lot of lessons from the Assamese mobile theatre industry, which has shown veracity of stellar good box-office run year after year, for decades now, despite its own internal challenges. Further, the number of available movie screens is restricted to around 65, which is extremely miniscule for a state of the size and population of Assam. This needs expansion. But the expansion is a collaborate effort, that would require increase in movie-goers in various places. Rather, there are contractions in the number of screens, as can be observed in the city of Guwahati itself. Till the time, expansion of screens become feasible, the industry could tinker about the idea of screening the Assamese movies in the nook and corner of the State, may be in make-shift halls, schools, educational institutions, etc. This has to be a collaborative effort of the industry as a whole. The State Government could also step in to facilitate expansion of the vernacular movie industry in the State. One welcome move by the State Government is about the opening “Aideo” cinema hall at Guwahati through the Assam Film (Finance and Development) Corporation Limited. The Corporation is also financing films. There is also unused capacity in Jyoti Chitraban that may be used to screen vernacular movies.
All in all, the vernacular film industry is in precarious position today. However, many talented independent film-makers have come forward to make independent films, which is a good sign for a brighter future of the industry. Lessons can be learnt from the Assamese mobile theatre industry as also from other movie industries in other places, specially the movie industries of Southern India.
(All views and thoughts are the author’s own.)
