On the morning of April
17, 1971,
Jiban Bora, a drama activist and film aficionado
from Panigaon, a
village located around 370 km from Guwahati, arrived at the House of Baruah
(refer to our previous feature in the series) and stepped up to the veranda. He
was there to speak with Brajen Baruah and make a proposal for a film. Jaya
Saikia, from Bora’s village, accompanied him. Saikia had already made her mark
as a Bihu dancer and acted in Baruah's Mukuta (1970), a super hit film. She also
worked as an artist in the Assam government’s Information and Publicity
Department. Jiban Bora wrote about her: “Jaya Saikia, who acted with us in
village theatre, brought glory to Panigaon by acting in the films Mukuta and
Lalita (to be released later, in 1972), both directed by Brajen Baruah. Then,
the idea of making a film was born in our
group. ‘If Jaya, whom we taught, can make a film, why can't we?’” Multiple
people from Panigaon had come together, raised money and were ready to make a
film. Brajen Baruah's last two films at that point, Doctor Bezbarua (1969) and
Mukuta (1970), had enjoyed unexpected commercial success. He was next making a
relatively large-scale film, Lalita. At that point, Baruah would probably be
the most reliable name as director for any new producer. Brajen Baruah agreed
with Bora’s proposal and asked for the story; Jiban Bora gave him the story he
had penned for his dream film. Bora and his friends
registered a production company for the film in Panigaon. Pragati Cine
Productions was the first such company based out of a village in Assam. On
October 3, 1971, the company and the film were announced at a meeting in the
presence of the then Chief Minister, Mahendra Mohan Chowdhury.
There was, however, one
issue in Panigaon.
"I have come to
this village from Guwahati to direct an Assamese film,” Brajen Baruah said at
the meeting, “But, there is no electricity line in the village yet. How can I
make a film without electricity? If our honourable Chief Minister can plan to
bring electricity to this village as soon as possible, the village will be
benefited."
Baruah's request
touched the CM, who immediately ordered the state department concerned to take
appropriate action. And within a few days, the village experienced something
new and unexpected. Electricity supply had reached the Panigaon. The film
changed a village before it was even born before any production began. This development
— the steady supply of electricity — because of their film, spurred on the
people involved in the production.
In Panigaon, Brajen
Baruah stayed at the house of Umesh Bora, a director at Pragati Cine
Productions. He was there for ten days when he started the initial work on the
film. After asking for electricity (and getting it too), the second thing
Baruah did in Panigaon was to reject the story that Pragati Cine Productions
had been preparing for the film. “I don't want to make any more melodramatic
films with such stories. You may find another story or writer.”
Jiban Bora, though, was
not to be disappointed. He wrote up a skeleton story overnight and narrated it
to Baruah. Although Baruah didn't like it entirely, he noted that it was better
than the previous one and started working on it. Discussions continued on how
to go ahead with the screenplay. There were corrections and rewrites — within
ten days, the story took a final shape and Baruah had written the screenplay.
Baruah and one of his colleagues, Amalendu Bagchi, also revised the screenplay
during the shoot.
While making Lalita
(1972), Brajen Baruah thought of changing his approach to filmmaking. One
time, he took his actors to show them Satyajit Ray’s 1955 classic, Pather
Panchali, during the shoot of one of their films. He was interested in
realistic stories, moving away from rhetorical ones as evidenced by his
comments on Bora’s original story. Baruah was a high-calibre music director as
well, with innumerable melodious and hit songs. All his previous films were
famous for their incredible compositions. Yet, he was eager to make Opaja Sonar
Mati (My Glorious Motherland) without any song. He told the producers bluntly,
“It's absurd to include a song in this film.”
Their interests,
however, could not be ignored for long. Baruah finally agreed to add three
songs to the film. The producers approached Ramen Baruah and Keshab Mahanta, a
close associate of Brajen and a leading poet, for the lyrics. Ramen Baruah
recorded three songs at the Technician Studio in Kolkata, performed by his
brother Dipen, and Pahari Saikia, Neelima Khatun and Krishna Barman — all three
of whom were already associated with Ramen. Those three songs found no place in
a commercial gramophone record (which needs a minimum of four songs) that
usually provided wide publicity for songs and in turn, for the films. In those
days, the first publicity platform was radio, followed by the public address
system — the sound system used at meetings, fairs and functions. Sound
operators would play these gramophone records before any major programme — this
style of promotion contributed immensely to the popularity of the songs. Owing to the absence of the records however,
the songs of OSM could not be played and did not get the recognition they might
have deserved. Those three songs were born of an assembly of famous and
talented people in the film and music industry of the era.
The fact that he wanted
to make Opaja Sonar Mati a songless film suggests a change in Brajen
Baruah's world of thought. His last film was Mamata (1973), where he also
starred in a song. After a film's business is over, if the songs are good and
readily available, the film lives for a long time. Thus, the songs from Mamata
are still popular today.
From the beginning, as
an actor, Brajen Baruah was a fan of natural acting, as seen more commonly in
Hollywood then. From his first film as music director-actor, Smriti Parsh
(1956), to Eto Sito Bahuto (1963), he always acted naturally. In Doctor
Bezbarua, he changed his style of acting, improvising an exaggerated portrayal
of the character to suit the dramatic nature of the story. He echoed that style
of acting in Barua'r Sansar (1970), directed by Nip Baruah, but returned to his
usual style in Mukuta (1970). He again went for a dramatic style for Lalita, in
demand with the theme and narrative style of the film. He played the role of a
village mahajan in Opaja Sonar Mati, assuming a natural acting style to play a rich
moneylender and landowner. As a director, however, he preferred realistic
films. We can assume that he was inspired by the work of Ray, Tapan Sinha and
others.
March 15, 1972: Jyoti
Chitraban’s 35mm Arriflex camera, Brajen Baruah’s own sound recording
equipment, and some artists, arrived in Panigaon. Baruah had arrived three
days earlier, accompanied by his wife Anu Baruah and two young children —
Manjyoti and Manami. Along with the artists from Guwahati and elsewhere, they
had found a place in the spacious house of Umesh Bora.
March 17, 1972: A
prayer meeting was held in the morning. The shooting of the film started with a
shot of the Namghar Thapna at Umesh Bora's house (prayer room; Namghar is a
Hindu temple introduced by the Vaishnavite saint Sankardev. In Assamese
society, two types of Namghar exist - one personal, and the other a community
namghar. Thapana is the main altar of the Namghar where religious books are
kept).
The film was shot in
different parts of Panigaon and at the properties of Umesh Bora, Loknath Bora,
Praful Bora and Sagar Bora. For the urban part, they did the shootings at the
house of Abdul Naser in North Lakhimpur and the shops of Amarchand and
Ramprasad. The shooting at Lakhimpur was over on April 20, except for the three
songs.
The film was simple in
story and romantic in statement with a love story between a pair of youths.
There was a predictable storyline with a small dramatic element. There were
many types of characters, mostly rural. The actors, however, held the film with their
convincing performances. Brajen Baruah played a significant role in the
character of a greedy village merchant, somewhat of a villain. He tried to play
the character within the framework of realistic acting. In one scene, he was
reading a kirtan ghosa (religious text) on one side and beating his wife
simultaneously. There was nothing else in the film to show off his acting
talent or to put a remarkable impression on the audience. The scene's
inventiveness entertained the audience with a feeling distinct from what they
expected after Doctor Bezbarua.
Although Jaya Saikia
was the main inspiration for the film and it was produced in her village, she
did not play any character. This film was most important for the lead actor
Biju Phukan, who was trying to make his presence known in Assamese films. He had
had two moderately successful films before Opaja Sonar Mati, and desperately
needed a hit. Fortunately, OSM did it for him. Two of the female leads were
newcomers, Meena Das and Anuradha Saikia, who also made their mark with this
film.
"Brajen
Baruah is one of my favourite directors. He was a master at taking out good
acting from a performer. I will narrate to you one of my experiences. They
acted out the scene of me being angry with a man and breaking down in hatred.
He (the director) told me the day before that I didn't have a shooting
tomorrow. But the next day, suddenly, the assistant director came to pick me up
and said, 'Aren't you ready for shooting?' I replied that I only knew I had no
shooting today. Then everyone treated me rudely. That made me unhappy and
furious with everyone. I held back my tears. My acting came out without even
trying. I came to know everything after the shot. This was Brajen-da.” -Anuradha
Saikia (aka Manjula Baruah) on Brajen Baruah’s direction style.
The shooting of Opaja
Sonar Mati was over; only three songs at Golaghat were yet to be shot. The
distance between North Lakhimpur (Panigaon) and Golaghat is 615 km; this kind
of location shifting was a task for all. Incidentally, the entire technical unit
had a shooting schedule at Golaghat for the film Mamata. Nalin Duwara, the DoP
of Opaja Sonar Mati, was Mamata’s director. The unit worked for Mamata and then
resumed OSM’s shooting on June 17. They completed the shooting of the three
songs on June 25. Brajen Baruah picturised one song in the paddy fields of
Naharani village. Another neighbouring village, Barua Bamun Gaon, was the
shooting location for another song, with artists from the same village. The
last song demanded a loom and Brajen Baruah found Niru Gogoi's weaving loom
perfect for it.
After the completion of
OSM, the unit worked for Mamata and wrapped up the shooting work with the
picturisation of a song. Brajen Baruah also appeared as an actor in that song.
Nalin Duwara completed the shooting of Mamata on the evening of June 26.
The producer of Mamata
arranged the stay for Brajen Baruah at a forest department guest house at
Golaghat. On June 27, sound engineer Satish Chouhan and makeup artist Jogen Das
went to meet him. Reaching the guest house, they discovered that he was unwell.
Nalin Duwara, the
director of Mamata and cinematographer for most of Brajen Baruah's films,
called in doctors who arrived at the place and took him to a nearby hospital.
At the hospital, Baruah
asked the doctor: “Are you helpless, doctor?”
Those were his last
words.
Late at night, Satish
Chouhan put a spoonful of water in his mouth; the water did not go inside.
Brajen Baruah passed away that night.
Later, Nip Baruah,
Brajen Baruah's younger brother and a reputed film director himself, edited the
film and completed the post-production work. The film went on to win the Rajat
Kamal Award for Best Regional Language Film at the National Film Awards.
First publication|
https://www.incurato.com/the-film-that-brought-electricity-to-a-village
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