Swargajyoti Barooah

Joymoti (1935) : The First Assamese Film.

• Report rights infringement
• published: 04 Jul 2013
• views: 56952

Joymati (Joymoti, surviving version) Direction: Jyotiprasad Agarwalla Assamese/1935/B&W;/58 mins Video surviving version, 2004: Altaf Mazid Synopsis: In the late 17th century, a boy-king ruled the Ahom dynasty of Assam. But the executive power over the whole administration was vested on the Prime Minister. Owing to the presence of a large body of princes, each of whom was a positive material for insurrection, no king could sit on the throne safely. The Prime Minister, therefore, instituted search for the suitors to capture and kill them, or let off after mutilating thereby banning them for succession. The principal target of massacre was Godapani, a man of personal - vigor and energy. But Godapani became aware of The Prime Minister's design and fled to the Naga hills. Unable to trace Godapani, the army led by, one Gathi Hazarika, came upon his wife Joymoti. Gathi inflicted tortures on her to elicit the much sought-after information. She stuck to plea of ignorance, and replied to the increasing tortures by silence and patience. She breathed her last in the midst of torture. The film appears to have followed the ideals of Soviet realism of cinema of the 1920s. The acting is lifelike, realistic and many sequences are of documentary quality. These characteristics make the film a landmark work in the history of Indian cinema. About producer-director: Jyotiprasad Agarwalla (1903-51) was a poet, dramatist, lyricist, writer, essayist and composer but above all a thinker. He fought actively for India's freedom, and was jailed twice. He had attended the UFA studio in Berlin in 1930 to make him familiarised with the process of filmmaking. He established an improvised film studio in his family tea garden, to produce the first Assamese film, Joymoti (Joymoti, 1935). His other film is Indramalati (Indramalati, 1939) The print of Joymoti and the present surviving version: The complete print of JOYMOTI is lost but about 60 mins of found footage has been incorporated in a documentary, Rupkuwar Jyotiprasad Aru Joymoti (Assamese, 1976) dedicated to the life and work of Jyotiprasad Agarwalla. Altaf Mazid has reconstructed the footage in video format (November 2004) so as to give the film a near-similar shape of its surviving version. Editing and sub-titling are also done by him with the help of Prof. Pardiap Acharya.This surviving version had its international premier in the film festival of 'Bollywood and Beyond' of Stuttgart in 2006. Subsequently it was screened in Asiaticafilmidale (Encounters with Asian Cinema) of Rome 2007, Munich Film Festival 2007, and Asian's Cinefan of Delhi 2008. Also it was presented in the 50th anniversary international conference of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) of North Western University, Los Angeles, and the historic home of "Hollywood" film and television industries in March 2010. Camera: Bhopal Shankar Mehta Sound: Faizi Brothers Cast: Phanu Barua, Aideu Handique, Mohini Rajkumari, Swargajyoti Barooah,Manabhiram Barua,Phani Sarma, Sneha Chandra Barua, Naren Bardoloi, et al. Joymoti or Joimoti (Assamese: জয়মতী), released on 10 March 1935, was the first Assamese film made. Based on Lakshminath Bezbaoa's play about the 17th-century Ahom princess Soti Joymoti, the film was produced and directed by the noted Assamese poet, author, and film-maker Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, and starred Aideu Handique and acclaimed stage actor and playwright Phani Sarma. The film, shot between 1933 and 1935, was released by Chitralekha Movietone in 1935 and marked the beginning of Assamese cinema. Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joymoti_(1935_film)