One of the smallest film-producing regions, Assam, is in the extreme north east of India and its 20 million inhabitants speak Assamese and Bengali. The region is little known to the rest of India because of its remoteness. It depends heavily on agriculture and the only industries are tea and oil and such conditions were unfavourable to the birth of cinema, because filmmaking is an industrial activity. Warmth and idealistic, Assamese films speak directly to the heart. The issues are wide-ranging but underlying it all are the beautiful hills of Assam and the creative spirit of the people.
 1935 - Joymati: Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, who drew on historical and literary sources to depict the tragic patriotism of a princess, produced his first film. Along with this he also portrayed the parallels with the situation of disorder and disharmony unleashed by the British rule on the people of Assam for aligning themselves with the National Movement. The first Assamese film, this was shot in a studio on the Bholaguri tea-estate. The film starred Phanu Barua, Asaideo Handige, Mohini Rajkumari, Phani Sarma, Sneha Chandra Barua, and Shamshul Haque.
The story of the seventeenth century princess Joymati - she is murdered by her villainous Prime Minister for not acceding to his demands. With his very progressive style Jyoti Prasad Agarwala founded the Assamese talkies. He refused theatre-like acting and created a very modern style of cinematography inspired by the Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov. However, the Assamese audience didn`t appreciate Agarwala`s film. Although not a commercial success, it is notable that at a time when the Bombay cinema was producing mythological films, Joymoti was about an historical event.
1948 - Biplabi: Directed by Asit Sen, the film starred Anupama Bhattachrya, Chandra Phukan, Rani Nath and Jagat Bezbaruah. The film dealt with the theme of nationalism and sacrifice. The technical quality of the film set it apart from other films of the genre.
Siraj: Directed by Bishnu Rabha, the film starred Phani Sarma, Bishnu Rabha, Chandradhar Goswami, Bhupen Hazarika, and Anupama Bhattacharya. The theme of communal peace is explored here - a good-hearted Muslim brings up an orphaned Hindu. This was Bhupen Hazarika`s debut film. The noted composer and actor remade the film in 1988, but it lacked the immediacy of the original.
 1955 - Era Bator Sur: Directed by Bhupen Hazarika, the film starred Phani Sarma, Bishnu Rabha, Bijoy Shankar, Anil Das, and Chhaya Devi. The Assam tea gardens are the setting for this love story : a researcher and a flautist fall in love with the same woman. The researcher steps aside because he believes the flautist`s art to be indispensable. The film focuses on the tea gardens and the folk music of the workers.
This was Bhupen Hazarika`s first film as director.
1969 - Dr Bezbarua: Directed by Brojen Barua, the film starred Nipon Goswami, Brojen Barua, Meghali Devi, Tarun Duara, Ranjana Bordoloi, and Sadhan Hazarika. - A crime thriller - notable for having been made with local technology and resources.
1971 - Aranya: Directed by Samarendra Narayan, the film starred Biju Phukan, Vidya Rao, Tasadduf Yusuf, Beena Barwati, and Bishnu Khargaria. - A film on the inhuman cruelty and the local corruption involved in the poaching of the one-horned Assamese rhinoceros at Kaziranga sanctuary.
1973 - Banaria Phool: Directed by Atul Bordoloi, the film starred Biju Phukan, Ela Kakoti, Chandra Narayan Barua, Makhan Khaund, Naemuddin Ahmed, and Golap Datta. - A film on the love between a tribal woman and a geologist. The music by Bhupen Hazarika and Bordoloi`s direction set the film apart.
1974 - Bristi: Directed by Deuti Barua, the film starred Biju Phukan, Bishnu Khargaria, Ela Kakoti, Deuti Barua, and Rudra Goswami. Three friends and their different approaches to life and love - one is reticent, another idealistic, while the third proposes marriage to an elderly woman. Barua, a playwright, received wide acclaim for the unusual script.
1975 - Ganga Chiloner Pankhi: Directed by Padum Barua, the film starred Beena Barwati, Basanta Saikia, Basanta Duara, Mohini Rajkumari, Bipul Barma, and Bhola Kakoti Political affiliations determine a woman`s life - she is forced to marry against her wishes, is widowed, and defies her family only to be rejected by the one she has loved all along. The film, set in the period following India`s Independence, was made over a period of ten years.
 1977 - Sandhya Raag: Directed by Bhabendranath Saikia, the film starred Runu Devi, Arun Sharma, Maya Barua, Ishan Barua, Aarti Barua, Kashmiri Saikia, Purnima Pathak, and Ananda Mohan Bhagwati. Cultural differences between city and village life are depicted in this story of two sisters who come to the city as domestic help. Returning to the village when of marriageable age, they are unable to adapt to their former home. The elder sister returns to her employers and marries their impotent chauffer. Her mother and sister arrive soon after. The film was director Saikia`s debut and marked by realism.
1975 - Chameli Memsaab: Directed by Abdul Majid, the film starred George Baker, Binita Gohain, Hadi Alam Bora, Abdul Majid, and Master Rajib. A tea estate manager finds himself accused of murder for his wife`s suicide. The director achieved fame with this film, and Bhupen Hazarika`s music and lyrics won awards.
1985 - Agnisnan: Directed by Bhabendranath Saikia, the film starred Malaya Goswami, Biju Phukan, Arun Nath, Sanjib Hazarika, Nilu Chakraborty, Ashok Deka, and Kashmiri Barua. A mill-owner brings home a second wife - the first wife asserts her right to freedom on an equal footing. The unusual story and ending as well as the self-confidence of the first wife made this film very special indeed.
1991 - Surya Tejor Anya Naam: Directed by Dinesh Gogoi, the film starred Mihir Bordoloi, Alok Nath, Violet Nazir, and Mridul Sutiya. The political turmoil of the state is the subject of this film, the first to clearly deal with the topic.
Apart from these films there are also the other ones that have created waves in the Assamese cinema industry, with its unusual storyline. A number of films (Badan Barphukan, 1948; Lachit Barphukan, 1960; Maniram Dewan, 1963) made from the 1940s to the 1960s were about personalities who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the Indian Freedom Movement. Bhupen Hazarika`s, Pratidhwani (The Echo) 1964, won him the President`s Silver medal for the best film in Assamese. Based on a popular legend of the Khasi people, it tells the story of a poor shepherd boy and his love for a girl whom the hill King takes as his concubine. The film ends tragically with the shepherd boy being burnt alive.
The films produced since the 1970s include Sandhyaraag (Evening Song, 1977), Sankalpat (Line of Conviction, 1986), Juge Juge Sangram (Decades of Struggle, 1986) and Sutrapat (The Beginning, 1987). Most are about village life versus city life (Sandhyaraag) or about the Assam agitation which took place between 1979 and 1985. Both Sutrapat and Juge juge Sangram are about justice for the Assamese people and the causes of the agitation.
Land disputes in rural Assam (Halodhia Choraya Baodhan Khai, The Catastrophe, 1978) and environmental concerns (Banani, Forest, 1989) are of considerable concern to the Assamese. Some of the films make only oblique references to the political issues. However, Gogoi`s Surya Tejor Anya Naam (Sun is the Other Name of Blood) launched in 1991, is about the cause of independent Assam.
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