Filmmaker Bhabendranath Saikia
A story of nature and humanity, rich in beauty and creativity , written on the screen by camera – that is my definition of a FILM. . . Bhabendra Nath Saikia
Part 2
The ‘bug’ of creativity that bit him so early in life upholds two major aspects of his life. He was the kind of person who always was indulgent and lenient to his creative mind . Since childhood he absorbed himself in the magic of the play of light and shade, spent sleepless nights engrossed in watching “Bhaonas” , enrolled in music lessons during his youth, engaged himself in art , associated himself with amateur drama during his days as a Professor , directed mime shows, produced radio programs – all these reflect his search for resources that would satiate the creative mind of his . Filmmaking , was perhaps the other aspect of this search to keep the restless creative genius within him content.
The filmmaker in Dr. Saikia was but a subtle blend of himself as a writer and dramatist. Through his stories, Dr. Saikia portrayed the humane face of the middle class in our society, the manifold emotions of this class- their happiness or sadness, rights and wrongs, fulfillments and losses – all came through his lucid writings in a broad perspective , with a unique style that solely belonged to him. Thus his films like “ Sandhyaraag”, “Anirbaan”, “Agnisnan”, “Kolahol”, “Sarathi” and “Itixakh”, which were based on his own novels, did not fail to bear testimony to his unique style and expression of human emotions in the most purest form even on the big screen. For his films , “ Abartan” and “Kaalsandhya” and short film on Small Savings, he is to be given all credit for writing the script and making these come alive on screen. Another profoundly significant film that he made , “Darpaharan” was based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore .
The films “Sandhyaraag” and “Anirbaan” were scripted almost wholly in a story- centric manner. In these films, he did not deviate away from the story, but from “Agnisnan” , he did not much adhere to his original novel but found new cinematic language to make greater impact on his audience. He did not deviate from his unique subtlety or lucidity , but there was a relentless assertiveness and hard-hitting element throughout the film. Though his original story “Antareep” did have an aspect of rebellion and instinctive anger , yet it kept itself very much within the confinements of conventionalism and was traditionally unadventurous . This anger and assertiveness was however not new to this person , who had expressed it quite clearly in his story “ BaaliBhuj ” , showing that as and when required he would strengthen his grip on the reins of tender emotions and instead accommodate hardheartedness.
Though Dr. Bhabendranath Saikia experimented with the form of a couple of his stories , yet he did not meddle with the basic dimension and clarity of them. But in case of cinema, he strongly changed the expression and demeanor of his stories on the screen, soon after “Agnisnan”. Though the film “Sarathi” was based on his story “Foundation” , yet it was miles apart from the original simple content and definitely was served in a different cinematic platter with an entirely innovative but complex expression and style – which clearly evolved out of the critical analysis of the socio-economic dilemmas in our society. Generally, his stories are simpler forms, and such hard-hitting philosophies of life are not his way of expressing certain dilemmas as such. Once he had forayed into films, his affinity to story writing dwindled in comparison and filmmaking took priority as a form of nourishing and replenishing his restless creative mind.
A significant aspect of Dr. Saikia’s films are the usage of simple language, uncompromisingly based on reality . This in fact was an outcome of his association with radio dramas. Such an aspect led to a great motivation for all actors working in his films, who found themselves at ease with the dialogues. This actually marked the advent of and revolutionized the concept of veracity in acting . The plots and expressions of his films became more complex , but the reality and truthfulness in the acting methods touched newer heights, such that not another filmmaker in the entire nation could successfully put forth such innovation in making the actors portray heart-felt reality in films .
However, the craving for creative innovation, and to stride ahead of his time, was not reciprocated enough by his boldness . This maybe owing to his small town bred attitude ( being born and brought up in the town of Nagaon) or belonging to a family facing certain financial constrains . These feelings are very obvious in his compilation of stories called “ Ei Bondoror Abeli ” . These stories penned down with humour and a free spirit are his best creations , written in foreign soil and with a pseudonym ! Later, when the stories came to be accepted as very successful in the literary world, did he publish them in his real name. Thus, probably if he would have begun his filmmaking career with “Sarathi” in lieu of “Sandhyaraag”, he would have catapulted himself to unbelievable heights .
Though world renowned critics like Derek Malcolm held him in high esteem, yet he was not given due respect and honour that he deserved from the Indian film fraternity. The major reason for this is because he is characteristically a restless creative persona . Being persistent or rather consistently striving to excel in any particular creative arena was as though against his very nature , thus finding great happiness by leaping from one form of creative expression to another. Thereby, films , which behind the screen , require tremendous financial management, perseverance and mental and emotional input, were overlooked in a sense by the maestro or in all probability, he was more indulgent to his restless mind. Or maybe the fortune fairies of filmdom did not smile upon him!
Dr. Saikia’s maiden film “Sandhyaraag was a very extravagant one. Despite of it being not the typical or conventional form of mainstream cinema, yet it was commercially successful . But films that he went on to make later on, though won accolades widely, yet were not as much commercial success as his first film. This situation dates back to the time of “Agnisnan” . The film “Kolahol” never saw a commercial release in the state. The way he had related to the readers of his stories and novels, was not to be seen with his film audience and this led to his dwindling interest in filmmaking. And the final blow to his avid interest in making films was his failing health.
In terms of box office success, he was no more a significant name right after his second venture. But his contribution to Assamese cinema, the revolution and innovation that ushered into Assamese films because of him, made him stand out as the maestro and first exemplary film persona. That a film speaks a global language , that it cannot be confined within the soil of its origin, that it opens doors for the money to flow back in for the investor, are points that were all flawlessly proved by him. And these contributions have been an inspiration to all the self made filmmakers who sought out to make their mark in the global arena as ‘Indian Filmmakers’.
Filmmaking is as honorable as any other form of art is what he believed with heart and soul and has left this belief as a legacy for filmmakers of generation next.
Translated from Assamese original by SIMI DEKA
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Thanks for the article sir! I would have not know about him if not for your articles. Are there DVD’s of his movies that I can get from somewhere? I would need subtitles though
….
Thank you Sarang
Thanks Utpalda….as always you have enriched my life many a times, and this too is no exception…
thanks SIMI, u have always supported me in writing or in other creative attempts, may be in fashion photography which we have started together and it was the first attempt in Assam.