The Assam Movement (1979–1985) was a popular uprising in Assam, India, that demanded the Government of India detect, disenfranchise and deport illegal aliens. Led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) the movement defined a six-year period of sustained civil disobedience campaigns, political instability and widespread ethnic violence. The movement ended in 1985 with the Assam Accord.
Assamese cinema is the Indian film industry of Assamese language. It is based in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie Joymoti. Since then the Assamese cinema has developed a slow-paced, sensitive style. In the beginning the industry were called Jollywood, for Agarwala's Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio.
Bhabendra Nath Saikia was a novelist, short-story writer, editor and film director from Assam, India. Saikia received his doctorate in physics from the University of London. He began his career as a reader in the Department of Physics, University of Guwahati. He later played an important role in the publication of college level textbooks in the Assamese language during his tenure as the Secretary of the Co-ordination Committee for production of textbooks in regional languages.
Jahnu Barua is an Indian film director. He has written and directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films. Some of his notable films are Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai (1987), Firingoti (1992), Xagoroloi Bohu Door (1995), Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara (2005), Konikar Ramdhenu (2003), Baandhon (2012), and Ajeyo (2014).
Sushma Seth is an Indian stage, film and television actress. She started her career in the 1950s, and was a founder member of the Delhi-based theatre group Yatrik. Her first film was Junoon in 1978. She is known for playing a mother and grandmother role in movies and on television, and notable for her role as Dadi in the pioneering TV soap Hum Log (1984–1985). She received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Ameena Bai in B. R. Chopra's drama Tawaif (1985). She has worked with famous directors like Dev Raj Ankur, Ram Gopal Bajaj, Manish Joshi Bismil and Chander Shekhar Sharma.
Tara was an Indian actress, who has worked in Assamese, Manipuri, Punjabi and Hindi films in a career extending more than 50 years. Her prominent features include Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1988, Banaras - A Mystic Love Story, and Shakuntala, directed by Bhupen Hazarika. She died 19 May 2007 in Gauhati, Assam.
Zerifa Wahid is an Indian actress known for her works in Assamese films. Her prominent features include Baandhon, which won the 60th National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Assamese directed by Jahnu Baruah. and the best film in the Indian Films Competition held at the Bengaluru International Film Festival for the year 2012.
Jatin Bora is an Indian actor and director who has appeared in Assamese language films since 1989. He is also an actor and director in some mobile theatre (Bhramyaman) groups of Assam, including Aabahan, Hengool, Ashirbaad, Bhagyadevi, Kohinoor, Itihas and Surjya.
Sagarika Mukherjee, also known as Saag, is an Indian singer and actress. She sings mainly in Hindi, Assamese and Bengali language songs but has also sung in Tamil and Telugu languages. She is the daughter of singer and composer Manas Mukherjee and granddaughter of lyricist Jahar Mukherjee.
Xagoroloi Bohu Door is a 1995 Indian Assamese language drama film directed by Jahnu Barua. The film was released in 1995.
Renu Saikia was a prolific actress in the Assamese film industry, who later became famous as character actress, appearing in three well renowned films bringing a new change to Assamese cinema and theatre, where she appeared in hits like Maniram Dewan (1963), made by Harbeshwar Chakraborty, Dr. Bezbaruah (1968), made by Brojen Baruah and Ratanlal (1970s). Her other memorable roles were in some well-known stage plays, Kalyani, Joymoti, Nimila Angko, Taxi Driver and Rajpath - one of the most famous drama-act, which made her way towards the Assamese cinema.
Beauty Sharma Barua is a singer from Assam, India. She is one of the best-known and most respected Assamese folk music, Indian classical music, ghazal and bhajan singers of Assam. More popularly known as The Melody Queen of Assam and Beauty Baideu, she has recorded over a thousand songs for All India Radio, Doordarshan, albums and others. She has sung songs in over six regional Indian languages, though primarily in Assamese and Hindi. Beauty Barua married renowned writer and lyricist Dwijendra Mohan Sharma (1948–2006), called the Man with Melody in His Pen by The Daily Telegraph, in 1976.
Niyar Saikia is an Indian actress. She played Lakshmi in Jeffrey D. Brown's film Sold.
Rajni Basumatary is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor from Assam, India. She debuted as a director in 2014 with the Assamese language drama film Raag. The 2019 Boro language film, Jwlwi: The Seed was written, directed and produced by her. It won several awards including the Assam State Film awards for Best Actor (Female) and Best Film in Other Language category, the Jury’s Special Award at Bengaluru International Film Festival 2020, the Jury’s Special Mention at Guwahati International Film Festival 2019, Prag Cine Awards for Best Film in other than Assamese language and Sailadhar Baruah Film Awards for Best Screenplay. Her third directorial film Gorai Phakhri premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2023. It won Best Film at the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival under the Indian Language Films category. She was awarded Best Director at the 6th Sailadhar Baruah Awards. The film won the Gautama Buddha Award for Best Narrative Feature Film at the Nepal International Film Festival. She was awarded the Director's Vision Award at the 21st Indian Film Festival Stuttgart.
Kaal Sandhya is a 1997 Indian Hindi crime drama film dwelling on militancy in Assam, directed by Bhabendra Nath Saikia. The film deals with the theme of the impact of the insurgency on common people. It stars Jatin Bora, Ashish Vidyarthi, Debashree Roy, Nipon Goswami, Pranjal Saikia, Hemen Barman, Munin Barua and Mridula Baruah in the lead roles.
Hiya Diya Niya is a 2000 Indian Assamese romantic drama movie directed by Munin Barua and produced under Pooja Motion Pictures. The music was composed by Zubeen Garg. It was released on 25 February 2000. This film marked Assamese's first film to be shot outside India.
Samarendra Narayan Dev is a national award winner veteran film director. His film career, spanning four decades, has also brought laurels and recognition to Assam. His first independent celluloid depiction, Aranya (1971), was based on the dwindling rhinoceros population in Assam. It brought him the National Award in the best feature film category (regional) in 1971.
The Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) is an annual film festival held in Guwahati, Assam, India. The State Government-owned Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society organised the festival in association with the Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute. The first ever Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) to be held in northeast India, which will be inaugurated on 28 October 2017 by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. The Assam government supported festival began on 28 October with screening of the Oscar winning ‘The Salesman’, directed by Asghar Farhadi and produced by a joint collaboration of Iran and France.
Surjya Kanta Hazarika is an Assamese litterateur, an eminent scholar, author, journalist, poet, publisher, playwright, lyricist, composer, cultural activist, feature film and documentary maker, social worker and philanthropist. Hazarika is a recipient of the Padma Shri Award in 2008 for his contribution to Literature & Education. He is the current president of Asam Sahitya Sabha.
Sandyaraag is a black and white Assamese language film, directed and produced by Bhabendra Nath Saikia. It was released in theatre in 1977. The film was based on a story titled 'Banprastha'. The screenplay and dialogues were written by the director himself. Sandhyaraag was awarded with silver medal for best Assamese film in the 25th National Film Awards. It is the first Assamese film to be showcased in the Indian Panorama.
