Founding editor | Pabitra Kumar Deka |
---|---|
Categories | Film |
Frequency | Monthly |
Founded | 1975 |
Country | India |
Language | Assamese |
Roopkar was the first Assamese language, tabloid-sized magazine about Assamese cinema, theater and culture. Established in 1975, the magazine was founded and edited by journalist and humor writer Pabitra Kumar Deka. [1] Advisers of the magazine were famous singer & composer Bhupen Hazarika and writer Nirode Choudhury.
The magazine existed till the early 1990s.
Roopkar was published on a monthly basis. [2] It was the most popular entertainment magazine in the Northeast; it also instituted the first popular film awards Roopkar Awards in Assam in 1975. [3]
Many young journalists contributed to the magazine, including Assamese film critic Utpal Datta. The Kolkata correspondent for the magazine was Nitai Ghosh. Besides cultural reporting, writers such as Lakshmi Nandan Bora wrote social novels for the magazine. Bhupen Hazarika and Lakshmi Nandan Bora wrote the columns Anyamat and Brittor Bahirot respectively.[ citation needed ]
In 2025, to commemorate fifty years of publication of Roopkar, the magazine was revived by Prodyut Kumar Deka, son of Pabitra Kumar Deka, who announced it would be published annually as a Special issue.
The Roopkar Award was instituted in 2011 in the memory of its founder Pabitra Kumar Deka. It is given yearly to one distinguished personality in the field of stage, cinema and media. [4] [5] [6] [7]
Roopkar Prakashan, the publisher of the magazine, also published a few books. Roopkar Prakashan was revived in the 2020s. [19]
From 1975 to 1995
From 2020 to Present
On the occasion of 100 years of Indian cinema, Roopkar celebrated the occasion by instituting Roopkar Film Festival (RFF), which was held from April 21 to 23, 2013 at the Rudra Barua Auditorium, Jyotichitrabon Complex in Guwahati where the cinematic heritage of the Indian film industry was showcased. Some of the master pieces crafted throughout the century by some of the tallest figures of the fraternity from Satyajt Rays' Nayak to Ramesh Sippy's Sholay were screened. The festival also published a book on cinema essay titled Chalachitra-Samoi-Samaj-Nandanttwa edited by Utpal Datta for the occasion. [20]
Assamese cinema, also known as Jollywood, 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.
Joymoti is a 1935 Indian film widely considered to be the first Assamese film ever made. Based on Lakshminath Bezbaroa's play about the 17th-century Ahom princess Joymoti Konwari, 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 on 10 March 1935 and marked the beginning of Assamese cinema.
Literature from North East India (Assamese: উত্তৰ-পূৱ ভাৰতৰ সাহিত্য is literature in the languages of North East India and the body of work by English-language writers from this region. North East India is an under-represented region in many ways. The troubled political climate, the beautiful landscape and the confluence of various ethnic groups perhaps have given rise to a body of writing that is completely different from Indian English literature. North-East India was a colonial construct and continues to be one by virtue of having a historically difficult relationship with the Indian nation state.
Raamdhenu is a 2011 Indian Assamese romantic drama film directed by veteran Munin Barua and produced by Pride East Entertainments Private Limited. It stars an ensemble cast of Jatin Bora, Prastuti Porasor, Tapan Das, Utpal Das and Nishita Goswami in the lead roles. The film was released in 24 cinema halls across Assam on 4 February 2011. The music is composed by Jatin Sharma.
Pabitra Kumar Deka was a progressive writer, columnist, publisher and editor of monthly magazine, film critic and screenwriter of the State of Assam in India. He is the winner of the Best Film Critic Award in 1988 from the Eastern India Motion Picture Association. The Government of Assam has instituted the State Best Film Critic Award in the name of Pabitra Kumar Deka Award from 2010 after his death.
Jupitora Bhuyan is an Indian actress works in the Assamese films. She worked in a few Assamese films along with VCD films and telefilms. She is also part of Assamese mobile theatre industry debut by playing lead female roles in Kohinoor Theatre. She is especially known for playing extraordinary character with a powerful appearance.
Ajeyo is a 2014 Assamese language drama film directed by Jahnu Barua; based on the Sahitya Akademi Award winner 1997 Assamese novel Ashirbador Rong written by Arun Sharma and adapted as screenplay by the director himself. It was produced by Shankar Lall Goenka and stars Rupam Chetia and Jupitora Bhuyan in the lead roles. The film was released on 3 January 2014.
The Prag Cine Awards 2014 ceremony, presented by the Prag Network, honored the actors, technical achievements, and films censored in 2013 from Assam and took place on 22 March 2014, at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bangalore, India. Actors duos Kopil Bora and Zerifa Wahid hosted the show. Veteran litterateur Arun Sharma, Kannada film director Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar and Bollywood film actress Mahima Chaudhary inaugurated the event.
The Prag Cine Awards 2013 ceremony, presented by the Prag Network, honored the actors, technical achievements, and films censored in 2012 from Assam and took place on 14 April 2013, at the GMCH Auditorium in Guwahati, India. Bollywood director Kalpana Lajmi, actors Pooja Bhatt, Adil Hussain were present at the event while veteran Assamese actor Pranjal Saikia and Zerifa Wahid hosted the show.
Prodyut Kumar Deka is an Indian film and stage director, screenwriter and author based in Assam. His films include Dhunia Tirutabur (2009), Samiran Barua Ahi Ase (2012), Surjasta (2013), and Borosi (2014).
Munin Barua was an Indian film director in Assamese cinematography. Among his best-known films are Pita-Putro, Prabhati Pokhir Gaan, Hiya Diya Niya, Daag, Nayak and Bidhata. Barua is widely regarded in Assam to have been one of the directors who helped popularize and establish Assamese cinema outside the state, primarily elsewhere in India where other industries had historically dominated. In 2000, his film Hiya Diya Niya became a first 'blockbuster hit' in Assamese cinema, which helped to revive the Assamese film industry. His another film, Dinabandhu received National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Assamese in 2005.
Baharul Islam is an Indian theater actor and alumnus of the National School of Drama, which he joined in 1987. He has acted in more than 80 plays and has designed and directed 30 plays for his theater troupe Seagull. He works as a film actor in Assamese and Hindi cinema.
Aikyatan is a progressive drama group based in Guwahati in Assam founded by humor writer and film critic Pabitra Kumar Deka, historian and former principal of Cotton College Udayaditya Bharali, writer Anil Kumar Deka, noted editor of Assamese daily Asomiya Pratidin Nitya Bora and others in 1976. It has produced many memorable plays like Janani, Surjastak, Panchatantra, Sinhasan Khali, Hewers of Coal, Upahar, Night of January 16, and A Doll's House. The play Night of January 16th directed by National award-winning film director Sanjeev Hazarika was also performed for Guwahati Doordarshan on the occasion of World Theatre Day on 27 March 1990.
Biswajeet Bora is an Internationally acclaimed National award winning Indian film director, producer, writer and editor based in Mumbai. His directorial debut was in 2015 with Aisa Yeh Jahaan, India's first movie to be carbon neutral during production. His film God on the Balcony (2020) won nine awards, including the Royal Bengal Tiger Trophy for Best Director at the 26th Kolkata International Film Festival and the German Star at the Indian Film Festival Stuttgart. Boomba Ride (2021) was one of six Indian films shown at Marché du Film during the Cannes Film Festival 2022. His film Boomba Ride (2021) won the 69th National Film Awards for Best Mishing language film. He also works as a script consultant for a government institution.
Samakalin was a progressive Assamese magazine published from Guwahati in the 1960s. It served as a platform for emerging writers and engaged with the socio-political discourse of Assam during that period. The magazine was published by Pabitra Kumar Deka, Amal Barua and Gobinda Chandra Gogoi, all employees of Assam Tribune group of newspapers.
Chalachitram National Film Festival (CNFF) is a festival conducted in Guwahati, Assam. The festival director is Utpal Datta, a National Film Award-winning film critic and film maker.