Jnanada Kakati, sitting, with movie director Bobbeeta Sharma to her proper and scriptwriter Jimoni Choudhury behind her. Photo: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A brand new documentary has traced the “unplanned” cinematic journey of Assam’s first announcer for All India Radio in 1948.
Jnanada Kakati stepped unintentionally into the world of cinema at a time when working in movies was taboo for girls in Assam. Her first movie in 1949 was Parghat.
Her movie Puberun directed by Prabhat Mukherjee was chosen for screening on the Berlin International Film Festival in 1960 the place she was invited as a particular visitor.
“When I received the letter of invitation to the Berlin Film Festival, I was so excited that I ran wearing my Hawaii chappals to my husband’s office to give him the news. I was almost out of breath and my husband had to give me a glass of water to calm me down,” Ms Kakati, 90, remembers within the biographical movie titled Jnanada: Reflections of Light and Shade directed by Bobbeeta Sharma.
The distance she lined from her residence in Shillong’s Oakland to her husband’s workplace within the Assam Secretariat was about 1 km. Shillong was then the capital of undivided Assam.
Her function in Puberun garnered appreciation in Assam and overseas and former Chief Secretary, Dharmananda Das, and Finance Minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed – he grew to become India’s President later – ensured her journey to Berlin.
Ms. Kakati was the first Assamese actress to obtain the President’s silver medal from President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1960 for her work in Puberun.
Apart from turning into the first announcer at AIR’s Shillong and Guwahati stations, she was an accredited singer for the nationwide radio and sang many standard songs.
“I interviewed Jnanada Kakati for my book, The Moving Image and Assamese Culture in 2012 but it was not in video format. With Assamese cinema close to turning 90 (now in its 88 th year), I felt the rich experience of veterans like the nonagenarian needed to be documented for posterity,” Ms. Sharma stated.
The documentary additionally options Atanoo Baruwa and Ruma Sarma. The former was Ms. Kakati’s reel son in Puberun and the latter, standard as Baby Ruma, had acted together with her in two extra movies moreover Puberun – ‘Saknoiya’ and ‘sorapat’.
Among the opposite co-actors featured within the documentary are former matinee idol Pranjal Saikia. He shared display area with Ms. Kakati in Priyajon and Raag Biraag.
Veteran actress Aroti Barua inaugurated the movie for a particular screening on March 19. Ms. Sharma can be the manager producer of the movie together with Chinmoy Sharma. The movie has been edited by Ravindra Badgaiyan, scripted by Jimoni Choudhury, packaged by Bhabesh Baishya and shot by Sharad Kumar Verma.
