Jyotiprasad Agarwalla, the architect of modern Assamese culture and literature will remain immortal in our society as ‘the father of Assamese cinema’. He ventured to make the first Assamese film Joymoti when there were no basic amenities to produce a film in the state. He shouldered all risks and gave the Assamese people the taste of cinema in the early part of the last century. He was the producer, director, script writer, lyricist, music director, art director, choreographer, costume designer and editor of the film. With his individual effort, the making of Joymoti itself is an adventurous story.

For indoor shooting of the film, Jyotiprasad set up a studio at Bholaguri Tea Estate, near Gohpur which was owned by the Agarwalla family. Named as ‘Chitraban’, the studio was built using indigenous materials like bamboo,wood and banana stumps. The set was artistically designed by Jyotiprasad himself using bamboo mats, japis of different sizes, deer horns, buffallo horns, Naga spears etc. To decorate the Ahom court, he used various royal utensils such as maihang, hengdang, bhogjara, sarai, bata, sariya, banbata, lota etc. appropriately. He imported a Faizi sound recording system from Lahore and a camera from one Mehta of Kolkata.

The film unit arrived at Bholaguri Tea Estate in the month of December, 1933 and camped in front of the garden factory. Jyotiprasad made all arrangements for fooding and lodging for every member of the unit at a temporary shed. He, alongwith the female members of the unit stayed at the garden bungalow during the shooting period. He also set up a laboratory for developing film by the side of his ‘Chitraban’ studio.

As described by Natasurya Phani Sarma, who enacted an important role in the film, Chitraban was not only a film studio, but it was more a film training institute. Apart from acting, Jyotiprasad taught the actors the different techniques of filmmaking such as film developing, processing and printing, editing etc. He also gave them lessons of different film shots like mixed shot, fade out, fade in, dissolve, back projection, model shot, trick shot etc. The constumes were designed by Jyotiprasad and the make-up was done by the actors themselves, assisted by Sonitkowar Gajen Borua.

The shooting at the Chitraban studio started in April, 1934 after Bohag Bihu. It was delayed because Jyotiprasad could not at first find a suitable girl to play the role of the heroine of the film. After a relentless effort and search, he discovered Aideu Handique to play the role of Joymoti in a remote village near Golaghat. He brought her to Bholaguri to act in front of the camera with the promise of showing her the steamer on the Brahmaputra. But now, the weather stood as an obstacle in the shooting of the film. As the rainy season had already started, he had to suspend shooting for a number of days due to insufficient light. It is worth mentioning here that there was no provision of electricity in the temporary studio. Shooting was done under sunlight by using reflectors. Sometimes a shot was left half-done due to the pouring rain. When the rain stopped, the banana stumps used to build the Ahom court were dried in the sun. But Jyotiprasad went on shooting the film by fastening japis in those places. Overcoming all obstacles, Jyotiprasad completed the shooting of his maiden film on the auspicious day of Janmastami in the month of August.

Situated about 10 km west of Gohpur, Bholaguri today looks deserted, bearing the nostalgia of its glorious past. Once owned by Jyotiprasad, the ownership of the garden passed on to the Assam Tea Corporation in 1978. The garden, where Jyotiprasad laid the foundation stone of Assamese cinema some 70 years ago, today lies abandoned. The bungalow, where Jyotiprasad composed the music of the first Assamese film on his organ, still stands in the same place, but in a dilapidated condition. While the entire state is celebrating the birth centenary of this illustrious son of Assam, not a single function has been held at Bholaguri where he translated the immortal story of Joymoti into celluloid. Under the aegis of a number of organisations, the celebrations got underway in a befitting way in every nook and corner of the state, but not even a simple function has been held at Bholaguri. No individual or organisation has time to remember Bholaguri Tea Estate where Jyotiprasad translated his long cherished dream into reality.

Courtesy: The Assam Tribune (2002)