Joymati
Encyclopedia
Joymati released on 10th March, 1935, was the first ever Assamese film. Based on Lakshminath Bezbaruah's play on the 17th century story of Sati Joymati
, the film was produced and directed by the noted Assam
poet Jyotiprasad Agarwala, and starred Aideu Handique
and acclaimed stage actor and playwright Phani Sarma
. The film was shot between 1933 and 1935, and released by Chitralekha Movietone in 1935, which marked the beginning of Assamese cinema
.
Joymati is the first Assamese film to be screened at US. Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMC) of Northwestern University in Evanston, Los Angeles, has invited Joymati for its 50th international conference to be held from March 17 to 21 next year.
Although never a commercial success, the film was noted for its political views and the use of a female protagonist
which in Indian cinema at the time was almost unheard of.
Partly lost today, it is the third talkie and the first "realism" and political film in Indian cinema. The film has been restored in part by Altaf Mazid.
, the film recounts the sacrifice of Joymati
, a medieval Ahom
princess
who was tortured and killed by the evil Borphukan
for refusing to betray her husband. The event is interpreted in contemporary patriotic terms and calls for a greater harmony between the people of the hills and the plains. The hills are represented by the leader Dalimi, a Naga tribeswoman who shelters the fugitive Prince Gadapani.
, learning film-making. After reaching Assam, he decided to make his first film. He established Chitraban Studios at Bholaguri Tea Estate. Two camps were established: one near the Manager's Bungalow for the female artists and the other near the tea factory for the male artists. Tea was manufactured in the day, and at night artists performed rehearsals. The artists were also made to perform physical exercises to keep them fit.
A special property room was constructed, in which Jyoti Prasad Agarwala collected traditional costumes, ornaments, props, hats, etc. This became a virtual museum. Technicians were brought from lahore. Ice was transported from Calcutta for developing the film.
The film was taken to Dhaka for editing, when he discovered that there was no sound for half the film. Due to various constraints he could not collect the artists from their native places. He hired a sound studio and dubbed the voices of all male and female characters. On a single day he recorded six thousand feet of film.
prince Gadapani. During the purge of the princes from 1679 to 1681 under King Sulikphaa (Loraa Roja) instigated by Laluk Sola, Gadapani took flight. At various times he took shelter at Sattras and the adjoining hills outside the Ahom kingdom.
Failing to trace Prince Gadapani, Sulikphaa's soldiers picked up his wife Joymati. Despite brutal and inhuman torture, the princess did not reveal the whereabouts of her husband. After continuous torture for several days she expired.
Joymati's self-sacrifice bore fruit later. Laluk was murdered in November 1680 by a disgruntled body of household retainers. The ministers were now roused to a sense of patriotism, they made a search for Gadapani. Gadapani gathered strength came back from his exile in Garo hills to oust Sulikphaa from the throne. Joymati knew that her husband was the only person who could end Sulikphaa-Laluk terror rule. For her love and supreme sacrifice for her husband and the country, folk accounts refer to her as a Sati.
. At Guwahati
it was screened at Kumar Bhaskar Natya Mandir, the only cinema house with sound in the entire Assam. The film was not well received, and it suffered a huge financial loss.
region of North-East India
. Joymati carried the bright possibility of a film-tradition. The significant similarities with the Russia
n montage, reflect an element of influence. The film is noted for its constantly changing camera angles, the unique sets, and other stylistics tactics, assembled from the imagination of Jyotiprasad in his film debut. His poetic
and artistic demeanor can clearly be seen in this pioneering film.
which was owned by the Agarwalla family. Named as ‘Chitraban’, the studio was built using local materials such as wood, bamboo
and banana
stumps. The set was artistically designed by Jyotiprasad himself using bamboo mats, japis of different sizes, deer
horns, buffalo horn
s, and Nāga
spears. To decorate the Ahom royal court, he utilized various royal utensils such as maihang, hengdang
, bhogjara, sarai
, bata, sariya and banbata. He also imported a Faizi sound recording system from Lahore
and the first camera into Assam
from Mehta of Kolkata
.
The film unit arrived at Bholaguri Tea Estate to commence filming in December 1933 and camped in front of the garden factory. Jyotiprasad made all the accommodation arrangements
and set up a laboratory for developing film by the side of his ‘Chitraban’ studio.
According to Natasurya Phani Sarma, who enacted an important role in the film, Chitraban was not only a film studio, but acted more like a film training institute. Apart from acting, Jyotiprasad taught the actors the different techniques of filmmaking such as film developing, processing, printing
and editing
, whilst revealing his sound knowledge of different film shots like mixed shot, fade out, zoom
, dissolve, back projection and model shooting. The 17th century costumes used in the film 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, but was initially delayed as director Jyotiprasad could not at first find a suitable girl to play the role of the heroine of the film or several other members which would be suited to the role. Jyotiprasad floated newspaper advertisements for actors and actresses, mentioning brief outlines of the film and descriptions of the characters. His idea was to get ‘types’ for his characters, not seasoned artists, even offering remunerations for successful candidates. One of his preconditions was that potential actors needed to be from ‘respectable’ family backgrounds, as opposed to those from red-light areas that had been used during the 1930s in Calcutta. After a prolonged search and detailed interviews, he discovered Aideu Handique
to play the role of Joymoti in a remote village near Golaghat
, who became the first actress of Assamese cinema
. He then brought together the other chosen actors to acquaint them with his characters, few of which had ever even seen a film. He sought out a film-making trio, Bhupal Shankar Mehta and the Faizi Brothers, from Lahore as cameraman and sound-recordists.
During filming, due to the rainy season developments in the filming process were inhibited, and he had to suspend shooting for several days due to insufficient light with no electricity
. Shooting was done under sunlight by using reflectors. When the rain stopped, the banana stumps used to build the Ahom court dried under the sunlight yet filming continued only by fastening japis in those places. Nevertheless filming was eventually completed in August 1934 and released in early 1935 after Jyotiprasad used his editing skills to structure the film.
, another famous Assamese director to conduct the long documentary, Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad aru Joymoti in 1976, in which the reels were incorporated. The documentary saved the reels of films which have been copied and remastered.
Sati Joymati
Joymati was the wife of Ahom prince Gadapani. She is known as Sati Joymati because she endured torture and died at the hands of royalists under Sulikphaa , which enabled her husband to rise in revolt and become the king himself. Her son Rudra Singha had Joysagar dug at the spot where she was...
, the film was produced and directed by the noted Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
poet Jyotiprasad Agarwala, and starred Aideu Handique
Aideu Handique
Aideu Handique is the first film actress of Assamese cinema. She starred in the film, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's Joymati . She remained unmarried because she called her co-actor Bongohordeo in the film.-References:...
and acclaimed stage actor and playwright Phani Sarma
Phani Sarma
Phani Sarma was an Assamese theatre actor, playwright, film actor and director. Beginning as a stage actor, he appeared in the first film ever made in Assamese cinema, Joymati...
. The film was shot between 1933 and 1935, and released by Chitralekha Movietone in 1935, which marked the beginning of Assamese cinema
Assamese cinema
Assamese cinema is cinema in the Assamese language, watched primarily in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie Joymoti...
.
Joymati is the first Assamese film to be screened at US. Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMC) of Northwestern University in Evanston, Los Angeles, has invited Joymati for its 50th international conference to be held from March 17 to 21 next year.
Although never a commercial success, the film was noted for its political views and the use of a female protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
which in Indian cinema at the time was almost unheard of.
Partly lost today, it is the third talkie and the first "realism" and political film in Indian cinema. The film has been restored in part by Altaf Mazid.
Plot summary
Set in 17th century AssamAssam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, the film recounts the sacrifice of Joymati
Sati Joymati
Joymati was the wife of Ahom prince Gadapani. She is known as Sati Joymati because she endured torture and died at the hands of royalists under Sulikphaa , which enabled her husband to rise in revolt and become the king himself. Her son Rudra Singha had Joysagar dug at the spot where she was...
, a medieval Ahom
Ahom kingdom
The Ahom Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India...
princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
who was tortured and killed by the evil Borphukan
Borphukan
Borphukan was one of the five patra mantris in the Ahom kingdom, a position that was created by the Ahom king Prataap Singha. The position included both executive and judicial powers, with jurisdiction of the Ahom kingdom west of Kaliabor river...
for refusing to betray her husband. The event is interpreted in contemporary patriotic terms and calls for a greater harmony between the people of the hills and the plains. The hills are represented by the leader Dalimi, a Naga tribeswoman who shelters the fugitive Prince Gadapani.
Background to Joymati
On his way back from England, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala spent about 6 months at the UFA StudioUniversum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
, learning film-making. After reaching Assam, he decided to make his first film. He established Chitraban Studios at Bholaguri Tea Estate. Two camps were established: one near the Manager's Bungalow for the female artists and the other near the tea factory for the male artists. Tea was manufactured in the day, and at night artists performed rehearsals. The artists were also made to perform physical exercises to keep them fit.
A special property room was constructed, in which Jyoti Prasad Agarwala collected traditional costumes, ornaments, props, hats, etc. This became a virtual museum. Technicians were brought from lahore. Ice was transported from Calcutta for developing the film.
The film was taken to Dhaka for editing, when he discovered that there was no sound for half the film. Due to various constraints he could not collect the artists from their native places. He hired a sound studio and dubbed the voices of all male and female characters. On a single day he recorded six thousand feet of film.
Plot background
Joymati was the wife of the AhomAhom Dynasty
The Ahom Dynasty ruled the Ahom Kingdom in present-day Assam for nearly 600 years. The dynasty was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains...
prince Gadapani. During the purge of the princes from 1679 to 1681 under King Sulikphaa (Loraa Roja) instigated by Laluk Sola, Gadapani took flight. At various times he took shelter at Sattras and the adjoining hills outside the Ahom kingdom.
Failing to trace Prince Gadapani, Sulikphaa's soldiers picked up his wife Joymati. Despite brutal and inhuman torture, the princess did not reveal the whereabouts of her husband. After continuous torture for several days she expired.
Joymati's self-sacrifice bore fruit later. Laluk was murdered in November 1680 by a disgruntled body of household retainers. The ministers were now roused to a sense of patriotism, they made a search for Gadapani. Gadapani gathered strength came back from his exile in Garo hills to oust Sulikphaa from the throne. Joymati knew that her husband was the only person who could end Sulikphaa-Laluk terror rule. For her love and supreme sacrifice for her husband and the country, folk accounts refer to her as a Sati.
Film reception
The film was released on 10 March 1935 at Raonak Theatre and was inaugurated by Laxminath BezbaruaLaxminath Bezbarua
Lakshminath Bezbaruah was a great Assamese personality in Assamese literature. He gave a new impetus to the Assamese literature that had stagnated for some time and enriched it through his essays, plays, fiction and poetry. As a sensitive artist he responded to the influences of social environment...
. At Guwahati
Guwahati
Guwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India...
it was screened at Kumar Bhaskar Natya Mandir, the only cinema house with sound in the entire Assam. The film was not well received, and it suffered a huge financial loss.
Overview
Joymati, is a study into the visual culture and history of the AssamAssam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
region of North-East India
North-East India
Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...
. Joymati carried the bright possibility of a film-tradition. The significant similarities with the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n montage, reflect an element of influence. The film is noted for its constantly changing camera angles, the unique sets, and other stylistics tactics, assembled from the imagination of Jyotiprasad in his film debut. His poetic
Poetic
Poetic may refer to:* Poetry, or a relation thereof.* Too Poetic, a deceased rapper and hip hop producer....
and artistic demeanor can clearly be seen in this pioneering film.
Filming Joymati
For indoor shooting of the film, Jyotiprasad set up a studio at Bholaguri Tea Estate, near GohpurGohpur
Gohpur is a town and a town area committee in Sonitpur district in the Indian state of Assam.It is one of the famous historic places of Assam where the famous freedom fighter Kanaklata Barua born.-Geography:...
which was owned by the Agarwalla family. Named as ‘Chitraban’, the studio was built using local materials such as wood, bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
stumps. The set was artistically designed by Jyotiprasad himself using bamboo mats, japis of different sizes, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
horns, buffalo horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
s, and Nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
spears. To decorate the Ahom royal court, he utilized various royal utensils such as maihang, hengdang
Hengdang
The Hengdang is a single edged sword with a long handle used by the Ahoms in India. The handle and the scabbard were designed in gold, silver or wood, according to the position of the person. It is similar in many ways to the samurai sword or katana. It has ceremonial use today in the Ahom wedding....
, bhogjara, sarai
Sarai
-Places:*Saraj , an historic estate in Resen built by Ahmed Niyazi Bey*Bal-Sarai, a village in Amritsar District of Punjab, India*Sarai , the capital city of the Golden Horde*Saraj municipality, a municipality in Greater Skopje, Republic of Macedonia...
, bata, sariya and banbata. He also imported a Faizi sound recording system from Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
and the first camera into Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
from Mehta of Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
The film unit arrived at Bholaguri Tea Estate to commence filming in December 1933 and camped in front of the garden factory. Jyotiprasad made all the accommodation arrangements
and set up a laboratory for developing film by the side of his ‘Chitraban’ studio.
According to Natasurya Phani Sarma, who enacted an important role in the film, Chitraban was not only a film studio, but acted more like a film training institute. Apart from acting, Jyotiprasad taught the actors the different techniques of filmmaking such as film developing, processing, printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
and editing
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, whilst revealing his sound knowledge of different film shots like mixed shot, fade out, zoom
Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...
, dissolve, back projection and model shooting. The 17th century costumes used in the film 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, but was initially delayed as director Jyotiprasad could not at first find a suitable girl to play the role of the heroine of the film or several other members which would be suited to the role. Jyotiprasad floated newspaper advertisements for actors and actresses, mentioning brief outlines of the film and descriptions of the characters. His idea was to get ‘types’ for his characters, not seasoned artists, even offering remunerations for successful candidates. One of his preconditions was that potential actors needed to be from ‘respectable’ family backgrounds, as opposed to those from red-light areas that had been used during the 1930s in Calcutta. After a prolonged search and detailed interviews, he discovered Aideu Handique
Aideu Handique
Aideu Handique is the first film actress of Assamese cinema. She starred in the film, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's Joymati . She remained unmarried because she called her co-actor Bongohordeo in the film.-References:...
to play the role of Joymoti in a remote village near Golaghat
Golaghat
Golaghat , which was one of the largest subdivisions of Assam later, elevated to the position of a full-fledged district of Assam on 15 August 1987, is the headquarters of Golaghat district and is a sister town to Jorhat which is about 55 km away....
, who became the first actress of Assamese cinema
Assamese cinema
Assamese cinema is cinema in the Assamese language, watched primarily in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie Joymoti...
. He then brought together the other chosen actors to acquaint them with his characters, few of which had ever even seen a film. He sought out a film-making trio, Bhupal Shankar Mehta and the Faizi Brothers, from Lahore as cameraman and sound-recordists.
During filming, due to the rainy season developments in the filming process were inhibited, and he had to suspend shooting for several days due to insufficient light with no electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. Shooting was done under sunlight by using reflectors. When the rain stopped, the banana stumps used to build the Ahom court dried under the sunlight yet filming continued only by fastening japis in those places. Nevertheless filming was eventually completed in August 1934 and released in early 1935 after Jyotiprasad used his editing skills to structure the film.
Cast
- Phanu Barua
- Aideu HandiqueAideu HandiqueAideu Handique is the first film actress of Assamese cinema. She starred in the film, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's Joymati . She remained unmarried because she called her co-actor Bongohordeo in the film.-References:...
- Mohini Rajkumari
- Swargajyoti Datta (later married and changed to Swargajyoti Barooah and became to be known with the name thereafter.)
- Manabhiram Barua
- Phani Sarma
- Sneha Chandra Barua
- Naren Bardoloi
- Rana Barua
- Shamshul Haque
- Rajen Baruah
- Putal Haque
- Pratap Barua
- Rajkumari Gohain
- Subarnarekha Saikia (As Kheuti)
- Lalit Mohan Choudhury
- Banamali Das
- Prafulla Chandra Barua
- Kamala Prasad Agarwala
Film rediscovered
After the Second World War the film was almost forgotten and lost, but in the early 1970s, Jyotiprasad’s youngest brother, Hridayananda Agarwalla, found seven reels of the lone print of Joymoti while cleaning the junk out of his garage. Jyotiprasad’s film venture had cost his family’s tea garden huge losses and had placed his family in difficulites. The condition of the reels was one of near-depletion, but his brother Hridayananda Agarwalla hired Bhupen HazarikaBhupen Hazarika
Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam. His songs,written and sung mainly in Assamese by the legend himself, are infused with humanity and universalism, and have been translated and sung in many languages, most notable being Bengali ,Hindi and...
, another famous Assamese director to conduct the long documentary, Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad aru Joymoti in 1976, in which the reels were incorporated. The documentary saved the reels of films which have been copied and remastered.