The Moving Image and Assamese Culture

Most studies on Indian cinema focus on Bollywood, largely ignoring regional cinema in India which has a long tradition; Assamese cinema, for example, dates to 1935. Exploring the inception of Assamese cinema in the context of Assam's history and culture and its progress up to present times, this book brings to light the doyens of Assamese literature like Lakshminath Bezbarua (1868-1938) and journals such as Orunodoi who/which tried, for the first time, to give the Assamese people a sense of identity. Including rare photographs, newspaper articles, and interviews, the work takes into its purview the political history of the region and the socio-cultural milieu within which the first Assamese film Joymoti was made, providing interesting insights into the thought and philosophy of Jyotiprasad Aggarwala (1903-1951), the pioneer of Assamese cinema.