With the coming of sound in India in 1931, the rise of the major studios like Prabhat Film Company, Bombay Talkies, the New Theatres have played a significant role in the development of Indian Cinema. The themes of the key films in 1930s like Devdas (1935) of The New Theatres, Amar Jyoti (1936), Aadmi (1937) of Prabhat Film Company and Achut Kanya (1936) of Bombay Talkies have displayed a major shift from mythological to social issues.
Jyotiprasad Agarwala, trained at UFA, Berlin, and who submitted a film script The Dance of Art at UFA in 1930, an English translation of his own Assamese play Xunit Konwari, heard of Himansu Rai (1892-1940). The creative destiny of Himansu Rai inspired Jyotiprasad to submit his script of XunitKonwari . Rai went to Munich, Germany in 1924 to convince Peter Ostermeyer's Emelka Film Company to produce his ambitious project The Light of Asia. When Emelka agreed to produce, it became history as The Light of Asia (1925) was the first Indo-German co-production film. They went on to produce Shiraz (1928) and A Throw of Dice (1928-29) with typical Indian themes and settings.
UFA rejected Jyotiprasad’s script of The Dance of Art showing the reason that his story dealt with stereotyped Indian scenes and characters, and it would be risky to deal with such a production. If the script would have been accepted by UFA, undoubtedly The Dance of Art would have created another history in Indian cinema like The Light of Asia .
Back to Assam in 1930, Jyotiprasad set the foundation for Assamese cinema by establishing an impoverished film-studio at Bholaguri, on the bank of the river Balijan, a remote place, almost 300 km away from Guwahati. Named as Chitraban , the studio was set up in the midst of the lush green view of Bholaguri Tea Estate, owned by his family. It was a concrete platform, large in size with open-air enclosure of bamboo mats and banana stumps. It was the first open air studio established in India. They named the production company as The Chitralekha Movietone . The studio, equipped with laboratory and sound recording facility, was inaugurated by Jyotiprasad’s father late Paramananda Agarwala in 1934.
Instead of engaging with the stereotype mythological themes, Jyotiprasad chose the drama Joymoti Konwori , by the eminent littérateur of Assam, Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa for his film. His first Assamese film Joymoti , and also the first in North East, paved a way for the next generation filmmakers. Protagonist Joymoti’s silent but strong protest against the cruelty of the puppet king Lora Roja reflected how the apparently voiceless can have strong resistance. Moreover, the royal maid Seuti, veiled in man’s apparel, was riding on the horse and fighting with the enemy which suggests female power.
A scene of the shoot of “Joymati”
The film Joymoti was premièred on 10 March 1935 in the Rounak Mahal, Calcutta. Lakshminath Bezbaroa inaugurated the film, and the guests like Pramathesh Barua, Prithviraj Kapoor, Kundanlal Saigal, Devika Kumar Basu, Dhiren Ganguli, Phani Majumdar were present.
Jyotiprasad carefully chose non-professional actors for his film. He said: “The picture as contemplated will be a new move in India. No professional actors and actress are recruited. All artists are scrupulously searched and discovered and only 'types' are selected following the Russian method.”
The setting of the film had to be designed showing the 17th century Ahom royal palace. Jyotiprasad himself designed the Ahom royal palace with bamboo and banana stem. Japi, made of tightly woven bamboo or sometimes cane, is predominantly used in the film – in the walls of the royal court – symbolically representing Assamese people’s cultural heritage. Assamese traditional symbols like xorai and banbota made of bell metal and brass are also predominantly used.
Symbol of eternal beauty
Jyotiprasad used Krishnasur (Krishna versus demon) dance in the opening scene of Joymoti. Jyotiprasad comments in an article titled “Why the dance of Krishna-asur” : “ Krishna is the symbol of eternal beauty of human civilisation. Demon is the ugly face of social evils. There is a continual clash between these two forces on the path of human progress.
In Joymoti – an unusual clash between culture and social evil is highlighted. On one hand, power hungry, war-monger, atrocious Laluk Barphukan who proceeded to celebrate political achievement with his evil designs and inundated the entire State with his lawlessness and injustice and, on the other hand, Joymati, the unique symbol of the State’s cultural power that stood up to counter this single-handedly.’
Thanu Ram Borah, who played the role of Asur in the Krishnasur dance, recollected: “Jyotiprasad told me to dance in a very limited place and asked me to move my eyes with open mouth coming in front of the camera.” In an extreme close up shot, the Asura is seen moving his eyes. Jyotiprasad himself said: “I saw an actor moving his eyes in a German film for the first time and probably, I would see it in my film for the second time.”
A typical Naga village with hills was constructed in Kharghuli of Guwahati, and one song with Dalimi was enacted there. After Kharghuli shooting, while returning to Bholaguri through the Brahmaputra river, Jyotiprasad was fascinated with the magical reflection of sunshine on the water and he instantly composed the song ‘ Luitore Pani Jabi O boi/ Xandhiya Luitor Pani Xunuwali. ’. Later, he incorporated it in Joymoti.
Joymoti has become a film text that has been widely discussed in the academic level, and Jyotiprasad Agarwala of Chitralekha Movietone like other Indian filmmakers –V. Shantaram P.C. Barua and Himanshu Rai – pioneered the growth of Indian cinema.
