Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the relationship of Assamese cinema from the 1930s to the 1970s with the role of the middle class. Through this it seeks to explore the articulation of an “idea” of the nation—both actively through cinematic practice, and retroactively, through the writing about Assamese cinema.

Paper long abstract:

My paper deals with the theme of Assamese regional cinema from the 1930s to the 1970s focusing on two main areas. First, the relationship between the Assamese middle class and the particular effects it has had on the shape on the history of cinema in the region. Secondly, the relationship between the rise of cinema in the state and its relationship with "Assamese modernity" which is closely linked to the aforementioned focus on the middle class and the tension between "nation" and "region". My choice of period spans the rise of Assamese cinema since its inception under British rule, to a key phase in Assamese history when the politics of identity began to take an altogether different, aggressive shape. The middle class becomes central here, because the first crop of Assamese filmmakers arose from this very class, a number of them in fact being connected in some way or the other to the tea plantation industry. In relation to this, the analysis of two genres, the historical/biopic and the social film becomes important since it is in these that the idea of an imagined "nation" is most explicitly articulated. One key area of concern in writing about Assamese cinema is the availability of films itself—a large number of the films produced are lost. Therefore, the existing writing on Assamese cinema falls within the rubric of memorialization, in which the idea of the nation is retroactively constructed through the act of writing about key figures and films.