Tezpur/Guwahati, Jan. 15: If the numerous fans of Assam’s cultural icon Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla are attracted towards the Rupkonwar by his films, verses and songs, than there is “virtual reality” on the worldwide web to fire their fascination. A website, www.rupkonwar.net, on the poet-lyricist-filmmaker was inaugurated today in Tezpur, two days ahead of a grand function in Guwahati to mark his birth centenary celebrations.
That’s not all. Sonitpur deputy commissioner Ariz Ahmed said the district administration would request Delhi University to introduce research work on the doyen of Assamese art and culture. The portal, developed by the Padma-Hriday Sangharshan Sangrahalaya, will be launched on January 17, the birth anniversary of the icon, which is observed as Silpi Divas every year. The sangrahalaya is working on promoting and preserving the works of Agarwalla.
Hridayananda and Padma Agarwalla, younger brother and sister-in-law of Rupkonwar, have provided the photographs and the personal papers put up in the portal. Lambodar Hazarika, an artiste of repute, inaugurated the website.
Ahmed said the portal would project in right earnest the “true picture” of the legend who made the first Assamese film Joymati. Bhupen Hazarika,Dilip Sarma, Sudakshina Sarma, Bibhu Ranjan Choudhury and Jnanashri Pathak, daughter of Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla, are expected to attend a grand function, organised by the Assam chapter of the Indian People’s Theatre Association, at Judges Field in Guwahati on Friday to mark Rupkonwar’s 100th birth anniversary. More than 20 cultural troupes from across the state and West Bengal’s “Dogra” group will perform at Judges Field.
Sixty-seven years after Agarwalla braved tremendous odds to make Joymati, plans are on to recreate the legend of the Ahom martyr as tribute to the cultural icon. The film, released on March 10, 1935, was based on a story by Sahityarathi Lakhsminath Bezbaruah.
The state government has pitched in with plans to “activate” 38 centres of the cultural department spread across the state. All the officers in-charge have been directed to send an artiste each from their locality for proper training on Jyoti Sangeet in Guwahati. The government is also planning to make a documentary on Agarwalla’s life.