Talking democratically
North East News Agency

PRADEEP Gogoi was one of the six youths who formed the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) on April l7, 1979 at Sivsagar to establish a ‘sovereign, socialist Assam’ through armed struggle. Pradeep Gogoi was arrested by the West Bengal police in Kolkata in 1998. Now he is faced with numerous charges and attending hearings of his cases in the TADA court at Guwahati. It has become a part of life for him. He is one of the five ULFA top leaders whose release the outfit is demanding as a pre requisite for peace talks. He is now troubled with rheumatoid arthritis and spondilytis but hasn’t lost any of his fire. He talked briefly about the ULFA and its present stance during one of his recent court appearances.  “We are thankful to the people for their support. They must have the courage to keep it up. A solution cannot come overnight, one must be patient.’’  “The ULFA is not ready to accept any new demand raised by the Government of India. We will stick to what was discussed and accepted between the PCG and the Govt of India during the talks held on June 22 at New Delhi regarding the release of five ULFA leaders as a pre requisite for talks.’’  “The formation of the PCG has created a new environment. The ULFA must be lauded for this move of involving the civil society.’’ “The ULFA today is in diplomatically upper hand position. The credit for this goes as much to the organisation as to the common people.’’ “There no question of me/us going underground/abscond, if released. I/We cannot betray our own people.’’ “The question of releasing the ULFA leaders is not an issue but an absolute necessity — no big decision can be taken by anybody in the organisation without passing/ratification of the Central Committee.’’  “It is imperative that the talks are held. Once on the table, then many things can be discussed ——many options can be played with.’’ “The Army has become very corrupt. The officers of the Army are just working for their vested interests. I appeal......and as Vice Chairman of the organisation also warn the Army to mend its ways.’’ “We feel bad if innocent lives are lost. But we never target innocents intentionally.’’ The dream of a sovereign Assam is feasible. Every citizen of Assam should have the resolution, mentality and courage to fight for their rights. I am fully confident that our issue will come to a settlement in a democratic manner.’’

The celluloid vision Despite being completely blind, Gunashindhu
Hazarika gives a new dimension to filmmaking by directing a full fledged feature film.
North East News Agency

IF going to the moon is a feat, then this is no less. Gunashindhu Hazarika of Assam shall be ever known for giving a new dimension to filmmaking by directing a full fledged feature film despite being completely blind. Since his very childhood, Hazarika had this penchant for cinema. His school education was even hampered for his interest in films. He ran away from home in the late 50’s from his home to carve out a career as an actor. Like every such glitz eyed youth having romantic ideas of the film world and dreaming to hit it big there, Hazarika had his sharp confrontation with reality in the tinsel town. He had to sell pens in footpaths, work in hotels and dhabas, sleep at roadsides, sell country made liquour in some of the dark streets of Bombay (then) at night and even go to jail briefly for selling tickets of ‘matka’ (an illegal gambling game, popular in Mumbai and Maharashtra). But even all this didn’t deter him. His efforts bore fruit when he got a break as a child artist in Raj Kapoor’s “Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai”. According to Hazarika, Raj Kapoor was impressed by him and would have given him a bigger role but his average Hindi speaking ability came in the way. 1960 to 1969 was a period of great struggle for Gunashindhu.

For days together he had to survive on bread and bananas in Mumbai. In 1962-63, Sarbeshwar Chakraborty, a renowned director of Assam at that time, was making the film “Maniram Dewan”. Seeing the mettle of Gunashindhu, he was given the chance to work as the Asst Director in this production. This became a great turning point in his life and brought him back from Bombay. But he again returned back to Bombay in 1965.  This time, Roshan Bharadwaj, another acclaimed Bollywood director gave him chance to work as Asst Director in Hindi feature film “Yeh Khoon Layega”. Gunashindhu says that working in this production finally made him to shift his intention to direction as career from his earlier goal of becoming an actor. This was followed by even working as Asst Director for the Bhojpuri film “Gori”.  For the whole decade of the 1970’s to 1980 , Gunashindhu carved out a niche for himself working as Asst and Associate Dir.

for many successful Asomiya films like “Sandhya Raag’’ , “Lalita’’, “Niyoti’’ , “Nayanmoni’’  etc. It was during the editing of Nayanmoni in Calcutta (then) in 1981 that Gunasindhu met with an accident that resulted in losing his eyesight forever. But his dedication  and fighting qualities scaled new heights when even after completely losing his vision he directed the remarkable Assamese feature film “Abuj Bedona’’ in 1990. He even composed the lyrics and the screenplay of this film. This film became the first feature film from Assam to be screened at the International Children Film Festival. It was telecast in India and abroad with sub titles and won critical acclaim. In 1989, Hazarika also contributed as Technical Advisor for the film “Jooj’’ that won the Rajat Kamal Award at the 38th National Film Festival held in Delhi in 1990.  For his outstanding work in the field of cinema, Hazarika was also conferred the Assam Shilpi Divas Award in 1991.

The recogtion and love and aff ection he has received are taken by this great director as a reward for his ‘sadhana’ (dedication) and ‘sangram’ (struggle). It is still a matter of great mystique and awe to many in this region, the film fraternity of the country and even abroad as to how Hazarika could direct such a high quality film, being completely blind.  “Even without eyes, I can visualise the whole unit and set, given my years of experience. Following my orders, my technical hands take care of the technical aspects. I pay my attention to composition and dialogue delivery. The dialogue delivery of the actors gives me a clear image of the expressions that are brought up. The feelings from the heart are important to visualise anything in totality. This has helped me visualise things even in total blindness’’, says Hazarika. Hazarika also is passionate about ‘shairies’. He has now a collection of 400 shairies and it is still growing. “There came a time when my shairies became my world.......otherwise I would have gone mad. He intends to publish his book of shairies by 2010. The name of this compilation would be ‘’Najara’’, revealed Hazarika.

But this does not mean that Hazarika has dissociated himself from filmmaking altogether. His dream project is titled “Chetana’’, which he desires to make in Asomiya, Bengali and Hindi. The script is ready and Hazarika has already prepared the music of this film from Mumbai. He is just searching for a good producer to produce and finance his film.

Hazarika spends much of his time today at his simple house in downtown Guwahati. They do not have sight in them, but Hazarika’s eyes tell a story of their own. Looking into the distance, they seem to be contemplating as to how to culminate an unfinished work. “My life has been a unique. It has been a struggle that few would be able to imagine. I do not know what lies in the future.’’ The great filmmaker signs off with a shairi of his own:— Baaji Haarte Aaya Baaji Haarte Aaya Aaya Nahin Woh Aakhree Dao Bujhayegi Jaroor Apni Kismet Jala Hua Manki Puranee Ghao.

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