Documentary film on Assam's Islamic heritage

June 30, 2015

New Delhi, Jun 30: Key aspects of Islamic heritage in Assam, such as formation of the Muslim community, invasions and post-invasion settlements and migrations during the time of Ahom kings have been showcased in a new documentary.

Islamic heritageDirected by Abdul Majid, the film is part of a project by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) under its 'Aqeedat ke Rang series' administered by the Indian Institute of Technology - Guwahati.

The script written by Abu Nasar Saied Ahmed is part of his research entitled "Islamic Heritage in India's North East: Assam and Manipur."

The film looks at the life-cycle events of Sufi saints, Islamic institutions, creative heritage, folk songs and creative traditions in Assam.

Made in English, the film is a shorter version of five episodes, each about 22 minutes duration of a larger documentary which has been arranged in a thematic order.

In addition to the five episodes, a separate documentary has been made on Islamic Heritage in Manipur to cover the Manipuri Meitei Muslims, known as Pangals.

Scriptwriter Ahmed says, "There was a seminar in 2006 by IGNCA under the auspices of Aqidat Ke Rang series where I presented a paper on Azan Faqir, a 17th century Sufi saint, composer of devotional songs, zikirs, in Assamese and also stated that the Assam has a rich Islamic heritage which needed to be explored.

"The academic work was entrusted to me and a few weeks later I got a proposal to make a documentary on the subject," he says.

Ahmed roped in well known director Majid and started the twin tasks of academic project and documentary in November 2010 which was completed in October 2012.

The documentary focuses on Muslims in Assam which through interface and interaction of the community with the local non-Muslims facilitated by inter-marriage, harmonious understanding among communities, and peaceful convergence of Islamic culture added to the folk tradition of Assam.

In addition the liberal Vaishnava tradition in conjunction with the Sufi tradition offered unique opportunities to the Muslims to identify and integrate themselves into local lifestyles and build a harmonious customary and liberal Islamic heritage.

"The film depicts the rich and diverse customary Islamic heritage, which has been shaped by the interface and interaction of the Muslims with the folk tradition of Assam, where two broad streams flowed the Assamese in the Brahmaputra Valley and the Bengali in the Barak Valley.

"This a pioneering work and tells clearly about the liberal and tolerant Islam, a tradition which deserves attention, promotion and protection," says Ahmed.

The filmmaker says he now plans to make a documentary on the songs of Muslims in the Brahmaputra and the Barak Valley. "I have a plan to make a documentary film on the folk and devotional songs of the Muslims in the Brahmaputra and Barak Valley, if I get a modest grant from a funding organisation," he says.

In addition, Ahmed has also completed the screenplay of a film "Bagh Hazarika," who fought against the Mughal invasion in 1671. "I have already completed the screenplay of movie, 'Bagh Hazarika', whose actual name was Ismail Siddiqi, who fought against Mughal invasion in 1671 led by the General Ramsingh.

Bagh Hazarika was one of the trusted assistant of Lachit Barphukan, the legendary Ahom General, who defeated Ram Singh, one of the Generals of Emperor Aurangzeb, in the famous battle of Saraighat. Abdul Majid is set to direct a full-length Assamese film on the subject.

The project is likely to start in January 2016. The voiceover of the documentary has been rendered by Kapil Bora, a noted Assamese film personality while the editing has been done by Kaju, a well-known film editor, assisted by Jumi, extracting the most striking glimpses of the heritage of the Muslim community in Assam in the Barak and the Brahmaputra Valleys from a video footage of 24 hour duration.

Bibhu Ranjan Choudhury, a noted music personality, associated with the IPTA, has chanted the Azan for the documentary.

The documentary film was screened recently at the IGNCA here, IIT Guwahati, Gauhati University and in Guwahati city and have recieved accolades from film critics, experts, historians and Islamic scholars.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 7,2020

Srinagar, Feb 7: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the release of the movie 'Shikara' which is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.

The film which hit theatres today has Vidhu Vinod Chopra at the helm and narrates the story of the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 that forced lakhs to flee their homeland almost overnight following a genocidal campaign by militants.

Shot primarily in the Valley, the movie is being promoted mainly as a journey of love between the lead couple.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 20,2020

Mumbai, May 20: Doing his bit to help people in need during the ongoing coronavirus crisis, and the lockdown 4.0 phase, Bollywood actor Salman Khan has initiated ''Being Haangryy''- food truck facility to distribute, provide ration to needy.

To feed the affected people in Mumbai, the food truck with the words ''Being Haangryy'' written on it, was seen in Mumbai roads on Wednesday, where volunteers are providing huge bags of ration. A long queue of people was standing near the truck to get the essentials.

Many videos of the truck moving around the city providing ration kits to the people in need, surfaced on the internet from earlier this month.

However, the Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor has not announced this initiative himself on his personal social media accounts.

The Sultan actor is staying at his Panvel farmhouse with his nephew Nirvaan Khan and other family members ever since the lockdown was announced.

Earlier, the 54-year-old actor urged people to take up the ''Anna Daan'' challenge and donate to the underprivileged ones who are worst affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.

After urging people to take up the ''Anna Daan'' challenge, the actor posted a video on Twitter, that features him and Iulia Vantur, Jacqueline Fernandez among others loading the bags filled with ration on to a truck.

Khan actively posts videos on his social media handles to raise awareness about the importance of social distancing during COVID-19.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

@jacquelinef143 @vanturiulia @rahulnarainkanal @imkamaalkhan @niketan_m @waluschaa @abhiraj88

A post shared by Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) on

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Going down the memory lane, late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's close friend and actor Rhea Chakraborty recalled her memories with the departed actor as Rajput's untimely demise completed one month on Tuesday.

This marks the 'Jalebi' actor's first social media post dedicated to Rajput after his demise.

Chakraborty took to Instagram to post two pictures of herself with the 'Kai Po Che!' actor and complimented the post with a long emotional note.

She began the note by stating how she is "still struggling" to face her emotions and said that she will never come to terms with the actor's demise.

"Still struggling to face my emotions.. an irreparable numbness in my heart. You are the one who made me believe in love, the power of it," she wrote.

"You taught me how a simple mathematical equation can decipher the meaning of life and I promise you that I learnt from you every day. I will never come to terms with you not being here anymore," she added.

Terming Rajput as the "greatest physicist," the 'Mere Dad Ki Maruti' actor then recalled Rajput's passion for astrophysics.

"I know you're in a much more peaceful place now. The moon, the stars, the galaxies would've welcomed "the greatest physicist "with open arms," Chakraborty wrote.

Full of empathy and joy, you could lighten up a shooting star - now, you are one. I will wait for you my shooting star and make a wish to bring you back to me," she added.

Remembering the bond that she shared with him, Rhea wrote, "You were everything a beautiful person could be, the greatest wonder that the world has seen. My words are incapable of expressing the love we have and I guess you truly meant it when you said it is beyond both of us."

"You loved everything with an open heart, and now you've shown me that our love is indeed exponential," she added.

The 28-year-old actor ended the note by stating how she will love Rajput for a "lifetime."

"Be in peace Sushi. 30 days of losing you but a lifetime of loving you....Eternally connected. To infinity and beyond," she wrote.

Chakraborty and Rajput were close friends and were also set to share the screen space in the film 'Happy Anniversary.'

Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14. The investigation in the case related to Rajput's demise is currently underway for which Chakraborty was also interrogated by Mumbai Police.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.