indian cinema heritage foundation

Badan Barphukan (1947)

  • Release Date15/04/1947
  • GenreBiopic
  • FormatB-W
  • LanguageAssamese
Share
936 views

Badan Barphukan, the fourth Assamese film, was scripted and directed by Kamal Narayan Choudhury and produced by Eastern Movies Ltd. Guwahati.  Released on 15th April, 1947, the film was based on the Ahom history of Assam, and focused on the character of Badan Chandra Borphukan who was considered a traitor in the history of Assam. He betrayed the Ahom kingdom by inviting the Burmese to invade Assam. The Ahom king Purnananda Burhagohain sent some officials to arrest Badan who was thought to be one of the conspirators to assassinate the king. But Badan, aware of the impending danger, fled to Bengal and later met the Burmese King Bodawpaya. Badan sought help from the king to retaliate against Purnananda Burhagohain, and accordingly, he along with a huge troop under the command of Burmese general Bhamo, attacked Assam. This was the first Assamese film which takes its theme and title from a negative character in Assamese history. Nirod Roy and Sushant Moitra did the cinematography, and editing was done by Kamal Ganguli. Gour Goswami did the music for the film. It featured Kamayakhya Nath Thakur, Debawala Chaliha, Sarbeshar Chakraborty, Lakshadhar Choudhury, Ramesh Choudhury, Sarat Das, Prem Saikia, Charu Bordoloi, and many other actors. The film ran consecutively for two weeks at the Rupshree Talkies, Guwahati. An advertisement was inserted in the Assamese newspaper which requested the audience to get tickets in advance.