Assam is definitely the birth place of some of the most talented people in the film industry today. Though the total number working is handful, but the ones working have made their own unique mark and has been amongst the most successful ones, though least talked about. One such name the popped out all of a sudden amongst the people is, Adil Hussain.

Hussain came into lime light with his role in Agent Vinod, where he shared the screen alongside some of the big names of the industry, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. However, his latest achievement is “The Life of a Pi”, which has been listed the best movie of the year so far by almost all of the film critiques around the globe. Indeed a proud moment for the people of Assam.

Adil actually is not new with the industry nor is his achievement list so short. It’s just that he is very less talked about. An acting graduate from the National School of Drama, New Delhi, he completed his further training at Drama Studio London. Trained under the accomplished and well known hands of Khalid Tyabji and Shaupon Boshu, Hussian came to be better known as a Stage Actor in India when he was internationally acclaimed for his performance as Othello in Roysten Abel's production of 'Othello- A play in Black and White' which was awarded a Fringe First in 1999.

It is also interesting to note that he played some key roles in some TV soaps, once of such was “Jaasos Vijay”, which telecasted by DD National. He made an entry into Bollywood through  'Ishqiya' and then in 'Agent Vinod'. His recent flick alongside Sridevi in her comeback, ‘English Vinglish’ has also been critically acclaimed and liked.

Here is his Imdb record as an actor:

Actor (17 titles)

2014Sunrise (pre-production)
Joshi

2012Blemished Light (filming)

2012Life of Pi
Santosh Patel

2012English Vinglish
Satish Godbole

2012The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mustafa Fazil

2012Agent Vinod
Colonel

2011Lessons in Forgetting
Jak

2010Tequila Nights (TV movie)

2010Gangor
Upin

2010Ishqiya
Vidyadhar Verma

2009For Real
Ravi Shukla

2009Kaminey: The Scoundrels
Flight Purser

2004Iti Srikanta
Srikanta (as Adil)

2003Jasoos Vijay (TV series)
Jasoos Vijay (2003)

2003In Othello
Adil / Othello

2003/IButterfly (short)
Aadam

2003Rasikan Re (short)

Currently based in Delhi, Adil has showed what a small town boy can do with his will power. Born in the small town of Goalpara in Lower Assam, Adil has surely made the whole Assam and Assamese Proud.

(Source: IMDb)

There is no doubt in the fact that rock is in the blood of Assamese, and North East. However, seldom we get international exposure, as rock music, in fact the base of contemporary English music in India is very weak.

North East has been the birth place of some real rockers of the country, which includes the name of Lu Majau, Jim Ankan etc. These rock stars are very well known in the Musical circuit of the country or region, but comparatively less famous amongst the lame public. 

And sometimes it happens so that their contribution or achievement remains unsung or are allowed to get lost in the passage of history.

Today here we talk of one such Proud Son of Assam, who has made a mark in the international level. He is a real rock star and his achievements are just milestones for the Indian Rock Music Community. 

This rocker is known as Joshua Queah. Back in 2009, he was in the news as he made it to the finals of Sutasi, a contemporary Asian music TV talent show hosted in Singapore. Joshua, who hails from Guwahati, was one of the four finalists in the ‘solo’ category from South Asia.

Music has always been the first love for this youth and he is the first ever musician from the northeast to reach the finals of this premier South Asian musical competition. This competition is also called as Euro-Asiatic, which searches talents from South Asia, East Asia, and South-East Asia.

I have been lucky enough to have met him numerous number of times at my guitar school, and every time he has fascinated me with his singing as well as guitar skills. Once I remember, he came in running and snatched my guitar and started singing Arabic or other song, which was just mesmerising. He had this unique capability of singing in different accents and languages. A mark of a true rock star.

Have a peak in to his performance in the following video from Sutsai, which I am sure would impress you to the peak.

He is surely one of those great Assamese who has made the land and its people proud. 

Bollywood actually has very few Assamese names, and probably due to lack of fluency of speaking Hindi, there haven't been any on-screen superstar from Assam. However everything is movies is about being on-screen and there are pains and hard work of a lot of people technically associated with a movie. From camera man to the spot-boys, every one has equal contribution in making it a blockbuster. But all of them remains quite unnoticed and very few actually get the credit for their work. 

In a movie, apart form the stars and their acting, the very next thing people look for is its music and background score. Can we imagine a Bollywood Tadka without Songs and music backdrop; no never. The singers and the music director are not far behind the on screen stars in taking credit and fame for their work. But there remains one such person, who's work is always been appreciated, but rarely is asked about. And he is the one who designs the sound for whole of the movie. Form action sequence to death, every scene is equally justified by the work of the sound engineer or designer. He is one who is also to be credited for the success of the movie.

If we look at the sound editing history of all the major Bollywood successes since the year 2003 till date, we find the name of an Assamese associated with it. Though his name became household when he assisted the Oscar winning sound designer of Russal Pukutty, in Danny Boyle's super hit Academy Awards winner 'Slumdog Millionere', but long before that he had already established his name in the Industry.

Born in Jorhat, Assam, Bollywood might have been a dream for Amrit Pritam Dutta, but some dreams come true. Who might have thought that a lad form the North East would be receiving Filmfare and IIFA award for his precious contribution to the Industry and splendid composition. Amrit Pritam graduated in Physics from JB College, Jorhat and later joined Jyoti Chitaban, Guwahati in the year 1999 for a three months course. There he got his first break in an Assamese movie. During his three-year stint in Jyoti Chitrabon, Amrit got to learn a lot from teachers like Farooq Iqbal, national award winner from Kolkata Anup Mukherjee, and others. Having got a strong base here in Guwahati, he then decided to move out and try his luck in the city of dreams – Mumbai. Accordingly, in the year 2002, he and his friend Debojit Changmai packed their bags and set out to follow their dreams.

Amrit Pritam’s first break came about in 2003 with Karan Johar’s Kal Ho Naa Ho where he got the chance to work with stars like Shahrukh Khan, Preeti Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, and the like. And since then there has been  no looking back for him. The IMDb record of Amrit Pritam clearly shows the mark of his influential and brilliant work. Have a peek in the movies he have worked: 

Gandhi of the Month (sound designer - sound designer) (post-production)

201010ml LOVE (sound designer) (completed)

2011Ra.One (sound designer)

2010Pappu Can't Dance Saala (sound designer)

2010Walkaway (sound designer)

2010Khichdi: The Movie (sound editor)

2010Endhiran (sound designer)

2010Prince (sound designer)

2009Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi? (sound editor, sound effects editor)

2009Fatso! (sound designer - sound designer)

2009/IBlue (sound designer)

2009Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (sound designer)

2009The President Is Coming (sound editor)

2008Ghajini (sound designer)

2008Slumdog Millionaire (production sound mixer)

2008Mithya (sound editor, sound effects editor)

2008The Fakir of Venice (sound editor)

2007Saawariya (sound editor)

2007Manorama Six Feet Under (sound editor)

2007Gandhi, My Father (sound editor, sound effects editor)

2006Kya Tum Ho (sound designer - as Amrit Pritam)

2006Bombay Skies (short) (assistant sound mixer)

2006Omkara (sound editor, sound effects editor)

2006Mixed Doubles (sound editor - as Amrit Pritam)

2006Zinda (sound design editor: Fire Fly's Post Studios - as Amrit Pritam)

2005Bluffmaster! (dialogue editor - as Amrit Pritam, sound editor - as Amrit Pritam)

200515 Park Avenue (sound editor - as Amrit Pritam)

2005Dreaming Lhasa (location sound, sound editor)

2005My Wife's Murder (sound editor, sound effects editor)

2005The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (sound editor)

2005Black (foley editor)

2005Amu (foley editor)

2004Musafir (sfx editor)

2004The King of Bollywood (assistant sound editor)

2004Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... (assistant sound editor)

2004Masti (dialogue editor)

2004Ab Tak Chhappan (sound editor)

2003Maqbool (assistant sound editor - as Amrit Pritam)

2003Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women (assistant sound editor)

2003/IBoom (sound editor)

(Source: www.imdb.com)

Russal and Amrit

Isn't this remarkable. It is indeed a great job done by this young Assamese lad, and now have been also rewarded for his excellent job. Ghajini brought him an IIFA award while Slumdog Millionaire went on to win a Global Globe and eight Oscars, including one for best sound mixing. 

While he got the Flimfare, while he bagged the IIFA award again for SRK flick Ra.One. Its feels great to see Assamese dominating the industry, and after the likes of Reema Kagti, we have guys like Amrit to carry the legacy of the state. We wish him all the luck and success for future. 

It is quite fascinating to note that Reema Kagti, an Assamese is behind the success of many Bollywood flicks. This quite well know personality of the Bollywood has made the Assamese community immensely proud by making some of the best known  personalities of the country work under her and achieving considerate success in almost each of her ventures. Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. is the best known work of Reema till date, but apart from that she has made numerous contributions to the Bollywood which many of us have not known. This behind the screen 'Queen' of Bollywood has some solid considerate contribution to the industry which will definitely fascinate many of us. According to IMDb, an International Movie Database, her works are:

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director (6 titles)

2011Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (second unit director)

2004Vanity Fair (second assistant director: India)

2004Lakshya (first assistant director)

2001Dil Chahta Hai (second assistant director)

2001Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (second assistant director - as Reema Katgi)

1998Bombay Boys (third assistant director)

Writer (3 titles)

2012Talaash (post-production)

2011Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (story and screenplay)

2007Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.

Director (2 titles)

2012Talaash (post-production)

2007Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.

 Actress (1 title)

2008Rock On!! 

     

Isn't the track record interesting. How many of us knew her contribution to the Industry? See the important jobs she has handled. She is surely someone who has made us proud. A very good fried of the Zoya Akhtar, she is the one who has been given the credit of making Farhan Akhtar act.

Her family is not connected to films at all, despite the fact that her grandfather once part-produced a film. "I never met my grandfather, who died before I was born. Since then, my family has had no association with films, which is probably why my father was very concerned when I told him I wanted to do films," says Reema.

She tried to get into Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), but was rejected thrice. Determined to get into the movies, Reema decided to do her internship (part of her course in college) under a filmmaker instead of a television production house. Through her contacts, she met Rajat Kapoor , who said he would be happy to take her on. But he had one condition -- that she would work with him not just for a month, but do the whole film.That is how Reema landed her first assignment -- Private Detectives. There has been no looking back. The turning point in her career came with Ashutosh Gowarikar's Lagaan

Her forthcoming venture with superstar Ammir Khan is all set to hit screen this year. Hopefully it turns out a hit and make us even more proud. Wishing her all the best. 

Assam has been the birthplace of many far-fetched writers. From Bhavendra Nath Saikia to Indira Goswami, all of them has acclaimed immense national acclamation. The rich Assamese literature has been well retained by the likes of Anuradha Sarma Pujari to Rita Choudhury. But people have been saying that Assamese are the master in the own language, and that has probably been their reason for a lesser amount of International recognition. Though nationally the writers have been honoured to the highest, yet they fail to mark a name in the common Indians heart, excluding the Assamese. Hard fact but true.

But the trend seem to have changed a bit now, Assamese writers have stared to change the trend and started writing in internationally recognized standard and have broken the trend of merely achieving excellence in their own language. One thing is mush share is that, Assamese people are very good with English. A recent survey in Times of India suggested that Assamese are the second most successful in TOEFL, an international English test globally, even surpassing the English People. Today here I write about Jahnavi Barua, an Assamese writer based in Bangaluru,who has been short-listed for Man Asian Literary Prize 2011 for her book Rebirth, competing amongst the likes of Amitav Gosh in the fray. This is indeed something to be proud of for all the Assamese out there.

Jahanavi moved to Bangalore 17 years ago, to study medical and writing happens to be accidental for her. She won a short fiction story competition organized by Unisun Publication and British Council in 2005 and since then there has been to turning back. She has been writing in with North East being her back drop. "Next Door Stories" was a collection of short stories from Assam published by Penguin India. 

She admires Assam and North-East a lot and in spite of living in Bangalore, she is a regular visitor to Assam. A doctor by profession, Jahnavi Barua has made Assam really proud and we must hope that she wins the Man Asian Literary Award 2011 and Brings proud to the state. Wishing her all the luck and success. 

We often fail to realize the beauty of a simple object event around us. We tend to ignore them until some highly creative individual brings out that beauty in front of us and make us realize the value of it. Those creative persons, who lend us a new vision to look into the beauty or make us sense the real taste of beauty must really be thanked.

Our Assam is a wonderland no doubt, with spellbound beauty and scenery. And every simple thing in Assam is a source of intoxicating wonder. And this beauty is enhanced by two photographers from the State Vikramjit Kakati and Himujjal Jibon Sarma. All those who are quite active in the Social media regarding Assam must have surely seen or rather appreciated the awesome clicks of these two.

These two individual have really made me fall in love with the beauty of my home state. They are into a great work which is really helping to portrait Assam as an wonderland in front of  a nation where people only associate the name of the state with Insurgency. As said by John Keats

  "A Thing of beauty is a joy forever"

Indeed you can realize the importance of this lines once if you have a glance at their work. I am so very much proud and appreciate their work that I should definitely dedicate a post of my Blog to these to talented individual. They have done an wonderful job and of course been appreciated by a lot. But no doubt they deserve more. Both have depicted the beauty of Assam using lens in natural setting as well as humanistic setting. From the beauty of the green fields of villages to the busy roads of the city. Each and every picture has a story to tell. Surely a wonderful job.   All my friends out there in this big web please have a look at the work of these artist and I am sure you will surely like them . There are numerous proud sons of out state who have been into selfless effort in making the state proud, enhancing beauty and identity of  the state in national and international arena. Those people must be saluted, and such are both. Most of their pictures have in selected to represent Assam in Google Earth. Just have a glimpse at the work of both, I bet it will a treat to your eyes:

 

A Picture of Assam By Vikramjit Kakati

This picture is surely make you feel haven in Assam. Another here is by  Himujjal Jibon Sarma

Add caption

.     I will try to put a lot more information about this two awesome photographers very soon. This is just a small token of thanks for their wonderful job. Please help the spread the beauty of Assam all throughout.

I committed to write about those people who have made Assam Proud.