Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia was a well-acclaimed novelist, Assamese film director and short story writer. Born on 20th February, 1932 at Nagaon he was a popular personality in the field of Assamese culture and literature. Bhabendra Nath Saikia’s contribution towards Assamese films and literature is noteworthy and his literary work as well as films offers a clear view of the village life of Assam. He won several national Awards for his films as well as Sahitya Academy and Padma Shri for his contribution towards Assames culture and literature.
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| Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia |
Dr. Saikia completed his high school education from Nagaon in the year 1948 the Intermediate examination in Science in the year 1950 and secured first division. He completed B.Sc. in Physics from Cotton College in the year 1952, and M.Sc. in Physics from the Presidency College of Calcutta University in 1955 – 1956. He obtained a Ph.D. Degree in Physics in 1961 from the London University along with a Diploma of Imperial College of Science & Technology (DIC), London in the same year. He came back to Assam and started his career as a lecturer of Physics at the Sivasagar College and later at the Gauhati University. He also worked as an editor for Prantik, an Assamese monthly magazine, and a children's magazine named Xaphura in Assamese language. He was also the president of the Jyoti Chitraban which was for a long time the only film studio in Assam. During his tenure as the Secretary of the CO-ordination Committee for production of textbooks in regional languages, he initiated the publication of college level textbooks in Assamese language. During the early 80’s, he also served as the Chairman of the Railway Service Commission of North East Frontier Railways.
Dr. Saikia is regarded as an idol in the field of Assamese Cinema and his valuable contributions took Assamese Films into the global arena. His seven films, namely Sandhya Raag, ltihaas, Anirban, Agnisnaan, Kolahal, Abartan and Sarothi fetched him Rajat Kamal award. Another film named Kalsandhya, which was made in Hindi based on the insurgency in the North East, was screened at the International Film Festival of India and the Cairo International Film Festival. Besides these, his novels include Antarip, Ramyabhumi and Atankar Shekhot, which are some of the best works of Dr. Saikia. He also wrote several short story collections, namely Prahari, Sendur, Upakantha, Gahabar, Srinkhal, Taranga, etc. He also wrote about 28 plays and 5 children books. In the year 1976, he was awarded Sahitya Akademi for his contribution towards Assamese literature and in the year 2001, he was awarded Padma Shri.
He was involved in the conception and development of the Sri Sankardeva Kalakhsetra, Assam and served as its Vice Chairman until August, 2003. He was a Member of the Sangeet Natak Akademi; Executive and General Council of Sahitya Akademi; Indian National Council for Co-operation with UNESCO; Academic Council, Gauhati University, Advisory Body, All India Radio, Guwahati; Governing Body, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur; Governing Body, East Zone Cultural Centre, Kolkata; Court of the Gauhati University, Assam; Society of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune; Board of Trustees, National Book Trust of India.
Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia was active in the establishment of the Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia Children Welfare Trust (Aarohan) at Guwahati and on 13th August 2003, he passed away living behind his wife and two daughters. Dr. Saikia’s contribution towards Assamese literature and film industry is remarkable and he was considered as one of the ‘Twenty-One Greatest Assamese Persons of the 20th Century’. He was honored posthumously with the naming of the Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia road in Guwahati and by naming a children’s amusement park in Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra after him. The library at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra is named after him and an cultural award has also been named after this great personality and film maker Jahnu Barua was the first recipient of the Bhabendra Nath Saikia Cultural Award in the year 2010.
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