More Films And Screens Can Build A True Assamese Film Industry

Since launching my podcast, Candid With Partha, I have spoken with several people from the “Assamese film industry”, and most of them strongly believe that Assam still does not have a proper film or cinema industry.

Their reasons differ. Some point to investment, others to distribution, exhibition, audience behaviour or the absence of a sustained production system.

My conversation with filmmaker and actor Himanshu Prasad Das brought the problem into sharper focus for me: Assam may have an increasing number of people who want to work in cinema, but it does not yet make enough films or have enough screens to sustain them.

For Das, the problem begins with the limited number of opportunities to release a film.

“There are 52 Fridays in a year, but not all of them can realistically be considered good release dates for Assamese cinema,” Das says.

“Festivals, local events, audience patterns and major national releases reduce the number further. Perhaps only 25 to 30 Fridays can genuinely be considered viable for the release of an Assamese film,” he adds.

Even those dates have to be shared with the biggest films in the country. A Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan or Aamir Khan film can occupy a release date. So can a major Hindi production or a big South Indian film backed by a much larger distribution network.

An Assamese film, therefore, is not competing only with another Assamese film for an audience. It is competing for a limited number of release dates and screens against films that have substantially greater financial and distribution muscle.

“As a filmmaker, I can say that losing even one of those dates can have consequences far beyond a delayed release,” Das says.

The screen shortage makes the situation harder. Das spoke about places where audiences do not have easy access to cinema halls and recalled instances of people hiring buses to travel to watch films.

It is a detail that says something larger about the state of exhibition in Assam. An audience may exist, but if accessing a cinema requires a significant journey, the distance between the audience and the film becomes an economic problem for the industry.

“We need more cinema halls,” Das argues. “Without enough screens, an Assamese film can spend months being made and weeks being promoted, only to find itself struggling for adequate exhibition when it finally reaches the market.”

His own experience with his upcoming film XYZ illustrates the vulnerability of a regional release. The film’s release was postponed during the floods in Assam earlier this year.

By then, Das said, around Rs 18 lakh had already been spent on publicity, including banners, posters, hoardings and a promotional tour across the state.

The postponement was not simply a commercial decision. With thousands of people affected by the floods, Das did not feel it was appropriate to continue promoting the film at that moment.

But the decision also exposed how difficult it can be for a regional film to navigate an already restricted release calendar.

“Once a release date is lost, replacing it is not necessarily straightforward. Another Friday may be available on paper, but it may not offer the same combination of screens, audience availability and competition,” he says.

Yet the release calendar is only part of Das’ concern. He is equally interested in what happens to the growing number of people now trying to enter Assamese cinema.

Das has noticed an increase in young people wanting to become actors, directors, cinematographers and technicians. People from different parts of Assam are showing an interest in working in cinema, and the pool of people hoping to build careers in the field is growing.

That should be an encouraging development. But it creates an obvious question: how many of them can actually find regular work?

“If more people are coming into cinema, they need work. And if they need work, we need more films,” Das says.

That is why he does not believe producing five or six films a year is enough to sustain a growing filmmaking community. More people entering the profession without a corresponding increase in production creates a gap between aspiration and employment.

A film employs more than its actors and director. A production creates work for cinematographers, editors, sound professionals, lighting technicians, designers, publicity teams, transporters, distributors and exhibitors. When productions become regular, those people can begin to treat cinema as a profession rather than something they do between long periods of uncertainty.

This is where Das’ larger argument about Assamese cinema being an industry takes shape.

A film can succeed without creating a sustainable system around it. A successful actor can emerge without creating regular employment for hundreds of others. A particular release can do well at the box office without changing the basic structure of production and exhibition.

An industry is different. It needs continuity.

Producers have to keep producing. Actors and technicians need regular opportunities. Writers need to keep writing. Distributors need films to distribute. Cinema halls need a steady supply of content. Audiences need regular opportunities to watch films from their own industry.

For Das, Assamese cinema is beginning to show one important ingredient: people. The ambition to work in cinema is growing. What remains limited is the production and exhibition structure capable of absorbing that ambition.

That is why the number of films and the availability of screens cannot be treated as two unrelated issues. They form part of the same cycle. Films need screens to reach audiences, while screens need a regular supply of films. Neither production nor exhibition can develop in isolation if the objective is to create a sustainable industry.

The real test, then, is not simply whether Assam can produce a successful film. It is whether a filmmaker can finish one film and reasonably expect another to follow; whether a technician can depend on regular assignments; whether an actor can build a career without having to leave the state for work; whether a distributor can operate throughout the year; and whether audiences across Assam can find Assamese films in cinemas without having to travel long distances.

That is the larger issue I took away from my conversation with Das.

Assam does not appear to have a shortage of people who want to make cinema. The challenge is creating the conditions for those people to keep working.

Perhaps, therefore, the question is no longer whether Assam has enough talent to make cinema. It is whether it has built enough production, exhibition and distribution around that talent for filmmaking to become a sustainable profession.

Until that happens, Assam can keep producing Assamese films without necessarily having a true Assamese film industry.

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