HFF 2024: Documentary on Guwahati's iconic Assam-type house archives its famous inhabitants, the Baruas, and their contribution to Assamese culture

The shooting of the documentary 'Baruar Xongxar' in Latasil, Guwahati, Assam.

On the eastern side of Guwahati’s historic Latasil playground, stands an iconic ‘Assam-type’ house that completed a century of its existence in 2023. Constructed by engineer Chandranath Barua, this house has been home to some of Assam’s most famous cultural icons, such as filmmaker-actor-musician Brajen Barua, filmmaker-footballer-flautist-painter Nip Barua, singer-composer Ramen Barua, filmmaker Dibon Barua, cricketer-singer Dwipen Barua, among others. The Baruas are the only family in Assam that has produced so many noted personalities in fields as diverse as cinema, music, sports and politics. This is the story of The House of Baruas/Baruar Xongxar, reconstructed through memories, archival clips and photographs.

Assamese filmmaker Utpal Borpujari’s ninth film, The House of Baruas (71.30 minutes duration), which had its world premiere at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa 2023, just screened at the Habitat Film Festival, Delhi, and will be in competition in the upcoming New York Indian Film Festival this month. Documentary filmmaker Borpujari, 56, won the National Award for his debut feature film Ishu (2018).

Shot in 16:9, with aerial shots, and a recreation of veteran composer Ramen Barua’s original music as a background score, Baruar Xongxar gives the viewers an intimate tour of the house and its famous inhabitants, its architecture and interiors, locating it amid apartment buildings and an uncertain future. Edited excerpts:

National Award-winning documentary filmmaker Utpal Borpujari with a promotional standee of his new film.

Why did you want to make this film? 

As a filmmaker with a journalistic past, I have always felt strongly about the lack of archiving local histories in India as a matter of national interest. All such archiving happens — when they happen — at mostly individual levels. Often, we don’t know the history of the locality or the town or the city we live in. Except in some of the Metro cities, much of the local histories slowly vanish due to lack of documentation and archiving. I was fascinated by a Facebook page started by a conservation architect in Assam to document what are known as ‘Assam Type’ houses (introduced in colonial Assam, made of one or more storeys, built to be earthquake proof, high gable roofs to withstand heavy rains, made with wood, bamboo, steel and concrete), found typically in Assam and the rest of Northeastern India as also in the Sylhet area of Bangladesh. That sparked the idea to document the house of the Baruas in Guwahati. And cinema was the obvious medium to archive it, given that the family’s contribution to Assamese cinema has been immense. As the house completed 100 years this year, this is a tribute to that family and that house, whose history remains largely unknown among the current generation.

Tell the world about the Baruas and who all have you captured in the film? 

The film captures the work and life of all the famous Baruas who were born and who have lived in that house. Among them are footballer-painter-turned filmmaker Nip Barua, musician-actor-director Brajen Barua, director Dibon Barua, singer-composer Ramen Barua, cricketer-turned-singer Dwipen Barua, cricketer-turned-politician and entrepreneur Girin Barua, dramatist and radio personality Niren Barua, Brajen Barua’s daughter and actress Monami Bezbarua. Girin Barua’s son, cricketer-turned-filmmaker and entrepreneur Anshuman Barua is a major sutradhar in the film, and the two living legends Ramen and Dwipen Barua feature majorly in it.

A still from the film.

How and where did you go about sourcing footages from old films, etc. which are shown in your documentary?

Much of the footages were sourced from film distributor Rajesh More, who has passionately collected prints and digitised many of them. A few were sourced from clips available on the internet. Unfortunately, quite a few of the films made by the family have been lost forever. For example, the superhit Toramai. But the songs of many of the films made by them remain evergreen classics in Assamese society, widely heard and sung by people even now.

Is this your independent project or was it backed by the Assam State/government or cultural archives?

It was purely an independent initiative supported by cultural organisation Surjya and fledgling production house Jemini Phukan Production. Veteran theatre and film personality Nayan Prasad of Surjya took the initiative to rope in Jemini Phukan Production for the project. The film, made on a very limited budget, has been made to preserve for posterity the history of that house.

A still from the film.

This is a kind of biopic/historical documentation of a famous family, much like the famous Tagore ancestral family house Jorasanko in Bengal. How did you ensure that your film didn’t turn into a hagiography?

It is a rare family that has not had any controversy attached to it over the years, and its members purely devoted themselves to mainly culture and sports all throughout. They have been low profile and publicity-shy, but their work has always spoken volumes. So, there is definitely an admiring viewpoint in the film. But to ensure that it does not turn into a hagiography, views of independent critics have been incorporated.

You spoke to the family members mainly in the film, why not to their rivals and critics? 

There have been hardly any rival or critic to the family over the years. The film and music industry being a small one in Assam in earlier times, there was not much scope for rivalry in the fraternity, unlike now. Also, while there have been great musicians in Assam during the times Ramen Barua was active (1960s to 1980s mainly), especially Dr Bhupen Hazarika, they had cordial relations and worked in their own spheres. The film speaks with some singers and critics, but since it was mainly the story of the house and its denizens without focusing on any individual, the scope to bring in many outside voices was very limited. We see this film as a tribute to the family and its creativity.