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The Inner Urge
A profile of Pranabendu Bikash Dhar
by Hridayananda Gogoi
Like every
admirer of human sensibilities Pranabendu Bikash Dhar has
a mind which has deep faith in men and women. The early mathematical as
well as scientific bent of his mind has prefigured the extremely deliberate
intellectual nature of his approach. When he went up to the elite St.
Martin’s School of Art, London in 1980, it was to study a postgraduate
course in Advance Sculpture.
 Gradually, the
studious introvert ‘man’ grew up in the unreal atmosphere of ill-fated
Assam. In a conversation with this writer he recalled how around that time
he had to face various odds. The legends and traditions and folklore of his
own State were being lost. Imagining and trying to remember those things,
he was greatly disturbed. The act of trying to remember and the act of
creating began to overlap. And that is the reason why he took up his hammer
and chisel and started his own form of sculpture. He tried to reproduce
them using the methods of advance sculpture that he has studied in India
and abroad. His use of highly developed ideas to structure his works
further exacerbates his quarrel with the traditionalism of Indian
sculpture. But because of his perception and a higher kind of insight he
has retained an interest in both western sculptors such as Tim Scott, Henry
Moore and the Indian sculptors like Ram Kinkor Baij etc.
His
complex impacted style has a consistent poetic ambition too. So, the
critical reaction to his work is generally enthusiastic, though his style
and forms prefigure a contentious aspect of Indian sculpture. Actually it
is nothing, but the Indian influence.
Like
all great artists, Dhar believes that the nature of creation is not an
ordinary phenomenon. It follows a systematic route. When both our body and
the soul together feel an inner urge for creating something new, then
actually can an artist create in the real sense of the term. Thus the
imprints of different aspects, set in the mind already, find an opportunity
to blossom out.
However, anybody
who tries to highlight the beautiful side of life is an artist. An artist
has immense opportunity and capacity to shape the world as he desires. This
is the viewpoint of Pranabendu B Dhar who has been contributing a lot to
our society. Many young students have been nurtured under his careful
guidance at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Guwahati.
 It’s known to
all that life is in turmoil everywhere. The artist himself is facing lots
of problems. But he knows how to exploit these things. So, notwithstanding
any other problems, he always creates a new object out of those responses
aroused in his mind. Dhar thinks that the present scenario of art and
sculpture in Assam is very hopeful. According to him, nowadays people in
Assam are more enlightened. They know what is art, sculpture and
architecture. That is why, an artist has to create something new which
would fulfil various needs of the people. Generally an artist has to create
or formulate his objects for a group of certain people who are more
intelligent and sensible. Dhar is always aware of these aspects. He
considers form, rhythm and force as three major aspects of sculpture. Above
all it should have a very strong sense of existence. This is not an
ordinary fact, rather he holds it in the core of his heart.
Pranabendu
did his higher education in Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. He
completed five years DFA with first class first position (1977) with
specialization in sculpture and sub-graphic art. In Hackney College Popular
Centre, London he built a successful career. He also completed the
operation of electric arc welding and oxy-fuel gas cutting equipment training
under ILEA, London. Perhaps because of his serious passion for art he could
pave a golden path for himself. He believes that any beautiful creation,
whether it is created by nature or any living being, is a piece of art. The
nest of a weaver bird or a beautifully cooked dish by his mother is art for
him.
Pranabendu
has a particular philosophy of life. He can perceive or realize what an
ordinary man cannot. He also envisages the possibilities and hardships of
human beings. But he does not remain in an imaginary world. He always
maintains a close relationship between reality and society. He observes
that our society is full of black and white features. He collects many of
these features, but selects a few as his subject matter. During this
process, from observation to creation, he covers several steps in which he
gets immense scope to observe a society or to react to a particular
situation. But he just cannot react positively or negatively to a situation
or to an imbalanced society. It is because he believes that by reacting so,
no one can shake off his or her responsibility to balance the society. So
he devotes himself in the never ending process of creation. And he wants to
exist through his work. Moreover, he speaks through his works.
Dhar has a wide
ranging outlook. His vision does not hold any geographical barrier. So he
is often attracted towards the colourful milieu of the societies of both
the plains and hills. Their living condition and style are exhibited
throughout his creative sculpture. He is a celebrated artist with a
traditional folk style too. In recognition of this in 1980 he was awarded
the prestigious President’s Fellowship from the Government of India in
sculpture on folk traditional style of terracotta. Again in 1984 he was
awarded the President’s Fellowship given to outstanding artists in
performing literary and plastic arts, on folk traditional style on scrap
metal. Recently he got the Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture,
Government of India. His contribution to the field of sculpture is
absolutely remarkable. People all over the country have already accepted
this brilliant artist and felicitated him with several prizes, scholarships
and honours.
Undoubtedly
Dhar is a sincere performer. He has no vanity, rather he always tries to do
his work at the right moment. He thinks that talent is an inborn quality to
do things perfectly. Everybody possesses that talent in different fields.
But talent may die without devotion. If an artist is not devoted to his
work, his talent becomes a waste. Again only devotion without talent cannot
create an outstanding piece of art. Pranabendu Bikash Dhar himself
represents this great tradition.
A short note on Assamese Film
By Utpal Datta
It was 1935. History
of Indian Talking Cinema has just started. AT that time one Assamese
visionary had returned from Germany with adequate film making training and
started first Assamese Motion Picture JOYMATI based on the life of An Ahom
Princess JOYMATI. Unsurprisingly, at that time here was no infrastructure
for Film Making in Assam, yet he started and wrote the first page of
history of Assamese Film. He was Jyotiprasad. He was a poet, playwright,
composer and freedom fighter. For his film he had to bear the added
responsibilities as the script writer, producer, director, choreographer,
editor, set and costume designer, lyricist, voice actor and music director.
The film, completed with a budget of Rupees Sixty thousand and was released
on March 10th, 1935. The picture failed despondently in business. But he
rose like as a phoenix bird and made his second film INDRAMALATI (1939).
This was a commercial success and it recovered all the losses incurred in
JOYMATI. But due to ill health, Jyotiprasad failed to continue his film
making venture. INDARAMALATI was set in the backdrop of freedom movement of
India.
The third Assamese
film was MANOMATI based on a famous Assamese Novel set in the backdrop of
Assam History. It was the time of pre independence and naturally the
filmmakers honestly tried reveal their nationalistic approach in films like
Rupahi (46) and Badan Barphukan (1947).
After Independence
Assamese film makers also eperiened a new country with new hopes and
aspirations and they tried to express their feelings through the films they
made. They tried to visualize social problems and human values in a middle
class backdrop. Nip Baruah's SMRITIR PARSASH and Prabhat Mukherjee's
PUBERUN may be considered as two examples. The film Puberun participating
in Berlin Film festival begged the honour to be the first Assamese Film
shown in a foreign film festival. Bhupen Hajorika came up with his
remarkable partly autobiographical musical ERA BATOR SUR ((1956) depicting
story of a musician searching the milieu of sand and soil of his native
land.
By the middle of the
sixties, films were produced in Assam almost on a regular basis. Most of
the films were thematically based on middle class values and sentiments and
theatrical presentation with dominating music controlled the structural
pattern. It should also be mentioned here that between 1935 and to 1970 a
total of 62 films were produced and most of the films catered the audience.
During the period of
1970-82 a total of 57 Assamese films were made. New directors started
emerging on the horizon with innovative subjects and filmic treatment.
Chaturanga's Aparajeya (1970). Samarendra Narayan Deb's Aranya (1970),
Manoranjan Sur's Uttaran (1973), Deuti Barua's Bristi (1974) Pulok Gogoi
Khoj (1974) Padam Barua's Ganga Chilanir Pakhi (1976) Dr. Bhabendranath
Saikia's Sandhyarag (1977) and Atul Bordoloi's Kollol (1978) are films
worth - mentioning.
Sandhyarag was made
with a huge budget though the story resolved with problems of hunger and
crisis of survival. Yet the film received outstanding commercial success in
the home front and critical appreciation in the national front. The film
was shown in Indian Panorama and has participated in several foreign
festivals too. The success of Sandhyarag encouraged a group of young
directors to think in the same way of Sandhyarag which was the beginning of
path breaking process for the Assamese Film world. Few directors like Jahnu
Baruah, Pradip Brahma, Bidyut Chakravarty, Gautam Bora, Hemanta Das,
Sanjeev Hazorika, Swantana Bardaloi, Manju Bora had joined the path Dr
Saikia has introduced. All of them has created meaningful cinema, earned
prizes as prestige from home and abroad, helped Assamese film to be
recognized in a broad arena with own identity. But, most of the films failed
in box office of the state.
Towards the end of 90's, Assamese film has faced lots of problem in film
distribution. As a result Assamese Film industry had to stand in such a
position which was virtually a full stop. But suddenly few films came up
with new promises and audience appreciated those venture though they were
poor imitation of run of mill Hindi Film. In the last decade of 20th
century a large group of young directors came up with their projects to
revive the film industry. But history repeated again. Emergence of compact
disc, unhealthy condition of theatres and poor distribution system attacked
Assamese film industry and the situation is going on. Yet some directors
are trying to continue film making with a different approach. Jahnu Baruah is
making Hindi film and Pradip Brahma in English.
The author may be
reached at utpal91@yahoo.com
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