Phani Sarma (1910–1970) was an Indian theatre actor, playwright, film actor and director. Beginning as a stage actor, he appeared in the first film ever made in
Assamese cinema
Assamese cinema, also known as Jollywood, is an Indian film industry of Assamese-language motion pictures. It is based in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie '' Joymoti''. Since then the As ...
, ''
Joymati'', in 1935. Sarma was conferred with the title "Natasurya" for his contribution towards Assamese drama.
He acted in and directed ''Siraj'' in 1948 and ''Piyoli Phukan'' in 1955.
Film career
In 1933 Phani Sarma starred in the first Assamese film, ''
Joymati,'' directed by
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala. Sarma went on the star in Agarwalla's second picture ''
Indramalati
''Indramalati'' is the second Assamese language film, directed by the great Assamese poet Jyotiprasad Agarwala. It was released in 1939.
Background
Director Jyotiprasad faced a major financial crisis after his first film '' Joymoti'' (1935) f ...
''.
In 1955 he directed and starred in ''
Piyoli Phukan
Piyoli Phukan is a black & white Assamese language film directed by Phani Sarma, released in 1955. The film is based on the life and struggle of a historical character of Assam, Piyoli Phukan, son of Badan Borphukan, who revolted against Britis ...
'', also playing the film's protagonist Pioli Phukan. His last film was ''
Ito Sito Bahuto
Ito may refer to:
Places
* Ito Island, an island of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
* Ito Airport, an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Ito District, Wakayama, a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
* Itō, Shizuo ...
'' in 1963 where he appeared as an actor rather than taking the director's helm.
Playwright work
Inspired by his own experiences as an actor and the death of his son whilst stage acting, Phani Sarma wrote the social drama ''Kiya'', a tale of an artist entertained other people with very little
compensation from society. Sarma again addressed issues of
isolation and corruption in his later drama Nag-Pas. However he often incorporated humour into such dramas, and the drama Kola-Bazar, he incorporated elements of comedy with more serious issues of social injustice and inequality.
Sarma also translated
J. B. Priestley's famous drama ''
An Inspector Calls'' into the
Assamese language
Assamese (), also Asamiya ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-east Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language, and it serves as a ''lingua franca'' of the wider region. The easternmost Indo-Iranian language, ...
.
Filmography
See also
*
Assamese literature
Assamese literature ( as, অসমীয়া সাহিত্য, translit=ɔxɔmiya xaɦitjɔ}) is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the liter ...
*
Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva
Srimanta Sankardev( শ্ৰীমন্ত শংকৰদেৱ )(; ; 1449–1568) was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of im ...
*
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
*
Lakshminath Bezbaruah
'
Lakshminath Bezbarua (, 14 October 1864), was an Assamese poet, novelist and playwright of modern Assamese literature. He was one of the literary stalwarts of the Jonaki Era, the age of romanticism in Assamese literature when through his ess ...
*
Krishna Kanta Handique
Krishna Kanta Handique (20 July 1898 – 7 June 1982) was a Sanskrit scholar, an Indologist and philanthropist from Assam. He was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.
Biography
Krishna Kanta Handique was ...
*
Bhabananda Deka
Prof Bhabananda Deka (19 August 1929 – 4 December 2006) was a pioneer Assam economist and author who conducted novel research on the economy of the far eastern part of India. He was also a leading Indian-Assamese litterateur of the famed 'Awah ...
*
Music of Assam
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarma, Phani
1910 births
1970 deaths
Indian male stage actors
Indian male dramatists and playwrights
Screenwriters from Assam
Assamese-language actors
Assamese-language film directors
Film directors from Assam
Indian male film actors
People from Sonitpur district
Assamese actors
20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Indian male actors
20th-century Indian male writers
20th-century Indian screenwriters