South Assam Film Festival starts with a bang ; major personalities and Tallygunge celebs grace the show

Reported by: Samdipto Chakravarti

Recently, on the 25th of March, the most-awaited South Assam Film Festival (SAFF) was conducted in Silchar's Banga Bhawan amidst a bevy of cine stars and literary personalities of Barak Valley. Organised by Club Icchedana and Adya Maa Productions, the programme started at 7:15 pm on a cloudy Saturday eve and went on for two days. Prominent Tolly films such as Prajapati, Maya Kumari, Abar bochor kuri pore, Kadambari Ajo were screened . Popular bengali film personas such as Sreelekha Mitra, Abir Chatterjee, Arindam Sil, Ishaa Saha were present.

Being the first film festival from Barak Valley, the efforts were highly appreciated and encouraged by local luminaries like Prof. Tapadhir Bhattacharjee and eminent surgeon Dr. Siddhartha Bhattacharjee.The latter even walked on the ramp to support SAFF. Silchar's MLA Dipayan Chakraborty also graced the show with his presence. Prominent models walked on a ramp with clothes sponsored by Nahata and Stylea. Dance performances were conducted by famous dance troupes of the region -kalakhetram,fitfemale,nataraj nrityalaya,nirban, nrityalayam. Arindam Sil's Mahananda sweeps most awards. Tolly film Kathamrito also wins major awards. Local girl Manashi Nandi was also awarded for her performance in Kadambari Aajo. Reminiscences on late artists such as Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee and his contribution to folk music also took place. On the success of the occasion, Sharmistha Deb, the chairperson of the event and president of Club Icchedana thanked everyone for responding to the event.

Reflecting on the success of SAFF and the close ties between the people of Barak Valley and West Bengal, actor Rudranil Ghosh said to The media -" People of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal are closely webbed by the rich heritage of culture and the South Assam Film Festival (SAFF) in Silchar will go a long way in fostering the ties between the film, theatre personalities and artists at large in the coming days."

SAFF gained immense enthusiasm from the local audience as well and the organizers thanked everyone for their love and support.