Assamese cinema keeps throwing up gems every once in a while. The latest is Bhaimon Da which has turned out to be a veritable blockbuster.
Bhaimon Da is a biopic of legendary Assamese filmmaker Munin Barua. Fondly known as Bhaimon Da, Munin Barua was a visionary whose creative genius elevated mainstream Assamese cinema for decades. The film chronicles his extraordinary journey — from struggles and challenges to phenomenal success — while also presenting the evolution of the Assamese film industry. Besides, it highlights the contribution to Assamese cinema of such film stalwarts as Biju Phukan, Mridula Barua, Pranjal Saikia, Jayanta Hazarika, Zubeen Garg, Jatin Bora and Ravi Sharma.
Written and directed by Sasanka Samir, the super-hit stars Bondip Sarma, Yasashree Bhuyan, Anurag Bora, Samudragupta Dutta, Harpal Saikia, Gitartha Sharmah, Partha Pratim Hazarika, Kaushik Bharadwaj, Nirupan Saikia, Jay Saikia, Deepjyoti Keot, Gunakar Dev Goswami, Pakeeza Begum, Arghadeep Barua, Boibhobi Goswami, Shilpi Sikha Bora and Ashish Vidyarthi. It is produced by Shyamantak Gautam.
The film started slow but because of excellent public reports, box-office collections spiralled. Although it netted only Rs. 14 lakh on the first day, the total for the entire week was an unbelievable Rs. 2.03 crore! Collections in the second week totalled Rs. 2.86 crore!! The third week closed at Rs. 2.29 crore while the super-hit film netted Rs. 1.06 crore in the fourth week. In this way, the grand total for the first 4 weeks was Rs. 8.24 crore. The fifth week is likely to close at Rs. 0.50 crore! Which means, a 5-week total of around Rs. 8.75 crore.
Since Assam circuit, where Assamese films are released, contributes only 1% of the all-India revenue, one can imagine what business this Assamese film would have done had it been seen across India, like a Hindi film. Sadly, this is not possible as there are no OTT platforms or even satellite channels which acquire Assamese films. It is a shame because while digital platforms dub other language films in Hindi and stream them, the same is not done in the case of Assamese films which are shunned in the OTT circuit.
Believe it or not but in spite of doing such remarkable business, the film, which may have cost around Rs. 5 crore to make, promote and release, would not earn much profit! Had its digital and satellite rights been sold, it would have made bountiful profits.
Incidentally, the film opened in some Overseas cities like Toronto (in Canada), New Jersey (US), Sydney (Australia) and Sharjah (UAE) on 21st June and it is doing well there too. The plan is to release it in Singapore, Munich (Germany), Washington DC, Boston, California, London, Calgary, Los Angeles, Chicago, Birmingham, Jakarta, Seattle, Atlanta, Melbourne, Tempa and Austin in the coming weeks.
Bhaimon Da, distributed by Goenka Enterprises, the most prominent distribution house in North-East India, is turning out to be a movement and a worthy addition to the list of landmark Assamese films.
