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, ''
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
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala (17 June 1903 – 17 January 1951) was a noted Indian playwright, songwriter, poet, writer and film maker from Assam. He was deeply revered for his creative vision and output and is popularly called the ''Rupkonwar'' of Ass ...
. Sarma went on the star in Agarwalla's second picture ''
Indramalati
''Indramalati'' is a 1939 film directed by the Assamese poet Jyotiprasad Agarwala.
Background
Director Jyotiprasad faced a major financial crisis after his first film '' Joymoti'' (1935) failed commercially. He spent more than Rs 50,000 and ...
''.
In 1955 he directed and starred in ''
Piyoli Phukan'', also playing the film's protagonist Pioli Phukan. His last film was ''
Ito Sito Bahuto'' 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
Compensation may refer to:
*Financial compensation
*Compensation (chess), various advantages a player has in exchange for a disadvantage
*Compensation (essay), ''Compensation'' (essay), by Ralph Waldo Emerson
*Compensation (film), ''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
''An Inspector Calls'' is a modern morality play and drawing room play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's ...
'' into the
Assamese language
Assamese () or Asamiya ( ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It has long served as a ''lingua franca'' in parts of Northeast India."Axomiya is the major langu ...
.
Filmography
See also
*
Assamese literature
Assamese literature is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the literary works in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contempor ...
*
Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva
Srimanta Sankardev (, ; 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 importance in the cultural and religious history of ...
*
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala (17 June 1903 – 17 January 1951) was a noted Indian playwright, songwriter, poet, writer and film maker from Assam. He was deeply revered for his creative vision and output and is popularly called the ''Rupkonwar'' of Ass ...
*
Lakshminath Bezbaruah
Lakshminath Bezbarua (; 14 October 1864 - March 26,1938) was an Indian poet, novelist and playwright of modern Assamese literature. Commonly known as the father of the Assamese Short story, short story. He was one of the literary stalwarts of th ...
*
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
*
Music of Assam
The music of Assam consists various Music genre, genres of Folk music, folk and modern music, drawing its artistic basis from the history of Assam, from Culture of Assam, Assamese culture and its ancient traditions. In recent times, starting fro ...
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