- Rupam Barua
‘Rainforests of Assam’ is a much-discussed topic now-a-days. But even 25 years or so ago, people, in general, hardly knew that rainforests really exist in Assam. It was Nature’s Beckon, a group of enthusiastic and dedicated nature lovers led by a passionate naturalist Soumyadeep Datta, that first brought the information of the reality and importance of Assam’s Rainforests into public focus! Next started a tough and determined struggle to save this remaining invaluable patch of Green Paradise which is today hailed as the ‘Amazon of the East’!
As a result of Nature’s Beckon’s steadfast struggle, the then Assam authority had to declare a small portion of the rainforests as the ‘Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary’ in 2004! This extraordinary struggle for saving nature impressed and inspired Mrinal Kanti Das, an ardent nature-lover who was both mountaineer and film personality of National reputes, to come forward for supporting the cause. It was Mrinal Kanti who first conceived the idea of making a full-length feature film to encourage and promote the struggle for saving rainforests of Assam. He himself wrote a script and naming the would-be film – his dream project – ‘Aranyat Barashun’ (Rain in the Forest), started the preliminary shootings.
But as our great misfortune, we lost this extraordinary film personality and passionate supporter of nature conservation on September 3 ,2004, in a road accident. Thus, we were deprived of the first film on the Rainforest Movement of Assam from a versatile genius like Mrinal Kanti Das! Mrinal Kanti’s sudden and untimely demise is an irreparable loss for the cause of nature preservation movement as well as the cinema-world of Assam. But even though Mrinal Kanti could not fulfil his dream project regarding the Assam Rainforest in his lifetime, he wandered and explored in that wilderness deeply and shot in the heart of the rainforest with his camera which he enjoyed heartily. Fortunately, before venturing on ‘Aranyat Barasun’ he made a short docu-feature film for ‘Doordarshan’ as a trial prior to his dream project. This telefilm was named ‘Spandan’ (pulse) through which Mrinal Kanti tried to portray the eternal beauty of Nature in her deep green-self and the truth that only amidst Nature, one can feel and enjoy the pulse of a beautiful living world!
As a story, here, an elderly fellow goes into the heart of the rainforest with his two young friends just to be free for a while from the day-to-day monotony of the concrete-world to have some fresh air and then returns with a deep realisation or wisdom that Nature is the best resort for all forms of living beings to grow in perfect harmony. Although theme-wise its storyline is not as grand or interesting as ‘Aranyat Barashun’, ‘Spandan’ is, at least, full with the colours of vibrant nature in her lyrical beauty that Mrinal Kanti passionately depicted through his camera. I think Mrinal Kanti’s ‘Spandan’ was the first screen-venture which carried the message to the common people as an audio-visual aid which showcased that Assam has a ‘Great Green Paradise’ in the form of rainforest and Nature’s Beckon is dedicated to keep it alive!
( All the supporting pictures have been provided by the author. Photo Credits: Rupam Barua)