Eminent Assamese film-maker, Mr Gautam Bora, had made a film for the Sahitya Akademi, on noted poet - litterateur of Assam, Professor Navakanta Barua. The 40-minute documentary film on the illustrious poet, is a part of a series of films commissioned by the Sahitya Akademi to film-makers of repute of the country, on different literary stalwarts of India. The film on Prof. Barua, however, is the first of its kind on any Sahitya Akademi award-winning litterateur from Assam, and one of the very few on living literary personality of India.

Titled Poet of the Crossroads (Ali Domozar Kobi in Assamese), the film traces the life and thoughts of the poet-humanist (not necessarily in a chronological order) in his journey from a "lonely" childhood, conditioned by an active literary atmosphere at home, to his monumental present, a living link between the Romantic school and contemporary, Modern Assamese poetry. Poet of the Crossroads is a poetically sensitive portrayal of poet Barua's forays into the realm of art, life and literature, with vivid glimpses of the personality, revered as an inspiration to an entire generation of poets in Assam. The film captures and creates glimpses of the poet's diverse love for life and passion, with deep-rooted philosophical roots in Buddhism and Tagoreana. A major part of the film had been shot at locations in Nagaon (the ancestral place of poet Barua), Calcutta and Shantineketan (formative platforms).

The film is distinctly personal and poetic in treatment and is based on the imageries of Prof. Barua's poetry, as related by the film-maker himself. The film is researched and scripted by film-maker Bora along with film-maker Maulee Senapati, an alumunus in Direction from FTII, Pune (India's premier film institute). A noteworthy feature of the film is its cinematography, done by the director himself, who has also done the sound for the film.

Courtesy: The Assam Tribune