Bholaguri Tea Estate to be renovated; Department of Culture initiates construction

A Correspondent

Biswanath Chariali: The Department of Culture, Government of Assam has started construction of the factory and the formatting room of Bholaguri Tea Estate under the initiative of Utpal Borah, MLA of Gohpur LAC. Another house has also been constructed at the place where the Chitraban Studio was situated. The whole area has been renamed as Chitraban Film Studio and a boundary wall was already erected to protect the area.

It may be mentioned here that Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla had made the first Assamese feature film Joymati in Bholaguri Tea Estate near Gohpur by converting the factory of the tea garden into a film studio in 1933. For this, he had made a make-shift studio namely Chitraban Studio in the tea garden with bamboo, cane, wood, banana trees, thatch etc., and started shooting of the film in and around the factory. Since then the area remained almost deserted as the government departments allegedly did nothing to preserve the memory of the great artist in Bholaguri Tea Estate. Even those who were associated with the film industry in the State perhaps forgot about the matter. Thus, the factory, the formatting room where Jyoti Prasad had kept the films of the camera turned into a dilapidated state. Despite repeated demands of the local social organizations including AASU, AJYCP, AATTSA, AASA, SCSU etc., to preserve the tea garden, everything became a cry in the wilderness. The local people have urged the government to grow this place into a tourist spot. It was declared a heritage property.

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