Joymoti by Anup Hazarika

The Play

The play Joymoti, is about an iron lady of 17^th century Assam history, who with her fortitude and self sacrifice  entirely changed the course of destiny of the ‘Ahom Empire’ when the atrocious ruling of a certain class of the Ahom royal family were about to lead the entire Ahom kingdom to its doom. The play not only gives information about Joymati’s life but also focuses on her inner thoughts and mental power.

Director’s Note

“What Joymati might have thought during her days of sufferings?”—were the key questions haunting us before preparing the play. We were searching for the answer in the available references in the Assam history and other forms of literature. Our discussions with various persons who spent much of their time in the scholarly study of Assam history and particularly on the Ahoms were other resources and inspirations in writing and shaping up the play. But still our search is on; hope someday we will get the answer.

Playwright & Director

Anup Hazarika, the playwright & director of the play Joymoti, graduated from National School of Drama in 1990. He specialized in acting. So far he has directed 32 stage plays for both amateur and mobile theatre of Assam. He established his group Baa (The Creative Breeze) in 1995. As an actor he acted in 72 stage plays, 21 feature films, more than fifty television serials, tele-films and a number of radio plays. Apart from that he enjoys translating plays & dramatizing plays from different stories & novels. He has already translated Mohan Rakesh’s Ashadh Ka Ek Din into Assamese and staged the play under his direction in 1993. In the year 2008 he was awarded the best light designer’s award by The Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (Meta) & in 2007 he was awarded the best supporting actor’s award by the Govt. of Assam for his performance in Assamese cinema. Presently he is working at Regional government Film & Television Institute, Kahilipara, Guwahati as a lecturer of Acting

The Group

 BA (A Cultural Organization), of Guwahati, Assam was established in the year 1995, by a group of active theatre workers. So far the group has staged several plays including Arun Sarma’s Agnigarh, Mahendra Borthakur’s Sinsa Paneer Mass, Jimoni Choudhury & Pakija Begum’s Menaka and Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor. Apart from producing stage plays the group has organized production oriented intensive theatre workshops and children theatre workshops in collaboration with National School of Drama and Sangeet Natak Akademi in Guwahati.