Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia

Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia (Assamese: ড˚ ভবেন্দ্ৰ নাথ শইকীয়া) was a novelist, short story writer and film director from Assam. He had a PhD in Nuclear Physics from the University of London and later taught at Gauhati University. He won many literary awards, including Sahitya Academy (1976), and was also recognised with the Padma Shri.

Works

He is recognized as one of the top ranking writers of Assam. Many stories have been translated into English, Bengali, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati etc. He had also written a large number of plays for All India Radio (AIR). The plays Kolahal, Durbhiksha and Itihaas were taken up by the AIR as national plays. Kolahal was selected for broadcast from foreign centers. He has been associated actively with the stage as a playwrit and director. He has written many plays for 'Mobile Theatre' of Assam, and a number of One Act Plays.

He had directed eight feature films. These films have been screened at International Film Festivals held at various places such as Cannes, Madras, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, Karlovy Vary (Czechoslovakia), Nantes (France), Valladolid (Spain), Algiers (Algeria), Pyong Yong (North Korea), Sydney, Munich, Montreal and Toronto. Has also directed one episode of a Doordarshan series on Rabindra Nath Tagore's stories in Hindi. Seven out of his eight films have been selected for Indian Panorama Section of the International Film Festival of India. • He received the Sahitya Akademi (India) Award in 1976, the Rajat Kamal Award of the Government of India for the film Sandhyarag in 1978, Anirban in 1981,Agnisnan in 1985, Kolahal in 1988, Sarothi in 1992, Abartan in 1994 and for Itihaas in 1996. He was adjudged as one of the "Twenty one Great Assamese Persons of the twentieth century" in a literary weekly news magazines of Assam.

Awards

Assam Publication Board award (1973)
Sahitya Akademi (1976)
Assam valley Literary award( 1990)
Srimanta Sankardeva Award (1998)
Padma Shri (2001)
Degree of D.Litt, honoris causa (2001)
Dr. Saikia was honored posthumously with the naming of the Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia Road, in Guwahati, India
Dr. Saikia was honored posthumously with the naming the Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia children's amusement park at the Sri. Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati, India
Dr. Saikia was honored posthumously with the naming the Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia Library at the Sri. Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati, India
Dr. Saikia was honored posthumously with the naming the Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia Cultural Award. The first recipient (2010) was film maker Jahnu Barua from the Chief Minister of the State, Honorable Tarun Gogoi.
[edit]Leadership

Dr. Saikia was a Member, Sangeet Natak Akademi; Member of the Executive and General Council of Sahitya Akademi; Member, Indian National Council for co-operation with UNESCO; Member, Academic Council, Gauhati University; President of Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society; Member, Advisory Body, All India Radio, Guwahati; Chairman, Assam State Film (Finance and Development) Corporation Ltd; Member., Governing Body, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur; Member, Governing Body, East Zone Cultural Centre, Kolkata; Member of Court of the Gauhati University, Assam; Member, Society of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Member, Board of Trustees, National Book Trust of India.

He also worked extensively in the creation, proposal, construction, and planning of the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati, Assam, which is now a sprawling cultural center, one of its kind, and a tourist attraction for the state of Assam. He served as the first Vice President of the Kalakshetra, under the governor of Assam as the President. This center was built in the memory of Assamese cultural legend Srimanta Sankardev (1449–1568).

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