The Nip Baruah-directed movie ‘Kokadeuta Nati Aru Hati’ where Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma acted as a child artist was released in 1983
GUWAHATI, March 30: More than four decades after entertaining cine buffs and people of Assam with his acting skills in ‘Kokadeuta Nati Aru Hati’, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma went back in time to recall his month-long stay in Kampur in the early 1980s while shooting as a child artist for the character Xoru Moina (Young Moina) in the superhit movie directed by Nip Baruah.
Taking a ride on elephant back across the Kopili on the same bridge which he today dedicated as a footbridge and walking zone, Chief Minister Dr Sarma recalled how they had shot for the movie’s superhit song ‘Ek Dui Tini Sari…’, particularly an incident when the elephant almost went out of control during the first day’s shoot.
“It was during the first day’s shoot for the song when Brikudor, the elephant whom I was riding, suddenly went out of control after the bullock cart following him with the other children co-artistes suddenly knocked on the pachyderm’s legs. I was alone on top of the elephant and there was no one else with me. I somehow managed to stay on its back as it started going round and round. Finally the mahout came and calmed it,” Chief Minister Dr Sarma told reporters, sharing anecdotes from his shoot for the movie.
“I was a Class 6 student at that time and the elephant had gone out of control for around 15 minutes before the mahout finally managed to bring it under his control. Today, when I crossed the bridge on elephant back, there was the mahout. But during the shooting of the film, I was on riding the elephant alone and the mahout was at some distance away,” he said.
“After that incident, Nip Baruah, the director, did not allow me to shoot for 4-5 days till my fears disappeared and we continued with the shooting,” Chief Minister Dr Sarma further added.
“I stayed here for a month for the shooting. The song ‘Ek Dui Tini Sari…’ continues to be a superhit one and is still in the lips of people young and old,” he said.
He also took to the social media to express his nostalgic emotions after “recreating the cult scene”.
“Kampur Kapili Bridge brings a wave of nostalgia as it is in this very location, I rode an elephant years back for the film ‘Kokadeuta Nati aur Hati’.
Today as I dedicated the new bridge here, a long demand of the people, I couldn’t help but recreate the cult scene,” Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on ‘X’.
WATCH WHAT CHIEF MINISTER Dr HIMANTA BISWA SARMA SAID ABOUT HIS ROLE IN THE MOVIE ‘KOKADEUTA NATI ARU HATI’
On the other hand, Babul Bora of Kampur’s Bholbholia village, in whose house young Himanta Biswa Sarma stayed for a month during shooting for the movie, recalled how naughty he was as a child.
“Young Himanta was quite naught. In fact Nip Baruah told us to keep an eye on him since he had requested Himanta Biswa Sarma’s father to allow him cast young Himanta in the movie,” Babul Bora said today, praising young Himanta Biswa Sarma’s acting skills and said he completed his shots in a single take.
Chief Minister Dr Sarma was in Kampur today where he inaugurated a railway over-bridge, the newly-constructed bridge over Kopili river and the old Kopili bridge which has been converted into a footbridge.
