Phani Sarma

Phani Sarma Biography

Phani Sarma was a noted theatre actor, playwright, film actor and director of Assamese cinema. He started his career as a stage actor and later moved to cinema. He has also acted in first Assamese film, Joymati in 1935. His noted works are Siraj in 1948 and Pioli Phukan in 1955 where he played the role of both actor as well as director.

Phani’s father, Molan Sarma was a noted theatre artist. Phani began his career as gatekeeper of the women’s gallery of Ban Stage at Tezpur. Thus he got opportunity to watch great actors on stage like Indreswar Borthakur, Dr Lalit Mohan Chowdhury and Prafulla Borua. Thus slowly, he too was attached to theatre and dreamt to become a stage actor. His first role was Emperor Akbar for the play, Rana Pratap in the year 1928. In 1930, Phani Sarma joined the Kohinoor Opera, the first mobile theatre group of Assam. One year later, female artists were also introduced in Kohinoor Opera. It was something like revolution of Assamese drama.

In 1933, first Assamese movie Joymati directed by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala was released. He played the role of main villain, Gathi Hazarika in this movie. With his second movie, Indramalati, Sarma became a star. Later he appeared in Siraj and Pioli Phukan. His last film was Ito Sito Bahuto in 1963 where he appeared as an actor. He has also appeared in 1937 movie, Devdas.

Apart from being a good stage actor, he was popular for his playwrights also. His plays were less in number, yet of good quality earning critics’ opinion. Phani Sarma wrote a historical drama Bhogjara. Sonit Kunwari, Karengar Ligiri and Lobhita were his noted works and all these works were based on simple plots.

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Updated: January 30, 2014