Singers Dilip Sharma, Sudakshina Sharma and Pratima Pandey Baruah, niece of Pramathesh Barua, perform at the inaugural function of the legend’s birth centenary celebrations at Rabindra Bhavan on Tuesday. Picture by Biju Boro

Guwahati, Oct. 21: Sixty-two years after Devdas first hit the silver screen in 1935, Assam set in motion the process to immortalise the legendary Pramathesh Barua, who played the eponymous hero in the Bengali version of the film, on his birth centenary.

A “renegade” to many in the state, Barua, has, however, lived on in the minds of the people as the hero of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel.

The yearlong celebrations to mark the actor’s birth centenary began in the city this morning with renowned dramatist Girish Choudhury garlanding Barua’s portrait in the Kirthinath Sharma Bhawan. Barua’s birth anniversary — on October 24 — will be celebrated in his birthplace in Gauripur in Dhubri district.

The Pramathesh Barua Centenary Celebrations Committee today unveiled several projects that have been planned to immortalise the legend. Birendranath Dutta, folklorist and vice-president of the committee, said, “We are planning to screen his films and preserve them in the state archive and to acquire a print of Devdas from Bangladesh.”

Paying rich tributes to Assam’s most famous filmmaker-actor, Girish Choudhury said, “Although many regarded him a deserter, Barua loved his homeland and always maintained that it was the soil of Assam that had shaped him. Lack of infrastructure and other constraints, however, forced him to leave for Calcutta where he could nurture his creativity,” he added.

Litterateur Rebati Mohan Dutta Choudhury echoed his sentiments. “Barua was born in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Many feel that he did not do much for Assam, but we should try to understand the circumstances under which he took to making films in Bengali and Hindi.” The committee has urged the Assam government to issue a postage stamp in the memory of the actor and also to name the cultural centre in Gauripur after him.

The actor’s family will be requested to donate his personal belongings to the centre so that a gallery can be set up there.

The committee also plans to bring out a book on his life with a memorial lecture by “either Mrinal Sen or Soumitra Chatterjee”. There is also a proposal to set up a bust of Barua in Jyoti Chitraban.

Pramathesh Barua, who has 15 films to his credit, was a path-breaking filmmaker who introduced the 40,000-watt system in his films. “Though he died at the young age of 48 he did commendable work by making films that did not merely aim at popular entertainment but also reflected a social concern,” said Dutta.

So popular was Barua that P.C. Barua shirts and P.C. Barua hairstyle became a fad in Calcutta after the release of Devdas.

Ranu Barua, his youngest daughter-in-law, remembered Barua as a disciplined man who loved all good things in life. “He was fond of flowers, dogs and foreign cars,” she said.

Dutta said, “He was adept in three different fields — acting, photography and music. And film is one medium in which he could blend all three to perfection.”