Guwahati: A mandolin player from Assam took William Shakespeare seriously and decided to play on...for 24 hours without a break.

Kuntal Raj Chakraborty, 42, a resident of Zoo Road, began his attempt at a Guinness record on Sunday night.

"He began playing the mandolin from 8pm on Sunday, aiming for a place in Guinness World Records for playing the mandolin for the longest time. According to our knowledge, there is no such record so far. It is also a world record. According to the the record book rules, he had to take a 10-minute break after playing for four hours at a stretch," said Chandan Kumar Saikia, a member of the Pradip Choudhury Memorial Welfare Trust, a Guwahati-based organisation that is helping the artiste realise his dream of achieving a world record.

"I started playing music at a very early age of 11. I was very attracted to the mandolin and started learning the instrument under the guidance of artiste Johny Joseph. Some days later, I also met guitarist Jayanta Pathak from Mumbai and a London-based music company. I started my new journey with him and produced my first gramophone record. I have also worked with flautist Deepak Sarma and produced some hit instrumental albums like Around the World, Rang dile xani, Rupali shopun, Aajak junakir jilmil and Ei saharor mastana moi (remixed video album)," Chakraborty says on his website.

He performed at Brindaban garden in the Zoo Road area and his friends and fans were seen clapping along to his music to encourage him in his feat.

"He can imitate the sounds of a violin, guitar and many other musical instruments on his mandolin. During a programme in Jharkhand recently, he had played the mandolin at the speed of 800 beats per minute," Saikia said.

"His aim is to encourage the new generation to play the mandolin. For seven years he had quit playing the instrument because of some personal problems. But after immense encouragement from his friends, he returned to music a year ago," Saikia added.