Jorhat, March 13: The Assam Film Society will demand a film studies department at Dibrugarh University and in other universities of Assam and their affiliated colleges.

“Films are the most powerful medium of communication today and the necessity of such a department cannot be underscored. The need to produce good films is very necessary to mould a society in the right direction and this department can play a stellar role in guiding people on what is good and what is bad. A film usually portrays a society in its totality and one can have an idea of what is actually going on in a place by viewing such films,” said Jayanta Madhav Dutta, the general secretary of the Society.

“The universities and colleges should spearhead the movement for making quality cinema satisfying the needs of entertainment and promoting a message. The majority of films made today especially in Bollywood portray an alluring image of life to which the youths are drawn and sometimes they take to crime to achieve this in whatever way they can. They tend not to discern between what is good and bad but a film studies department or such a course can teach them what is right,” he said. Manoj Borpujari, who won the national award for the best film critic (Assamese and English at the recent National Film Awards 2011), said not only Assam, but the whole of Northeast was very backward in this regard. There was no university with a film studies department in the region.

“When Amarjyoti Choudhury was the vice-chancellor of Gauhati University, a demand for a film studies department had been placed by a number of individuals and organisations but before this could be initiated, Choudhury had resigned. In many universities in the US and abroad this course is taught but nowhere in the Northeast. I strongly believe that such a department will benefit the people ,” he said.

Dutta said in this regard West Bengal was way ahead with Jadavpur University being a pioneer in this field.

In Assam, the first Assamese movie Joymati was produce in 1935 but even after 77 years there was no institute where film studies or research could be conducted,” he said.

About a week ago in a seminar on Society and Cinema in Northeast India held in Dibrugarh University, Premendra Mazumdar, vice-president of Federation of Film Societies of India, had suggested that such a department be opened for the benefit of society.