Guwahati: The Pragjyotishpur Literature Festival 2025, concluding this evening at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in the city, witnessed four intriguing sessions on the second day, where the interaction with eminent actor and playwright, Prithwiraj Rabha, who spoke about his father, Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha’s colourful life and struggles, stole the limelight. Organized by the Sankardeva Education and Research Foundation, the three-day festival was inaugurated on 14 November, where acclaimed author Shefali Baidya delivered the keynote address at the inaugural session.
Meanwhile, the organizers have announced eminent researcher and author Moneswar Deori as being the recipient of the PLF 2025 award, and promising writer Srotashwini Tamuli has been declared the winner of the PLF youth award. Renowned Tiwa scholar and distinguished essayist Deori has authored over 20 books, who resigned from his senior government job to devote fully to the world of literature and journalism. Similarly, a researcher at Birangana Sati Sadhani State University, Tamuli is an emerging voice in contemporary Assamese storytelling, said PLF 2025 president Phanindra Kumar Dev Choudhury.
The major attraction of the day was a reflective session on Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha, which was moderated by writer Nayanjyoti Bhattacharyya, where legislator Prithwiraj Rabha brought alive the extraordinary cultural journey of his father– from a brilliant student to a legendary artist and to a revolutionary preacher. Kalaguru dedicated his life to three masters; namely Sri Krishna, Srimanta Sankardeva and Leonardo da Vinci, stated Rabha while narrating the fascinating stories of his father’s personal, artistic, and revolutionary world.
Earlier, a panel discussion titled ‘Assamese Language, Literature and Journalism: Growth and Expansion’ attracted the attention of novice journalists, where four seasoned scribes; namely, Dilip Chandan, Bedabrata Dev Mishra, Bidyut Kumar Bhuyan, and Nava Thakuria highlighted the challenges of print journalism while nurturing the native language. They were unanimous in their views that the traditional journalism will return and go back to the valued readers as the digital fatigue of electronic and other internet media outlets exhaust the consumers.
In another session on ‘Evolution of Assamese Performing Arts: From Ankiya Bhawana to Bhramyman’, four cultural personalities viewed theatre as the mother of all performing arts. National award-winning filmmaker and playwright Kripal Kalita, much-admired performer Pakija Begum, and dramatists Pankaj Jyoti Bhuyan and Hillal Kumar Pathak painted a challenging picture of Assamese theatre with a lot of promises to keep. Acknowledging the contribution of Assam’s mobile theatre groups, the speakers lamented that the landscape of Assamese theatre has yet to ascertain a distinct tradition. The day came to an end with a poetry session titled ‘Kavya Kaveri, where several poets captivated the audience with their recitations in different languages.