Folk singer Pratima Barua Pandey (1934-2002), whose unconventional life choices, exceptional talent and mellifluous voice fuelled a career that helped expose the richly diverse musical traditions of Goalpara to a wider national audience, is the subject of a new critically acclaimed Assamese film, Sonar Baran Pakhi (The Golden Wing).
Guwahati-based filmmaker Bobby Sarma Baruah’s second narrative feature uses the rare Rajbangshi language and original tracks in the voice of Pratima Barua to evoke the spirit and essence of the time and place in which the Calcutta-born recording artiste, a member of. . .