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On This Day

14 Sep, 1914

Cinemaazi remembers G P Sippy on his birth anniversary

14 Sep, 1928

Cinemaazi remembers Tarun Bose on his birth anniversary

14 Sep, 1930

Cinemaazi remembers Rajkumar Kohli on his birth anniversary

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films

Firingoti (1991)

Jahnu Barua

Release Date1991
GenreDrama
FormatColour/B-W
LanguageAssamese
Run Time118 min
Length3377.49 meters
Number of Reels12
Gauge35mm
Censor RatingU
Censor Certificate Number5636
Certificate Date1991

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Nestled deep in the interior of Upper Assam, the village of Koronga exists almost outside of history. Due to the lack of infrastructure and communication, in 1962, while India fights a war on its northeastern frontier, Koronga knows nothing of it. Into this isolated land walks Ritu, an educated young widow, newly appointed as the village schoolteacher, carrying with her an idea that will prove far more disruptive than any war.

The school she's meant to teach in, burned down ten years before she arrived. No one has tried to rebuild it. Unwilling to return, Ritu approaches the villagers and begins teaching the children in the open air, under the shade of a tree. And slowly, lesson by lesson, she talks a skeptical village into believing a school is worth building, and that education can transform their lives for the better.

Among her students is Dalimi, an orphaned teenage girl, too old for the classroom but too eager to learn to be turned away. Ritu makes her an assistant instead, and something in Dalimi begins to change, she finds her voice, and expresses her opinions. When Dalimi turns down a suitor named Chandra, he doesn't accept it as her decision. Blaming Ritu for what he sees as Dalimi’s defiance, Chandra, along with a group of men, demands that Ritu leave the village. When the village head refuses their demand, the men confront Ritu at the school, accusing her of poisoning the villagers’ minds in the name of education. Ritu refuses to submit to their threats. Chandra, however, does not relent. He eventually discovers that Ritu is a widow and objects to the way she conducts her life, which does not conform to their expectations of widowhood. They physically assault her and burn down the newly constructed school.

Devastated by the violence and destruction, Ritu is comforted by the people of the village. The people reassure her that they will rebuild the school as many times it is destroyed. The seed of the idea that she came with, has been planted and has set off ‘firingoti’, meaning ‘sparks’, that asks what a single spark is worth when the wind is against it.

The image appeared is a screenshot from "Firingoti" (1991)