Aideu Handique - the first film actress of Assam

Aideu Handique (1915-2002)

Aideu Handique (1915-2002) - an illiterate village girl then, became the first woman to act in the first Assamese film 'Joymoti' in the year 1933. She earned accolades for her performance and her bold step. But back in her village, her family was ostracised. So much so that her parents would not even let her enter the house for fear of the society.

The heroine of Jyotiprasad Agarwalla’s 'Joymoti' was forced to live as a spinster as nobody would marry her after the acting stint, a ‘taboo’ for women in those days. Another reason for her to remain unmarried was because she had to call her co-actor 'Bongohor-deo' (husband) in the film. And to make matters even worse for her, she never got to watch the film, except for catching up with some surviving scenes screened during the Golden jubilee of Assamese film industry in 1985.

Aideu Handique spent her life in a cowshed — a thatched hut— for the rest of her life.

(More information about Aideu Handique can be found in the following links -

1. http://www.bipuljyoti.in/cinema/aideuhandique.html;

2. http://utpalborpujari.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/tragic-story-of-a-life-sacrificed-for-cinema/;

3. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/aideu-the-story-of-assams-first-actress/224472/)