At its core, ‘Bhaimon Da’, directed by Sasanka Samir, isn’t just about Munin Barua. It’s about an entire industry and its journey through time. Christened after the name that those close to Munin Barua lovingly called him, the film is a dedicated tribute to the successful Assamese filmmaker of his time and the film industry of Assam.
The film is filled with references, names, and moments that will immediately resonate with anyone who’s grown up watching or caring about Assamese cinema. From ‘Bowari’ to ‘Raamdhenu’, and ‘Hiya Diya Hiya’ and ‘Ghar Sansar’ and ‘Barood’, the titles themselves speaks of nostalgia today. And the film uses nostalgia for emotional leverage. However, some references in the film will only click if one is familiar with the history of Assamese cinema—for instance, nods to Brajen Baruah or the romance between the producer and lead actress of ‘Bowari’ or the film that Zubeen Garg keeps referring to that he is making. These are film industry trivia that not every viewer can get.
Bondip Sharma gets highlighted as an actor who achieves a quiet command of the scenes that he is in. He may not “become” Munin Barua, but he delivers a command in every frame he’s in. But there’s also a gap as to where Munin Barua’s inner world should be. This is a limitation of the film because the filmmaker and the writing team relied on second-hand sources that are memories of people of their relationship with Munin Barua instead of any primary insight. Hence, Munin Barua’s inner life remains distant, making the film more archival than intimate.
Ironically, the most emotionally textured part of the film doesn’t involve Munin Barua at all—but his son, Rijjoo. The baton-passing is handled with effectiveness, for nothing means more to a son than his father acknowledging his deeds and Gitartha Sharma delivers a good performance as Rijjoo. Yasashree Bhuyan shows promise as Manjula Barua in the first half, but her character gradually fades into the background in the second half.
‘Bhaimon Da’, as a film has a huge star cast. It has actors playing different film personalities of the yesteryears and the present. It takes its ensemble seriously, but not always wisely. The film is filled up with all the who’s who of Assamese cinema from Shiva Prasad Thakur to Bhabendranath Saikia and Jahnu Barua, from Bidya Rao, Mridula Barua to Nishita Goswami, and from Biju Phukan to Jatin Bora, and from cinematographer Sumon Dowerah to film critic and journalist Pabitra Kumar Deka.
While some actors are uncanny in their portrayals of the famous personalities while others feel shoehorned in. Nilim Dutta and Kaushik Bharadwaj are convincing as Biju Phukan and Jatin Bora, but others—like Partha Pratim Hazarika as Zubeen Garg—feel visually off, though voice and mannerisms help. Some, like Himangshu Barman’s Himanta Biswa Sarma, verge on caricature. The direction should have been more conscious here, especially with to the performance of Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The film packs in numerous film personalities, but many of them like Bani Das, Sanjeev Hazarika or Bidyut Chakravarty feel like set dressing—present more to fill the frame than to serve the story. Moreover, the story leans heavily on external conflicts—be it piracy, funding challenges of Assamese cinema, or hostile cinema hall owners. Because the film lacks a direct access to Munin Barua’s mind and his inner life, it forces the story to orbit around events rather than first hand emotions. While the emotional arc of Munin Barua with Manjula Barua fades into the background in the second half, the evolving father-son arc tries to bring in some narrative and emotional weight that the rest of the film often underplay.
The editing of the film is challenging and had enough responsibility to mix multiple timelines, capture the tone and essence of the film, give equal focus to the events, actors and the themes of the film. And this is possible only when the story is told in a non-linear manner. So, much of the first half is non-linear cutting across multiple timelines. But however, it may appear jarring to audiences who are not exposed much to non-linear storytelling and editing in films. To make matters worse, the superimposed time stamps in the beginning of a new timeline becomes too difficult to read – it appears and disappears quickly.
With half the budget as that of a Bollywood production, the film achieves a good balance of production design, costume and visual effects. But some visual effects feel cartoonish and the make-up of the actors perhaps demanded a closer look. At times, Bhaimon Da also veers into Bollywood-style gloss—especially with costumes choices of the lead pair that feel too theatrical for the setting. But if you have any emotional stake in Assamese cinema and its challenges and history, or even a mild curiosity about regional film cultures, Bhaimon Da deserves a watch.
Perhaps this a good period for Assamese cinema as it is experiencing a remarkable resurgence in 2025. At the beginning of the year, it was Raktim Kamal Baruah’s ‘Gulai Soor’ which managed to gather some traction among audiences. Then Dhanjit Das’s ‘Casetu Nagen’, released on May 11, has maintained a steady presence at the box office. Following that, ‘Bhaimon Da’, which hit the screens on May 23, has garnered significant attention for its heartfelt tribute to filmmaker Munin Barua and Assamese cinema. Looking ahead, the upcoming release of Roopak Gogoi’s ‘Rudra’ on June 6, featuring Ravi Sharma and Adil Hussain, is also generating considerable anticipation.
To make a film about Bhaimon Da or Munin Barua is, by default, to make a film about the legacy and struggles of Assamese cinema—and with good films now arriving back-to-back, he must be surely feeling proud of his successors. But as some media platforms and journalists are writing, ‘Bhaimon Da’ is not the first-ever biopic of Assamese cinema. In fact, we have biopics in large numbers defining the 90 years of this journey. Hence, saying so is just being ignorant about the history of Assamese cinema.
‘Bhaimon Da’ (2025) is currently running in theatres of Assam, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Noida and Bangalore
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