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Assam Skies

An amalgamation of 15 artistes from India, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA) shaped this project with an aim to tell a true story set during the colonial era. Assam Skies is adopted from the poem written by Karen Weed, a poet based in London.

The poem is about Frank Cyril Edwards who came to the Balijan tea estate in Assam in the year 1919 and joined as an Assistant Manager. During his working tenure, he met with a tribal girl, Rampyari and soon fell in love with her. By the year 1922, they had two daughters but destiny had other plans.

In the year 1925, Frank’s fiancée from London Muriel Florence Collins arrived at the tea estate to marry him. With the arrival of Muriel, the relationship between Frank and Rampyari restrained which led the later to take some hard decisions. He separated Rampyari from her daughters and took them into a children's’ home in Kalimpong in Darjeeling.

Soon after the separation, Rampyari couldn’t bear the pain and died shortly. While Frank returned to England and married his fiancée with whom he had a son.

In Dec, 2018, Char Seawell, a folk-country singer from Bothell, USA, after having a talk with Karen, came forward to give a tune to the poem, transforming it to a melodious song.

In 2019, Assamese music producer, Jim Ankan Deka, was approached by Karen to produce the music for Assam Skies. He brought together a team of traditional and western musicians, actors and filmmakers to fully produce a musical docudrama based on the story. For the first time, traditional Assamese musical instruments are used for an American country-folk based song. The audio was released worldwide in June, 2019.

The song is sung by Char herself along with Catherine Khiangte from Mizoram. The Assamese traditional instruments have been recorded by Barun Das and Debojit Kalita in Assam. The percussionists are Prabal Gogoi and Debjani Hazarika. Jim himself played the guitar, bass and keys. Char's voice was recorded in Washington.

The music video was directed by Avataran famed director, Tarunabh Dutta. The shooting of the video started in August with the lead actors Lain Heringman from Spain, Alice Banting Bhattacharya from UK and Gargi Buragohain from Assam.

The video was released worldwide on Sept 25, 2019.

  • Karen Weed
    Author
  • Tarunabh Dutta
    Director
    Avataran
  • Jim Ankan Deka
    Music Directors
  • Char Seawell
    Music Directors
  • Karen Weed
    Producer
  • Debjani Hazarika
    Producer
  • Jim Ankan Deka
    Producer
  • Jim Ankan Deka
    Name of Band or Artist
  • Char Seawell
    Name of Band or Artist
  • Catherine Khiangte
    Name of Band or Artist
  • Karen Weed
    Writer
  • Lain Heringman
    Key Cast
    "English Tea Planter"
  • Gargi Buragohain
    Key Cast
    "Rampiyari"
  • Alice Banting Bhattacharjee
    Key Cast
    "English Wife"
  • Prabal Gogoi
    Camera
  • Pragyan Bezbaruah
    Camera
  • Tarunabh Dutta
    Camera
  • Barun Das
    Musicians
  • Debojit Kalita
    Musicians
  • Prabal Gogoi
    Musicians
  • Jim Ankan Deka
    Musicians
  • Project Type:
    Music Video, Short
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 25, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    2,600 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India, United Kingdom, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • UK Songwriting Contest
    London
    United Kingdom
    October 14, 2017
    Semi Final Placement
  • Music Malt Studios
    Guwahati
    India
    September 25, 2019
    Guwahati Premiere
  • Malabo International Music & Film Festival
    Malabo
    Equatorial Guinea
    April 20, 2020
    Official Selection
  • London International Motion Picture Awards L.I.M.P.A
    London
    United Kingdom
    January 3, 2021
    Semi-Finalist
Director Biography - Tarunabh Dutta

Tarunabh Dutta is a Guwahati based architect turned filmmaker who directed and produced the first Assamese Si-Fi movie 'Avataran'. The film won the North-East Social Impact Award 2015, under the category - 'Advocacy and Empowerment'. He has directed more than 20 short films and many music videos using VFX and animation technology. His short film 'I Am Not Crazy' won the 3rd prize in the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival in 2013. Tarunabh has been associated with Music Malt and ChaiTunes Project of music videos since 2017.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

A lot of research went into for this project and I enjoyed directing this song because it is the untold story of Rampyari who fell in love with Frank completely unaware of what destiny had in store for her. The places where the song was shot were chosen carefully and we made sure that no modern elements were shown in it.