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Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia defines cinema as—‘a story of nature and humanity, rich in beauty and creativity, written on the screen by the camera� (Dutta: 2017: 92).

Dr. Saikia directed eight feature films in his career. Seven out of his eight films have been selected for the Indian Panorama Section of the International Film Festival of India. Dr. Saikia’s films have been screened at International Film Festivals held at various places around the world including Cannes, Madras, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, Karlovy Vary (Czechoslovakia), Nantes (France), Valladolid (Spain), Algiers (Algeria), Pyongyang (North Korea), Sydney, Munich, Montreal and Toronto. He also directed one episode of a Doordarshan series on Rabindra Nath Tagore's stories in Hindi named Darpa Haran.

Except two (Abartan and Kaal Sandhya), all the other films directed by Dr. Saikia have been adaptations of his own literary creations. As a writer, he was very conscious about psycho-social human behaviour and observed his surroundings with the inner eye. His writings reflect the true essence of living and encompass a society that is mostly composed of people from the lower economic strata. Sufferings and aspirations of the middle class have also been interpreted in many of his writings. Since literary adaptations to films demand a keen sense of understanding of both the media, therefore Dr. Saikia, while venturing into films, tried his best to learn the new media as much as he could. The intricate detailing of a scene is visible in both his writings and films. As a writer incorporates clever speeches in his stories to make lasting impact on the readers, a screenplay and dialogue writer also does the same with the cinema audience. Dr. Saikia wrote the screenplay and dialogues of all his films, and it has been opined by some critics that instead of using the language of silence, Saikia was sometimes overpowered by the writer in him, which led to more thrust on dialogues. It might also be the impact which he carried as a playwright for radio. In fact, Dr. Saikia describes his film craft as, ‘I have strong links with literature. In fact, I came to the world of cinema from that of literature. I have always made films based on my own stories. I do not mind if my films have a literary flavour and I want my audience to appreciate it. However, through the medium of cinema at times you can establish a more direct and closer relationship with the audience, which makes it easier for you to put across your subject and for them to assimilate it. The message is carried much further (Dutta: 2017: 88).

Film critics from Assam regard Dr. Saikia to be the harbinger of a new era of parallel cinema in the state. Maintaining a delicate balance between storytelling and the celluloid, Dr. Saikia has left a signature style of filmmaking that deserves to be studied in detail.

Dr. Saikia’s legacy in the world of stage plays and cinema has been continued by the concerted efforts of some individuals and organizations. Organizations like the Inli Foundation, based in Delhi, have continued to stage plays written by Dr. Saikia in several parts of the country. In 2004, famed director of Assamese cinema Munin Barua directed a film called Deenabandhu which was based on one of the plays written by Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia for Awahan Theatre. The theatre group itself produced the film in honour of Dr. Saikia and his long 18 years (1981-1998) of association with the group.

The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Assamese in the year 2004. Moreover another Assamese film called Shringkhal (The Quiver) based on a short story written by Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia was released on 17 October 2014. Directed by Prabin Hazarika, Sringkhal was co-produced by the Assam State Film (Finance and Development) Corporation Limited with Preeti Saikia, Partha Pratim Bora, Sangeeta Saikia, Dipendra Patowary and Prabin Hazarika.

The seeds for the love of the stage were sown into young Bhabendra Nath’s mind from two directions—firstly, the neighbourhood environment and secondly, his father. Dr. Saikia fondly reminisces the childhood days spent in Kirtan Ghar Road, Faudaripatty, which was an area of mixed population at that time. In his autobiography Jeevan Britta (The circle of life), Dr. Saikia narrates about the people and the happenings that moulded him into a nature-loving, culturally enriched person. The folklife in which he grew up was diversified with the variety of people who resided there. The people led very humble lives, yet enjoyed it whole-heartedly. After going through the pages of Jeevan Britta, the researcher could attain a vivid picture of the background that led to Dr. Saikia’s inclination towards music, literature, stage plays and later to the world of cinema.

Dr. Saikia grew up in a neighbourhood that had folk singers and people who loved music. He describes a place near the neighbourhood Namghar (traditional Vaishnava place of worship in Assamese society established by 15th century saint Srimanta Sankardev). The place had a community well that was surrounded with leafy trees growing in close proximity to turn the plot into a shady spot for musical gatherings. Even the roots of a date tree were strong enough to accommodate a few people. This place has been lovingly mentioned by Dr. Saikia as �the cultural centre� of his childhood (Saikia: 2016: 6).

Dr. Saikia’s father Late Bidur Saikia taught in Nuruddin Ahmed Moktab School, Nagaon for a few years. However he lost his job due to a brief illness and hence had to struggle hard to make both ends meet. Bhabendra Nath was the youngest of three siblings and after school he used to sell vegetables in the local market with his father. In spite of the hardships, the father continued his zeal for music and acting. Evenings at home were filled with people gathering to hear Dr. Saikia’s father, who was a fine storyteller. He narrated stories from around the world in a lucid and attractive style. He also entertained people with devotional songs. As a school boy, Dr. Saikia had heard a Bangla devotional song from his father which he had never heard from anybody else.

After a long time, while watching Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali during his days at Presidency College, Calcutta, he heard the old woman in the film singing the same song and that too with the same tune. This was something that astonished him.

Once, Dr. Saikia’s father had amazed Gunabhiram Barua (19th century Indian intellectual from Assam) in disguise as a beggar. Gunabhiram Barua, as a sign of applause, gifted him with a ‘magic lantern�, five boxes of colourful glass slides and a white sheet for projection. This was like a magical box for Dr. Saikia’s father, with which he toured in the nearby areas performing shows. People termed those shows as Sayabaaji (magical shows with light and shadow). Young Bhabendra Nath assisted his father in these shows and helped in changing of slides while the father narrated stories of various kinds matching the slides. These occurrences were Dr. Saikia’s first encounter with the beautiful world of light, sound and public performance. In the later years of school, he watched a shadow-play performed by the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) in Nagaon. This prompted him to take up stage plays seriously.

Dr. Saikia is also regarded as the forerunner of mime in Assam. In 1963 he watched a Mime show at Bombay and back home he directed the same performance called ‘Broken Mirror�. Three of his students from Gauhati University took part in the performance. No records of Mime shows in Assam have been found before this incident.

During his days in Calcutta, Dr. Saikia frequently visited cinema theatres. He watched many family dramas and social themed films. However after watching Pather Panchali he could feel that this kind of filmmaking was different and away from the mainstream cinema. While he was in Calcutta, Dr. Saikia got the opportunity to act in an Assamese film called Sati Beula directed by Sunil Ganguly. This can be regarded as his first direct association with cinema. He acted in the film in a minor role with a single sentence dialogue.

In spite of his father’s demise, loss of an academic year and financial crisis coupled with search for a job, Dr. Saikia kept the urge for filmmaking alive. When working in Sivasagar College for a brief period, he had applied for a government scholarship to study abroad. Dr. Saikia could complete his PhD in Physics with that scholarship. However this was not his first choice. While submitting the scholarship form, his elder brother had striked out the first choice and kept only the second, which was Physics. Dr. Saikia writes in Jeevan Britta that had he been given a chance to pursue his first choice, he would have been an institutionally learned filmmaker, as he had opted for cinematography in the scholarship form.

Before starting his career as a filmmaker, Dr. Saikia kept himself associated with the stage not only as a playwright but also as an actor. Once he participated in a 40-day acting workshop at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. Eminent theatre personalities Habib Tanveer and Sushma Seth were the workshop directors. Dr. Saikia regarded this workshop as an important learning point in his career.

While in London, Dr. Saikia watched many English and foreign language films like Bicycle Thieves (Italian, Dir: Vittorio De Sica), The Roof (Italian, Dir: Vittorio De Sica), Kanal (Polish, Dir: Andrzej Wajda), Diary of Anne Frank (English & German, Dir: George Stevens), to name a few. These films, especially The Roof, inspired him to make cinema that portrays human emotions and life in its true form through the celluloid. He felt that cinema should not be a fairy-tale package made only to distract the audience from reality. The essence of Parallel Cinema with its serious content, realism and naturalism, symbolic elements with a keen eye on the socio-political climate of the times, and for the rejection of inserted dance-and-song routines that are typical of mainstream Indian films, prompted Dr, Saikia to look deeper into the genre. 

His own words for his cinema are a testimony that he believed himself to be a storyteller who employed the medium of cinema to portray humanitarian issues and emotions, which have universal appeal.

I have lived a life with strong ties to the land and people of India. My values, thoughts and perceptions are inherently a reflection of this. So, naturally, in the work I do, whether it is cinema, literature or theatre, they are given the greatest emphasis. In that respect, I am an Indian director. However, even when the theme and the way it is handled is Indian in its essence, a number of features in my films have universal connotations. Whether I have utilized my cinema as an international medium will depend on how well I have been able to depict this universality. I believe, an accomplished, sensitive Indian filmmaker will always treat cinema as an international medium.

—Bhabendra Nath Saikia (Datta: 2017: 90-91)

Dr. Saikia belonged to a club of filmmakers who, apart from making good cinema, wanted to enhance the taste of the cinegoers. He wanted the audience to perceive and assimilate what he is trying to convey through his cinema. However he was also aware of the fact that film appreciation depends upon individual choice of genre, line of perception and level of intelligence. In spite of knowing these, he did not compromise with the quality of his work to gain commercial success or to reach more people. 

That is why he opines that,

I want to be able to communicate with them at a particular intellectual level, and believe that it should be the goal of all sincere filmmakers to try to cultivate and nurture such a perceptive, tasteful and ‘serious� audience. This in itself is a tremendous accomplishment.

—Bhabendra Nath Saikia (Datta: 2017: 91) 

Dr. Saikia believed that all artistes, regardless of whether they are playing small or big roles, shared equal responsibility, and that it is essential for them to offer a hundred per cent of their ability—whether it is the hero or heroine or someone appearing for thirty seconds. He expected total commitment from them. Instead of bringing established actors on board, like most of the auteurs, Dr. Saikia preferred to cast amateurs, nonprofessionals and artists from the theatre. He is credited to have introduced brilliant artists like Runu Devi (as Saru in Sandhyarag) and Nikumoni Baruah (as Lakhimi in Sarothi) who made it big on the silver screen in their later years. Like most other filmmakers of the parallel cinema genre, it is also observed that Dr. Saikia maintained almost the same team of cast and crew in all his films. Film critic Utpal Datta rightly opines that ‘the plots and expressions of his films became more complex, but the reality and truthfulness in the acting methods touched newer heights, such that not another filmmaker in the entire nation could successfully put forth such innovation in making the actors portray heart-felt reality in films� (Datta: 2007: 90-91).

World renowned critics like Derek Malcolm have held him in high esteem. Dr. Saikia’s maiden film Sandhyaraag involved an extravagant production. In spite of not belonging to the norms of mainstream cinema, the film was well received by the audience. However, his later films after Agnisnan, were critically acclaimed, but not very successful at the box office. Kolahol never had a commercial release. In spite of not being significant names in terms of box office popularity, Dr. Saikia’s cinema proved that film speaks a global language and cannot be confined within the soil of its origin. These contributions have inspired independent filmmakers who sought to make their mark in the global arena as ‘Indian Filmmakers� (Datta: 2007: 91).