Bidyut Kotoky

Born in Assam, his father’s profession took Bidyut’s family all over the northeast.

After School, Bidyut left for Pune for his higher studies and obtained a Masters degree in Economics, another in Mass communication. Very early in life, Bidyut had decided his vocation - Filmmaking. For his stories he never had to look further than his ever growing bond with his homeland. He made more than 100 short films on northeast and taken the sight, smells and tastes of the land to the outside world.

His first documentary, ‘The road less travelled… where the journey is the destination’- a journey of three friends through the fascinating terrains of Arunachal Pradesh - was successfully screened in various festivals in India and abroad.

In the year 2006, his film ‘Bhraimoman Theatre- where Othello sails with Titanic’ based on the travelling theatre of Assam won a special mention in the National Awards.

In the year 2010, Bidyut’s documentary ‘The Mighty Ahoms’ was telecast on National Geographic and Fox History channels.

His first feature film as writer/ director is ‘ekhon nedekha nadir xipare’/‘as the River flows’ is a bi-lingual (Hindi & Assamese) one and is produced by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). The Assamese version is released on September 2012 and is doing the festival circuit. The film won the best script (Bidyut himself) and the best actor (Sanjay Suri) award in the 2013 Washington DC South-Asian Film Festival winning critical acclaim. He also won ‘the best script award’ for the period 2010-2012 in the Assam State Film Award for the same film. Recently, the film won the Audience Choice Award in 2014 North Carolina South-Asian film fest.

His documentary ‘Guns and Guitar- a musical travelogue’ is selected as one of the top 100 documentaries of this year by Color Tape International Film Festival – considered the largest festival of the Southern Hemisphere. Additionally the film has been part of the official selection of 8 festivals so far. The film is an Official Selection of the Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival of India (Goa) 2016 – the top international festival of this country.

Meanwhile Bidyut gears himself up for a feature length feature film, ‘Rainbow fields’. The film deals with the effect of violence on kids growing up in conflict zone.