Sarothi

Niranjan Dutta is a government employee with a wife, a grown son and a young daughter. After many years of service he is building a house for the family. As construction advances, the wishes of his wife and children about its plan pile up on him, and he realises that the house is meant for all of them while none of them pays it real attention. Busy with their own concerns, they offer him little support, and he feels alone.

He begins to remember an old friend, Nirmala, and imagines that had she been his companion she might have understood and helped him more than his wife does. One evening he returns from the building site and mentions that he went without food all day because no lunch was sent to him. His wife, son and daughter start blaming one another for forgetting, but Dutta closes the matter, saying it is a trivial thing not worth a fuss.

Bhabendra Nath Saikia produced and directed the film and also wrote its story and screenplay. Arun Nath plays Niranjan Dutta, with Vidya Rao as his wife. The cast also includes Mridula Baruah (as Nirmali), Dr Hemen Burman, Jayanta Das, Mintu Baruah and Mousumi Kathkatia.

At the 39th National Film Awards the film received the Rajat Kamal for the best feature film in Assamese. Along with the medal, Saikia was given a cash prize of 20,000 rupees as producer and 10,000 rupees as director.

In Bhabendra Nath Saikia's filmography, Sarothi came after Anirban (1981) and Agnisnaan (1985) and was followed by Abartan (1993) and Itihaas (1995).