Assam Govt ties up with Jio Cinema to stream short film on Lachit Barphukan

Jul 21, 2023

Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 21 : The Assam government on Friday said it has tied up with Jio Cinema OTT platform to stream a short film on Veer Lachit Barphukan.
"To celebrate Bir Lachit Barphukan's 400th Birth Anniversary, the Assam Government has produced a short film on the great warrior Lachit Barphukan. The film was first screened on November 25, 2022 during the 400th Birthday Anniversary Celebration of Lachit Barphukan that was held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi in the august presence of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi," an official statement said.
"Now, to ensure that this film gets a much wider reach, the Assam Government has tied up with Jio Cinema to host this short film on the OTT platform. By doing so, it also becomes the first State in India to use OTT platform to reach the national audience," it added.
In this regard, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to Twitter and said, "Celebrating the indomitable courage of one of Bharat's bravest warriors - Lachit Barphukan! Experience his heroic feats and legendary battles, as his tale of bravery finds its place on OTT platform - @JioCinema."
Assam CM Sarma said that it aims to display the State's great historical and cultural heritage to this new age audience by streaming the movie on OTT platform.  
"The OTT subscriber base in the country is one of the fastest growing in the world. We have close to 45 cr OTT subscribers compared to 15 cr television sets. We want to showcase Assam's great historical and cultural heritage to this new age audience and in the coming days we plan to leverage some of the successful platforms for this purpose," CM Sarma said.
"It’s a proud moment for Assam that a film on Bir Lachit is now available in one of the country's largest OTT platform, JioCinema. This is also the first ever Hindi language documentary film on the iconic Assamese warrior," he added.
According to an official statement, Assam government has become the first state in India to use OTT platform to reach the national audience.
"In the coming months, Assam Government will produce similar short film on topics such as the World's largest Bihu Celebration and 200 years of Assam Tea that will be made available in one of India's top 3 OTT Platforms like JioCinema, HotStar, Prime Video etc," it said.
Lachit Barphukan (1622-1672) was the famous General of the Ahom Kingdom of Assam who defeated the Mughals and successfully halted the ever-expanding ambitions of the Mughals under Aurangzeb.
Lachit Barphukan inspired the Assamese soldiers in the Battle of Saraighat fought in 1671 and delivered a crushing and humiliating defeat to the Mughals.
The heroic fight of Lachit Barphukan and his army remains one of the most inspiring military feats of resistance in the history of our country. Lachit Barphukan is revered as one of the greatest military heroes of India.
The week-long celebrations for the 400th birth anniversary of Ahom general Lachit Barphukan began on Friday in Guwahati with various uniformed men and women participating in a march past to commemorate the valour and sacrifice he showed in thwarting the Mughal forces.