Roi Roi Binale-A Game-Changer in Assamese Cinema

 Roi Roi Binale (2025) directed by Rajesh Bhuyan and written by Zubeen Garg was produced under the banners of Zeal Creations and i-Creation, with Zubeen Garg also serving as the film’s music composer. Poran Borkotoky completed the background music following Zubeen Garg’s passing. The cast is led by Zubeen Garg, supported by an ensemble that includes Mousumi Alifa, Joy Kashyap, Achurjya Borpatra, Victor Banerjee, Snehangsha Protim Baruah, Saurabh Hazarika, Kaushik Bharadwaj, Ujjal Rajkhowa, Yashashree Bhuyan, Mitali Roy, Dhritiman Phukan, Angoorlata Deka, Sudarshan Nath, Anuska Kashyap, Partha Pratim Hazarika, Raja Boruah, and Anudhriti Borthakur. Special appearances are featured by Garima Saikia Garg, Gioconda Vessichelli, Sunita Kaushik, and Meghranjani Medhi, with all song lyrics contributed by Zubeen Garg.​ The film has grossed over Rs 11 crore within its first week of release.

      Roi Roi Binale stands as a watershed in contemporary Assamese cinema, artfully assembling a nuanced and deeply layered tapestry of Zubeen Garg’s ideology, his visionary commitment to his people, and his tireless efforts to transform and elevate the cultural and social landscape of Assam through music and mainstream cinema. The cast delivers performances rich in authenticity, with each actor contributing to the film’s textured exploration of cultural identity, artistry, and resilience. Agonisingly, this film marks Zubeen Garg’s final screen appearance, imbuing every scene with a sense of reverence and emotional gravity that lingers long after the credits roll.

            The character of Raul played by Zubeen, rooted in his complex charisma, gentle rebellion, and persistent crusade for art that transcends political bureaucracy and commercialisation refuses to fictionalise its lead. The film follows the transformative journey of Raul, a blind singer whose encounter with the world is shaped most vividly through music. As Raul matures into a gifted, multi-instrumental musician, his restless creativity and lyrical imagination reveal a profound sensitivity that embodies the qualities of someone deeply rooted in culture, guided by empathy and kindness, resistant to oppressive political and bureaucratic authority, and aware of the insidious spread of capitalism.

            The film’s most striking moments arise during its reflective interludes, when Zubeen is authentic and candid, championing nature, self-respect, and the ongoing struggle of the artist against commercialisation. The work’s meta-commentary reminds viewers that watching is itself an art, demanding thoughtful attention. Through pointed satire and critique of market-driven music management, the film exposes the pressures artists face navigating power, politics, and commerce.​ Through candid scenes and sharp dialogue, Roi Roi Binale urges Axomiya audiences to remember that art’s truest value is not in its saleability but in its power to keep memory and tradition alive. Raul’s resistance to perform in concerts for political or commercial gain is palpable.

            Assam’s geography comes alive with vivid artistry, drawing viewers into landscapes defined by physical beauty, emotional resonance, and cultural richness. Sweeping cinematography and nuanced vignettes bring both rural and urban spaces to life, while evocative details such as memories of insurgency and trauma infuse the region with a profound historical vitality.​ Powerful imagery, from a blast site on a school campus and the Indian flag to a photograph of Bishnu Prasad Rabha on a classroom wall, acts as a living archive, binding together past, present and a bright future refusing to let histories of suffering fade. Arresting scenes, like the Charlie Chaplin image at RD Restaurant of Debo da or Raul defiantly flinging media microphones in protest against exploitative questions, transform artistry into a force of resistance and enduring hope.

            A unifying theme of the film is its nuanced exploration of marginalisation, interrogating both physical and social constraints. The narrative radically reframes blindness not as a disability but as an alternate, heightened way of engaging with the world’s sensory richness challenging common perceptions of ability and broadening Assam’s cinematic vocabulary. This inclusive vision is echoed in the portrayal of women’s independence, where the search for identity within and beyond patriarchal confines becomes a vibrant act of resistance; elite women’s economic agency is depicted not merely as privilege but as a strategic challenge to rigid norms, reflecting the film’s thought-provoking approach to gender and social politics.

            Roi Roi Binale breaks new ground by incorporating reggae and blues genres not commonly heard in Assamese music and cinema. Their inclusion feels apt for expressing unacknowledged sorrow and subtle rebellion, the languishing of art when ignored, and the quiet resistance to power and money. Contemporary in style yet enriched with traditional motifs, the pathos within the theme song scene emerges as a powerful sonic emblem of the work’s spirit interweaving memory, heritage, loss, and a yearning for renewal on the journey forward.

            Roi Roi Binale emerges as both a meditative and insurgent work calling on every Axomiya to embrace cinema as an agency for self-expression, cultural assertion, and critical reflection on weakness and strength. It is a film packed with poignancy and thought. It must be watched, not merely for entertainment, but as a transformative journey. It is a pathfinder for a more thoughtful, soul-searching era in Assamese cinema, keeping us rooted while urging us to articulate our past and imagine our future anew.

            Evaluating Assamese cinema through the same critical lens as mainstream Indian cinema overlooks the unique historical, cultural, and artistic landscape from which it has evolved. Assamese films have drawn deeply from local traditions, literature, and music, reflecting the region’s distinct sensibilities and diverse social context. Attempts to compare it directly with Bollywood or other pan-Indian forms risk erasing the slow-paced, sensitive artistry and homegrown aesthetics that define Assamese cinema’s journey and resilience.

If Assamese mainstream cinema is to become a mass instrument of self-articulation, Roi Roi Binale is both blueprint and banner-bearer, a riveting tribute to memory, resilience, and the perpetual revolution of the spirit.