Arun Sarma is the most distinguished and acclaimed contemporary Assamese dramatist. He is also a prominent poet and novelist. All his twelve full-length and three one-act plays display variety in form and content. He was much ahead of his time who had anti-realistic tendencies, with touches of the absurd, symbolism, and allegory. Of them, Sri Nibaran Bhattacharyya in 1967, Purush or `Man` in 1972, Kukurnechia manuh, and Abar or `Food` remain landmarks in modern Assamese theatre. Violence, both mental and physical, can be traced in several Sarma plays. He is not averse to politics either. Buranjipath i.e. `History Lessons` in 1980, Baghjal i.e. `Tiger Trap` and Chinyor or `Scream` in 1984 follow the Marxist path, whereas Anya ek adhyay i.e. `A Different Chapter` in 1995 is a criticism of terrorism. These are relevant to the prevalent terrorist climate in Assam over the last two decades.
Dialogue in Sarma`s dramas emphatically establishes their quality as literature. His ability to choose expressive and resonant vocabulary may be directly related to his twenty-nine-year-long career in broadcasting. At first he was a producer and later as station director. He has written forty-two radio plays, inclusive of translations and adaptations, and twenty major documentaries, which attracted national and international recognition. His translation of Sudraka`s Sanskrit Mricchakatika, staged by a Bhramyaman Mancha troupe in 1983, was a trailblazing event for this kind of mobile commercial theatre. Interestingly, although through Sarma`s drama, Assamese theatre attained contemporaneity with world trends in the 1960s, his plays are not as widely performed as they are widely praised.
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