Aimee Baruah

Aimee Baruah is an Indian actress, producer, and director. She has won three National Film Awards for both feature films and non-feature films.^[1]

Aimee Baruah
Aimee Baruah with her National Award in 2022
Born	Nagaon, Assam, India
Occupations	Actress producer director
Years active	2001-present
Notable work	Semkhor (2021)
Spouse	Pijush Hazarika ​ (m. 2011)​

Early life

Baruah was born in Nagaon to Mala Baruah and Purna Baruah, a police superintendent.^[2] She holds a master's degree in sociology. She is currently pursuing her PhD from Gauhati University on the films of singer, musician, and filmmaker Bhupen Hazarika.^[3]

Career

Since starting her career at fourteen, she has starred in over twenty-nine feature-length films, including several National Award-winning films.^{[citation needed]}

Her directorial debut was the Dimasa language film Semkhor.^[4] The film received two National Awards at the 68th National Film Awards. She also became the first actress from Assam to walk down the red carpet at the 75th Cannes Film Festival.^[5]

Her documentary film, Screaming Butterflies,^[6] was bestowed with Silver Conch award at the 17th Mumbai International Film Festival.^[7] (MIFF). She was a jury member at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) as well as a member of the steering committee at the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), held in Goa. She became the first Assamese actress to receive the "Best Actress in a Leading Role" award at the first edition of the Filmfare Awards Assamese 2024.^[8]

Her latest documentary film, "Birubala: Witch to Padmashree" which chronicles a tribal woman's fight against witchcraft and witch hunting, initially in Goalpara and then throughout Assam, has been honored with the Jury's Special Mention Award at the 70th National Film Awards for the year 2022.^[9]

Personal life

Aimee Baruah married Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) politician and Minister Pijush Hazarika on 1 October 2011.^[10][11][12]

Filmography

As an actress

Year	Film	Role	Notes	Ref
2002	Prem Aru Prem		Debut film
2005	Kadamtole Krishna Nache		Assamese drama film	[11]
2011	Jetuka Pator Dore	Radha	Assamese drama film based on the novel of the same name by Syed Abdul Malik	[13][14]
2013	Karma Ke Rati	Laxmi Nayak	Assamese-Sadri film	[15]
	Mahasamar
2018	Nijanor Gaan	Ragini
2019	Pratighaat
2021	Semkhor	Mother	Dimasa language film	[16]
2023	Rongatapu 1982	Morom

As director

Year	Film	Producer	Notes	Ref
2021	Semkhor	Yes	Dimasa language film	[17][18][19]

Awards

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2011	Jetuka Pator Dore	Prag Cine Awards	Best Actress	Won	[20]
2022	Semkhor	68th National Film Awards	Best feature in Dimasa	Special Mention	[21][22]

Controversy

• In order to protest the misrepresentation of their community in Semkhor, Dimasa organizations in the capital of Assam's Dima Hasao district, have petitioned President Droupadi Murmu to step in and stop the film's screening.^{[23][24][25][26]}
• The director of Semkhor, is currently facing legal issues. The ex-President of the All Dimasa Students' Union Mohendra Kemprai filed an FIR against her for allegedly "misrepresenting" Dimasa culture and fostering misconceptions about the tribe which portrays a barbaric image of India in front of the world.^{[27][28][29][30]}
• The organizations claimed that an 84-day-old infant died after four days following the shooting of the movie Semkhor due to extreme exposure to cold and the grave negligence of Baruah."^[31][25][32]
• The Assamese film fraternity believes that her career took a sharp turn upwards after her husband became a Minister in the BJP Government of Assam.