Tears flow as Zubeen’s last film ‘Roi Roi Binale’ opens to packed halls across Assam

Guwahati: 'Roi Roi Binale' (Tears still flow), the last film featuring popular singer-composer Zubeen Garg, who died in Singapore last month, opened to packed shows across Assam on Friday.

The first screening took place as early as 4.25 am at a multiplex in Guwahati, with people queuing to watch their favourite star on the big screen for the last time.

Shows started before 5 am in all cities of the state, with the movie also having a simultaneous nationwide release.

Emotions ran high with viewers seen crying as they exited the halls after the movie.

From children to senior citizens to specially-abled people, all made a beeline to the halls to watch Garg's last film on the very first day.

Leaders of different political parties, including Cabinet ministers, also joined in watching the movie in different parts of the state.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he will also be watching 'Roi Roi Binale' soon.

"I will watch it a bit later since if I go to any hall, it will cause inconvenience for the public. We will perhaps request the 'Jonaki' hall in Guwahati to organise a special screening for us," Sarma told reporters on sidelines of a programme in Lakhimpur.

With tickets for all shows for the next one week sold out, Garg's musical is expected to break all past box office records for Assamese cinema in the future.

Most halls have scheduled up to seven shows a day, running till early hours the next day to cater to demand.

In 'Roi Roi Binale', Garg is playing the lead character, who is a blind musician. It has 11 songs, composed by himself.

The film revolves around the life of a musician and his struggle. The trailer showed that his character was lying senseless on a sea beach and one person was trying to wake him up, a startling coincidence with his death.

The celebrated singer died while swimming in the sea in Singapore on September 19.

Garg is also the producer of the Rajesh Bhuyan-directed 146-minute-long film 'Roi Roi Binale' along with his wife Garima and Shyamantak Gautam.

'Roi Roi Binale' was one of Garg's hit songs from the 90s, and he had termed it as the "darkest" number written by him.

The Assam cabinet on Wednesday decided that the government will hand over the state's share of GST from 'Roi Roi Binale' to Kalaguru Artiste Foundation, set up by the singer for the welfare of the downtrodden.

Film content provider UFO Moviez India General Manager (Sales and Distribution) Sourav Dutta had told PTI on Thursday that at least 91 screens across the North East and almost 90 in the rest of the country are screening the film from the day of release.

He said places like Lucknow, Indore, Patna, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Kochi, Jaipur, Surat, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Coimbatore and Goa, where no Assamese film was screened before, is showing 'Roi Roi Binale' from Friday.

The distributor also received a screening request from Nepal, but it is not yet finalised, he added.