Bhupen Hazarika

Bhupen Hazarika (8 September 1926 to 5 November 2011) was the most widely loved musician Assam has produced, and one of the few Indian artists who shaped film music, folk revival and public life at once. He was a singer, songwriter, writer, filmmaker and politician, and the songs he wrote, mostly in Assamese, are built on themes of human warmth, communal harmony, universal justice and empathy. They have been translated into many languages, most often Bengali and Hindi, and are especially cherished in Assam, West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Hazarika was born in Sadiya, on the bank of the Brahmaputra, the eldest of ten children. His father came from Nazira in Sivasagar district, and his mother introduced him to lullabies and the traditional music of Assam. His connection to cinema began extraordinarily early: at thirteen he acted in and sang for Jyotiprasad Agarwala's Indramalati (1939), performing Biswa Bijoyee Navajowan. In the following decades he composed for the key Assamese films of the era, including Piyoli Phukan (1955), Maniram Dewan (1964), Chameli Memsaab (1975), Aporoopa (1982) and many others, and directed Era Bator Sur (1956), Shakuntala (1961), Pratidhwani (1964), Lotighoti (1966), Chikmik Bijuli (1969) and Mon Projapoti (1979).

He is also remembered for bringing the folk music and culture of Assam and the Northeast to Hindi cinema at the national level. His honours include the National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1975), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987), the Padma Shri (1977), the Padma Bhushan (2001), the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1992) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2008). He served as chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi from 1998 to 2003. After his death he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012 and the Bharat Ratna in 2019.