Dr. Bhupen Hazarika

Bhupen Hazarika was born in Sadiya, Assam. A child prodigy, he wrote and sang his first song at the age of 10 in the first ever Assamese film Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's Joymoti and worked for the second Assamese film, Agarwala's Indramalati, in 1939 when he was 12 years old and sang the song 'Biswa Bijoy No Jowan'.

He completed his Intermediate Arts from Cotton College in 1942, and went on to Banaras Hindu University to complete his B.A. in 1944 and his M.A. in Political Science in 1946. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York in 1954, submitting a dissertation titled "Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to Use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education". He was the president of the "Asom Sahitya Sabha" in 1993.

Bhupen Hazarika was born in 1926, in Sadiya, Assam. An extremely academically prolific person, he did his Inter (Arts) in Guwahati in 1942, and went on to Banaras Hindu University to complete his B. A. in 1944 and his M. A. in Political Science in 1946.

Soon after, he left for New York, USA where he lived for five years and received his doctorate (PhD) in Mass Communication from Columbia University. He also received the Lisle Fellowship from Chicago University, USA to study the use of educational project development through cinema.

Achievement in Cinema:

Bhupen Hazarika is ranked amongst the leading film makers of the nation.

He is probably the only living pioneer who is solely responsible for placing the fledging Assamese cinema on the all India and on the world cinema map. He has been the only person in the past 40 years to propagate the better cinema movement and has integrated all the seven north-eastern states, including tribal culture, through the medium of cinema. His remarkable popularity brought him to the legislative Assembly as an Independent member between 1967 to 1972, where he was solely responsible for installing the first state owned film studio of its kind ever, in India in Guwahati, Assam.

Honours Conferred The country bestowed its greatest honour on him, the Padamshree in 1977 for his outstanding contribution to the field of culture in India.

In 1977 he won two awards in West Bengal. The Bangla Chalachitra Prasar Samity and the Bangla Chalchitra Purashkar Samity for being the best music director for the film .Dampati.. In 1978 he won two awards from Bangladesh as rhe best music director for the film .Simana Periye. from the Bangladesh Journalists Association and the Bangladesh film industry.

The Gramophone Company of India bestowed on him the Gold Disc for his outstanding contribution towards Indian Music in 1978.

A) In 1979 and 1980 he won the Ritwick Ghatak Award as best music directors for two theatre plays .Mohua Sundari. and .Nagini Kanyar Kahini..

B) In 1979 he won the All India Critic Association Award for the best performing folk artist in India.

C) In 1987 he was conferred the National Citizen.s Award at New Delhi for his outstanding excellence in music.

D) The Government of Assam bestowed its highest award the .Shankar Dev Award. in 1987 for his contribution to Assam.s culture.

E) In 1987 he won Assam.s .Man of the Year. award.

F) Sangeet Natak Academy - New Delhi awarded him in 1987 for his outstanding contribution towards Indian music.

G) The Bengal Journalist.s Association honoured him with the .Indira Gandhi Smriti Purashkar. in 1987.

H) In 1992, the Government of West Bengal honoured him with the award for his contribution to the World of Arts.

I) In 1993, he was honoured India.s Oscar .The Dadasaheb Phalke Award. for his lifetime.s contribution to development of Indian cinema.

J) In 1993, he was conferred as the first Indian Music Director for best music Internationally for the film .Rudaali. at the Asia Pacific International Film Festival at Japan.

K) In 1999, he has been appointed by the Honourable President of India as the Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi for a period of five years.

L) In 2000, he has been appointed by the Government of India as the Trustee of Indira Gandhi Centre of Arts for a period of ten years.

M) He has been appointed by the Government of India as the trustee of ICCR, for a period of 3 years.

N) In 2001, he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian award and he was given the Lata Mangeshkar Award for his overall contribution in music by the Madhya Pradesh Government.

O) In November 2001, he was honoured with the Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) from the Tezpur University.

P) In 2003, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika has been appointed the member of the Prasar Bharati Board, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India.

R) Bhupen Hazarika is one of the only forces in India today who is a true exponent of National Integration, expressed wonderfully through a variety of media.

Acclaimed singer and director Dr Bhupen Hazarika has died in Mumbai's Kokilaben Hospital on 5th Sept,2011  around 4.30 pm. Due to multiple organ failure he was admitted in Kokilaben Hospital since June 29, 2011. Perhaps the only living balladeer in the country, composing his own lyrics and music, Hazarika lent his voice to the film " Gandhi To Hitler ", where he sang Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan 'Vaishnav jan'.

The funeral of Dr Bhupen Hazarika become one of the historical funerals in the world. His funeral attendance has made it one of the highest in the world. Unofficial sources have claimed that the number has already crossed the number of attendees who paid the last respect to Late Princess Diana, Pope John Paul II, US president John F Kennedy, etc. The number of people who paid the last respect to the Bard of Brahmaputra has already crossed the number attendees at funerals of other music maestros such as Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, the source claimed. According to sources the funeral of "The Bard of Brahmaputra" Bhupen Hazarika was attend by over 5,00,000 peoples and almost 30,000,000 TV audience in 8&9th November 2011. Dr Bhupen Hazarika was cremated at Guwahati University Campus in Jalukbari on 9th November 2011.