Dr. Bhupen Hazarika was born into a family of teachers at Sadiya a small town in upper Assam on September 8 1926. He was a gem of a genious since his childhood, he wrote and sang his first song at the age of 10 and at the age of 12 years in 1939 he worked for the second Assamese film Indramalati. They were six brothers and four sisters. He grew up in a family of teachers, his father Nilakanta Hazarika was a teacher and he was always inclined towards journalism. He was the firstchild of his parents. A product of Cotton Collegiate Higher Secondary School in Guwahati he completed his Intermediate Arts from Cotton College, Guwahati in 1942 and completed his B.A. from Banaras Hindu University in 1944 and he did M.A. in Political Science in 1946. Then he left for New York, USA where he lived for five years and received his doctorate (PhD) in Mass Communication from Columbia University. He earned Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York, USA in 1954, submitting a dissertation titled "Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to Use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education". He also received the Lisle Fellowship from Chicago University, USA to study the use of educational project development through cinema. His brother Jayanta Hazarika’s untimely death pains him a lot. Jayanta Hazarika was also a very famous singer. His death was a shock to him and it took a long time to overcome his grief. Not only Bhupen Hazarika, every assamese felt his absence today as well. As a child, he grew up listening to Folk music. Rhythm of folk music inclined him in developing towards singing. As a singer, he is always tremendously influenced by the Great Vaishnav thinker and Assam's most famous reformer, Sankardev, who is known for his devotional songs, Borgeet. He learnt music from Bishnu Prasad Rabha, another stalwart from Assam, who trained him in the Bhatkhande school of music. Between 1936-40, he accompanied another legend of Assam the great Assamese poet, lyricist and film-maker Jyoti Prasad Agarwala on his trips to Calcutta. He introduced him to the works of George Bernard Shaw at Calcutta. Somewhere down the line, the revolutionary in him was born, when he was at BHU. His music and his film scripts portrayed the ethnic anger that he suffered from.
As a singer, he is known for his crisp baritone voice and flawless diction, as a lyricist, he is known for poetic compositions and parables that touch on a wide range of themes-ranging from the erotic to social and political commentary; and as a composer for his use of folk music with a touch of the contemporary. He also participated, first as a child artist, and later as a director, in the nascent Assamese film industry. He is immensely popular, touching on reverence, in the states of Assam, West Bengal as well as in neighboring country Bangladesh. In addition to his native Assamese, Hazarika has sung in many other Indian languages, including Bengali and Hindi.
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 from 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.
Bhupen Hazarika began his career in films as a child actor in the second talkie film to be made in the pioneering years of 1939 in the film Indramalati.
A prodigious genius he wrote and sang his first song at the age of 10 after which there has been no looking back.
He has produced and directed, composed music and sang for the Assamese language films Era Batar Sur in 1956, Shakuntala in 1960, Pratidhwani in 1964, Lotighoti in 1967, Chick Mick Bijuli in 1971, Mon Projapati in 1978, Swikarokti in 1986, Siraj in 1988. He also directed, composed music and sang for Mahut Bandhure in 1958. He produced, directed, and composed music for Arunachal Pradesh.s first Hindi feature film in colour Mera Dharam Meri Maa in 1977. He directed a colour ducumentary for the Arunachal Pradesh Government on Tribal folk songs and dances entitled For Whom The Sun Shines in 1974.
He produced and directed a documentary Emuthi Saular Kahini based on the co- operative movement for the Govt. of Assam entirely in the format of lyrics. He produced and directed a half-hour documentary for Calcutta Doordarshan Kendra in 1977 on the folk songs and dances of north east India entitled .Through Melody and Rhythm. He produced and composed music for five reeler colour documentary to promote tourism for the Govt. of Assam in 1981.
He produced and composed music for the internationally famous award winning Hindi feature film Ek Pal in 1986, directed by Kalpana Lajmi.
He produced and composed the music for the extremely popular television serial Lohit Kinare directed by Kalpana Lajmi, based on famous short stories of Assam for the prime time National Network in 1988.
He has been the Executive Producer, Music Composer for the award winning Hindi feature film Rudali.
He has won the President’s National Award for the best film maker thrice: for Shakuntala, Pratidhwani, and Lotighoti. in 1960, 1964 and 1967 respectively.
He won the Arunachal Pradesh Government’s Gold Medal in 1977 for his outstanding contribution towards Tribal Welfare, and upliftment of Tribal Culture through cinema and music.
He also won the National Award as best music composer in India in 1977 for the Assamese film .Chameli Memsaab..
He has rendered music, written lyrics and sung for numerous Assamese, Bengali and Hindi films from 1930s to the 1990s. Bhupen Hazarika has scored music and sung for the highest number of Assamese films made in the past 40 years.
He has directed music in outstanding Bengali films, such as Jiban Trishna, Jonakir Alo, Mahut Bandhure, Kari o Komal, Asamapta, Ekhane Pinjar, Dampati, Chameli Memsaab, Dui, Bechara, and Hindi films like Arop, Ek Pal, and Rudaali.
In 1995 he scored music for Sai Paranjype’s Hindi feature film Papiha and Bimal Dutt’s Hindi feature film Pratimurti.
In 1996 he has composed music for Plus Channel’s Hindi feature film Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe directed by Lekh Tandon.
In 1996 he has also composed for Plus Channel’s Hindi feature film Saaz directed by Sai Paranjype.
In 1996 he has composed music for Pan Pictures Hindi feature film Darmiyaan directed and written by Kalpana Lajmi.
In 1998 he has composed music for Hindi feature film Gajagamini, written and Directed by eminent painter Mr. M. F. Hussain.
He had produced a Tele-serial of 52 episodes titled Dawn for telecast on Star TV. He has also produced another 18 part documentary entitled: ‘Glimpses of the Misty East, on the socio economic and cultural progress in North Eastern India from 1947 to 1997’, assigned to him by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India for celebration of Fifty years of India’s Independence.
In 2000 he has composed music for Hindi feature film Daman written and Directed by Ms. Kalpana Lajmi.
In 2003 he composed music for Hindi feature film Kyon Directed by Ms. Kalpana Lajmi.
Besides being associated with films, Bhupen Hazarika has won the hearts of the entire Indian people through his discs through which he has rendered some of his finest compositions.
For Bhupen Hazarika music has always been his first love. He met Paul Robson with whom he became closely associated between 1949 and 1955 in USA. It was during this period he was awarded a Gold Medallion in New York as the best interpreter of India.s folk songs by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Bhupen Hazarika sings in numerous languages but writes his lyrics and poems in his home language, Assamese. Bhupen Hazarika has rightly been hailed as India’s Cultural Ambassador abroad for placing the folk music of Eastern India on the map of world folk music.
He has travelled widely as a Delegate to Conferences on Mass Communication, Poetry, Music, Performing Arts and Cinema from the Belgium Congo to Samarkand, from the Mississipi to Danube, to Europe, Canada, South-East Asia, Japan, USA, UK and Australia.
He represented India in Berlin at the World Conference of Composers who used songs as an instrument in social change. He was given the honor of inaugurating the World Seminar in Congress Hall with his own songs on the liberation of Bangladesh.
Bhupen Hazarika’s popularity is as tremendous as a performing artist that for the last 50 years he has been the biggest crowd puller and was honored for the Golden Jubilee of his singing career in 1991.
Bhupen Hazarika has been conferred the highest honour by making him the president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha in 1993, the biggest literary organization of Eastern India.
He is one of the leading author / poets of Assam and has to his credit more than one thousand lyrics and more than fifteen major books on short stories, essays, travelogues, poems and children’s rhymes.
He is an extremely popular journalist and editor for the past two decades of the popular monthlies Amar Pratinidhi and Pratidhwani.
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 the best music director for the film Simana Periye. from the Bangladesh Journalists Association and the Bangladesh film industry.
He also won the National Award as best music composer in India in 1977 in recognition for his work in the Assamese film, Chameli Memsaab.
The Gramophone Company of India bestowed on him the Gold Disc for his outstanding contribution towards Indian Music in 1978.
In 1979 and 1980 he won the Ritwick Ghatak Award as best music directors for two theatre plays Mohua Sundari and Nagini Kanyar Kahini.
In 1979 he won the All India Critic Association Award for the best performing folk artist in India.
In 1987 he was conferred the National Citizen’s Award at New Delhi for his outstanding excellence in music.
The Government of Assam bestowed its highest award the Shankardev Award in 1987 for his contribution to Assam.s culture.
In 1987 he won Assam.s ‘Man of the Year’ award.
Sangeet Natak Academy:New Delhi awarded him in 1987 for his outstanding contribution towards Indian music.
The Bengal Journalist’s Association honored him with the Indira Gandhi Smriti Purashkar in 1987.
In 1992 the Government of West Bengal honored him with the award for his contribution to the World of Arts.
In 1992, he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime achievements in Indian cinema.
He has been conferred with "Sangeet-Natak Academy" award.
In 1993, he was conferred as the first Indian Music Director for best music for the film Rudaali at the Asia Pacific International Film Festival at Japan.
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.
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.
He was appointed by the Government of India as the trustee of ICCR, for a period of 3 years.
In 2001, he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian awards and he was given the Lata Mangeshkar Award for his overall contribution in music by the Madhya Pradesh Government.
In November 2001, he was honored with the Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) from the Tezpur University.
In 2003, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika has been appointed the member of the Prasar Bharati Board, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting: Government of India.
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika has been the Chairman, Eastern Region on the Appellate Body of the Central Board of Film Censors, Government of India for 9 years consecutively till 1990.
He is on the Script Committee of the National Film Development Corporation, Eastern India.
He is the director on the national level on the Board of Directors of National Film Development Corporation, Government of India.
He was the Executive Council Member of the Children Film Society (NCYP). He is the member of the Board of Trustees for the Poor Artists Welfare Fund, Government of India. He was the Chairman of the Jury of the National Film Awards in 1985 and was a jury member several times from 1958 to 1990. He was a member of the Governing Council for policy making decisions for the Film and Television Institute, Government of India , Pune.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India bestowed the honor of Producer Emeritus on him.
Bhupen Hazarika was also a member of P. C. Joshi Committee appointed by the Information Ministry for revitalizing software programming through television for the coming 21st century.
For his contribution of building bridges of unity and culture not only in north eastern region, but also over greater India, he has been conferred with "Assam Ratna" award in the year 2008.
For over a half a century, Bhupen Hazarika has reverberated with his people passionately, clearly and most powerfully. Super sensitive and all pervading lyrics, tune, voice, speech and written words of Bhupen Hazarika distinctly grip the nuance of every social, political, emotional and intellectual ordeal that crept up in Assam during his lifetime. Be it the Freedom Movement or Gandhi’s assassination, Assam movement or teenage love, social disorder, terrorism, it is inevitably Hazarika’s voice that has echoed people’s feelings. His lively depiction of the people’s mind, his flawless observations on human struggle and his inputs to strengthen the search for beauty makes the son of the soil an embodiment of the 20th century Assam and the Assamese culture embroiled with a global relevance.
