Bhupen Hazarika | |
|---|---|
| Sudha Kantha | |
 Hazarika in November 2011 | |
| Born | (1926-09-08)8 September 1926 |
| Died | 5 November 2011(2011-11-05) (aged 85) |
| Other names | Sudha Kontho, Bard Of Brahmaputra |
| Education | Cotton College,Benaras Hindu University,Columbia University |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter, Lyricist, Composer, Singer, Music Director, Filmmaker, Poet, Politician, Progressive Writer |
| Years active | 1939–2010 |
| Notable work | Rudaali Darmiyaan: In Between Gaja Gamini Daman Indramalati |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party(2004–2011)[2] |
| Movement | Indian Peoples Theater Association |
| Spouse | Priyamvada Patel |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Sudakshina Sarma (sister) Jayanta Hazarika (brother) Samar Hazarika (brother) Mayukh Hazarika (Nephew) |
| Awards | Bharat Ratna (2019) (posthumously) Padma Vibhushan (2012) (posthumously) Padma Bhushan (2001) Padma Shri (1977) Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1992) Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2008) Asom Ratna (2009) Friends of Liberation War Honour(2011) |
| Member ofAssam Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 1967–1972 | |
| Preceded by | constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Lila Kanta Das |
| Constituency | Naoboicha |
| Website | bhupenhazarika |
| Signature | |
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Bhupen HazarikaBR (Assamese:[bʱupɛnɦazɔɹika]ⓘ; 8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011), widely known asSudha Kantha, was an Indian singer, songwriter, writer, filmmaker and politician fromAssam. He wrote songs mainly in theAssamese language, which are marked by humanity and universal brotherhood. His songs have been translated into many languages, most notably inBengali andHindi.[3][4]
His songs, based on the themes of communal amity, universal justice and empathy, are especially popular among the people ofAssam, West Bengal andBangladesh. He is also acknowledged to have introduced the culture and folk music of Assam andNortheast India to Hindi cinema at the national level. He received theNational Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1975, theSangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987),Padma Shri (1977), andPadma Bhushan (2001),[5]Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1992), the highest award for cinema in India andSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2008), the highest award of theSangeet Natak Akademi. He was posthumously awarded both thePadma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, in 2012,[6] and theBharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 2019.[7][8] Hazarika also held the position of the Chairman of theSangeet Natak Akademi from December 1998 to December 2003.[9]
Bhupen Hazarika (Xudha kontho)born on 8 September 1926 to Nilakanta and Shantipriya Hazarika inSadiya, an interior town ofAssam on the bank of riverBrahmaputra.[10] His father was originally fromNazira, a town located inSivasagar district. The eldest of ten children, Bhupen Hazarika (as well as his siblings) was exposed to the musical influence of his mother, who exposed him to lullabies and traditionalMusic of Assam.[11] His Childhood nickname isBor moina . His father moved to theBharalumukh region ofGuwahati in 1929,[10] in search of better prospects, where Bhupen Hazarika spent his early childhood. In 1932, his father further moved toDhubri,[12] and in 1935 toTezpur.[10] It was in Tezpur that Bhupen Hazarika, then 10-years-of-age, was discovered byJyotiprasad Agarwala, the noted Assamese lyricist, playwright and the first Assamese filmmaker, andBishnu Prasad Rabha, renowned Assamese artist and revolutionary poet, where he sang aBorgeet (the traditional classical Assamese devotional songs written bySrimanta Sankardeva andSri Sri Madhabdeva), taught by his mother at a public function. In 1936, Bhupen Hazarika accompanied them to Kolkata where he recorded his first song at the Aurora Studio for the Selona Company.[10] His association with the icons of Assamese culture at Tezpur was the beginning of his artistic growth and credentials. Subsequently, Hazarika sang two songs in Agarwala's filmIndramalati (1939):Kaxote Kolosi Loi andBiswo Bijoyi Naujawan at the age of 12. A revolutionary zeal was rooted during his childhood. Its expression was, no doubt, "Agnijugar firingathi mai" (I am the spark of the age of fire) which was written at 14 years of his age[12] and he was well on his way to becoming a lyricist, composer and singer.[13]
Hazarika studied at Sonaram High School at Guwahati, Dhubri Government High School[10] and matriculated from Tezpur High School in 1940. He completed his Intermediate Arts fromCotton College in 1942, and his BA (1944) and MA (1946) in Political Science fromBanaras Hindu University. For a brief period, he worked atAll India Radio, Guwahati when he won a scholarship fromColumbia University and set sail for New York in 1949. There he earned a PhD (1952) on his thesis "Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education". In New York, Bhupen Hazarika befriendedPaul Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, who influenced him.[12] He used music as the "instrument of social change" following the path of Paul Robeson who once told him about his guitar – "Guitar is not a musical instrument, it is a social instrument."[14] His songBistirno Parore which is based on the tune, imagery and theme of Robeson'sOl' Man River. This song is translated in various Indian languages, includingBengali andHindi and sung by the artist himself, and is still popular. Being inspired from some other foreign ones, he also composed several other songs in Indian languages. He was exposed to theSpiritual, and the multi-lingual version ofWe are in the Same Boat Brother[15] became a regular feature in his stage performance. At Columbia University, he met Priyamvada Patel, whom he married in 1950. Tez Hazarika, their only child, was born in 1952,[16] and he returned to India in 1953.
His famous songs include (inAssamese):
Hazarika began close association with the leftistIndian People's Theatre Association soon after returning from the US in 1953[12] and became the Secretary of the Reception Committee of the Third All Assam Conference of IPTA, held in Guwahati in 1955.
After completing his MA, he briefly worked at theAll India Radio station at Guwahati[16] before embarking for his doctoral studies at Columbia University. Soon after completing his education, he became a teacher at theGuwahati University.[12] But after a few years, he left the job and went to Kolkata where he established himself as a successful music director and singer. During that period, Hazarika made several award-winning Assamese films such asShakuntala,Pratidhwani etc. and composed evergreen music for many Assamese films. He was also considered as a new trend setter in Bengali music. Bhupen Hazarika composed music for films from Bangladesh to which got international acclaim. He was elected the President of theAsam Sahitya Sabha in 1993.[17] In 1967, Hazarika got elected as a member of Assam Assembly fromNaoboicha constituency.[18]
From early in his life, he was at the forefront of a social battle against the entrenched forces of casteism that sneered at a member of theKaibarta community making it as a musician of note and kept him away from the upper-casteBrahmin woman he had loved. Eventually, when the spirited Hazarika did marry, it was to a Brahmin woman, his revenge of sorts against acaste-ridden society.[19]
He was introduced toKalpana Lajmi in the early 1970s by his childhood friend and India's top tea planterHemendra Prasad Barooah in Kolkata.[20] Her first feature filmEk Pal with music score by Hazarika was produced by Barooah.[21] Subsequently, Lajmi began assisting him professionally and personally till the end of his life.[22][23][24]In the period after the release ofEk Pal (1986) until his death, Bhupen Hazarika mainly concentrated on Hindi films, most of which were directed by Kalpana Lajmi.Ek Pal (1986),Rudaali (1993) andDaman: A Victim of Marital Violence (2001) are major films of this period. Many of his earlier songs were re-written in Hindi and used as played-back songs in these films. These songs tried to cater to the Hindi film milieu and their social activist lyrics were browbeaten into the lowest common denominator.[25]He served as anMLA (Independent) during 1967–72 in theAssam Legislative Assembly fromNaoboicha Constituency.[26]He contested as aBharatiya Janata Party candidate in the2004 Lok Sabha elections from theGuwahati constituency, persuaded byChandan Mitra viaKalpana Lajmi[27] which he lost to theIndian National Congress candidateKirip Chaliha.
Hazarika was hospitalized in theintensive care unit of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute inMumbai on 30 June 2011.[28][29] He remained there for the rest of his life, and died of multi-organ failure on 5 November 2011.[30][31][32] His body lay in state at Judges Field in Guwahati and cremated on 9 November 2011 near theBrahmaputra river in a plot of land donated byGauhati University. His funeral was attended by an estimated half a million people.[33][34]
As a singer, Hazarika was known for his baritone voice; as a lyricist, he was known for poetic compositions and parables which touched on themes ranging from romance to social and political commentary; and as a composer, for his use of folk music.[35] In a poll conducted in Bangladesh, his song, Manush Manusher Jonno (Humans are for humanity) was chosen to be the second most favorite number after theNational anthem of Bangladesh.[36] Some of his most famous compositions were adaptations of American BlackSpiritual that he had learned fromPaul Robeson, whom he had befriended during his years in New York City in the early 1950s.[37] His famous song "Bistirno Parore" is heavily influenced by Ol' Man River sung by Paul Robeson.
During his lifetime, a full-length documentary feature biopic film on his life titledMoi Eti Zazabor ('I am a Wanderer') jointly directed by Late Waesqurni Bora and Arnab Jan Deka was launched in 1986 at his Nizarapar residence in Guwahati city. Music for this biopic film has been scored by 5-time International Best Music Awards winner only Assamese musician, songwriter, composer and singerJim Ankan Deka, who also worked as Chief Assistant Director of this film.[38] During the next two decades, the joint directors Late Bora and Deka shot him live for the film during his various public performances all over India, as well as many private moments in his domestic and social life. Arnab Jan Deka also extensively interviewed him regarding his life and its creative aspects for the film, which had been recorded during their joint travel to different metropolises and remote corners of Assam and rest of India. The film has been under production since 1986 with film negative footage of more than 16 hours currently preserved in different film laboratories in Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai). The film was targeted for public release during the lifetime of Dr Bhupen Hazarika in 2008. But the production was halted after sudden demise of one of the co-directors Waesqurni Bora in November 2008. Eventually, after the death of Dr Hazarika, the film's subject, the surviving co-director Arnab Jan Deka is currently carrying out necessary works to finish the film at the earliest and release for public consumption in several language versions including English, Assamese, Bengali and Hindi, with support from Late Waesqurni Bora's widowed wife Nazma Begum and Dr Hazarika's bereaved family members including his wife Priyam Hazarika and Tej Hazarika. Meanwhile, two books describing the unforgettable experiences of the making of this milestone biopic film had been authored by its co-director Arnab Jan Deka titledAnya Ek Zazabor andMor Sinaki Bhupenda, first of which had been officially released in February 1993 by LateG P Sippy, then President of Film Federation of India and producer of world-record holder Hindi filmSholay at a public function organised by Dr Bhupen Hazarika himself.
, the highest civilian award in the Republic of India (2019, posthumous)[44]
| Year | Film | Credited as | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playback singer | Composer | Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | ||
| 1939 | Indramalati | Yes | |||||
| 1948 | Siraj | Yes | |||||
| 1955 | Pioli Phukan | Yes | |||||
| 1956 | Era Bator Sur | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1958 | Mahut Bandhu Re | Yes | |||||
| 1961 | Shakuntala | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 1964 | Pratidhwani | Yes | |||||
| 1964 | Ka Swariti | Yes | |||||
| 1966 | Lati-Ghati | Yes | |||||
| 1969 | Chik Mik Bijuli | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 1974 | Aarop | Yes | |||||
| 1974 | For Whom the Sun Shines | Yes | |||||
| 1975 | Chameli Memsaab | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1975 | Khoj | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1976 | Roop Konwar Jyoti Parsad Aru Joymoti | Yes | |||||
| 1976 | Mera Dharam Meri Maa | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1977 | Through Melody and Rhythm | Yes | |||||
| 1977 | Shimana Perye | Yes | |||||
| 1978 | Chameli Memsaheb (Bengali) | Yes | |||||
| 1979 | Mon-Prajapati | Yes | |||||
| 1979 | Debdas | Yes | |||||
| 1981 | Chameli Memsaab | Yes | |||||
| 1982 | Aparoopa | Yes | |||||
| 1986 | Swikarokti | Yes | |||||
| 1986 | Ek Pal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1988 | Siraj | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1993 | Rudaali | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1993 | Pratimurti | Yes | |||||
| 1995 | Pani | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1997 | Do Rahain | Yes | |||||
| 1997 | Darmiyaan: In Between | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1998 | Saaz | Yes | |||||
| 2000 | Gaja Gamini | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2001 | Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2003 | Kyon? | Yes | |||||
| 2006 | Chingaari | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2011 | Gandhi to Hitler | Yes | |||||
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