Even at the age of 74, Bhupen Hazarika still has in him the spirit which a twenty year old would find hard to match. A filmmaker, music director, writer, and editor, it is very difficult to describe the versatile personality of Bhupen Hazarika. A living legend, he has several prestigious awards under his belt including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Sangeet Kala Academy Award. Bhupenda, as he is fondly addressed by most people, was born in 1926. Attired in his characteristic black cap and kurta pajama, he is surely a conversationalist, his unassuming and down to earth nature makes you feel comfortable.

Apart from doing the music for over forty movies and initiating the cultural movement in Assam he has been the inspiration for an entire generation. Bhupen Hazarika began his career at the age of ten as a child actor in the second talkie film made in the year 1939, called Indramalati. His genius was evident when, at the age of ten, he wrote and sang his first song and what followed is history. Internationally acclaimed, Bhupenda fondly describes himself as "a son of the soil ". Today, Bhupen Hazarika stays in Lokhandwala in Mumbai. Mumbaibest spoke to Bhupenda about Assam and his life's work.

Assam, for Bhupenda, is a paradise which is in ruins today. He says "The appeal of the state was inherent in its simplicity which is evident in all aspects of life. As a youth the experience of living in Assam was of great value. I always perceived a sense of unity in the diversity that I saw around me. This was true for all Assam, Bengal and the entire north east. This unity, however, gradually started to degenerate and the mind set of the people seems to have undergone a change." This change has made Bhupenda very sad . As part of the cultural movement in Assam, Bhupenda was actively involved in the cultural movement and he calls himself a cultural laborer. "I used to do road shows and went to the interiors but slowly everything changed and differences arose."

Coming from the state of Assam which for the past few decades has witnessed some of the worst kind of militancy, it is not surprising that Bhupen Hazarika has been vehemently propagating the need for peace. He has even volunteered to act as a mediator between the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Government. Today he is highly perturbed about the increasingly deteriorating law and order situation of Assam.

"The Assam of today gives me sleepless nights , the existing stalemate has to be broken or else there is no future for the people and the state. Everybody wants peace but one cannot attain it by means of bullets. You cannot reach a solution by destructive means. Assam is an integral part of India and it is not possible for someone to chop away one of the vital parts of the body," avers Bhupenda.

Bhupen Hazarika has been responsible for elevating the standards of the nearly dying Assamese cinema and has also integrated the seven sister states of the North-East in terms of cinema. For Bhupen Hazarika, " Music is the most powerful weapon and I have made use of it right from the time I was actively involed with the movement in Assam." It puzzles one when Hazarika says that silence is the most powerful weapon till date. Hazarika's unforgettable melodies be it the tunes of Dil hom hom kare from Rudaali, the album Ganga or the recently released music for Gajgamini continue to haunt the masses. His tunes are very simple and can be easily hummed. With folk overtones the universality of his thoughts and visions are conveyed through songs.

"I am not part of this wild competition to reach the top . Even in the forthcoming movie Daman directed by Kalpana Lajmi it is a social message that I am trying to communicate. I try to do things in a very simple way and my music is what I have to offer," concludes Hazarika.

By : Sharmistha Chatterjee.

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