Bhupen Hazarika (1926 – 2011) was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor and filmmaker from Assam, widely known as Xudha kontho (meaning cuckoo, literally "nectar-throated"). His songs, written and sung mainly in the Assamese language by himself, are marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many languages, most notably in Bengali and Hindi.
He received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1975), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987), Padma Shri (1977), and Padma Bhushan (2001), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1992), the highest award for cinema in India and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2008), the highest award of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2012), and the Bharat Ratna (2019).
Bhupen Hazarika, who was the eldest of ten children, was exposed to the traditional music of Assam by his mother. It was in Tezpur that Bhupen Hazarika, then 10-years-of-age, was discovered by Jyotiprasad Agarwala, the noted Assamese lyricist, playwright and the first Assamese filmmaker, and Bishnu Prasad Rabha, renowned Assamese artist and revolutionary poet, where he sang a Borgeet (the traditional classical Assamese devotional songs written by Srimanta Sankardeva and Sri Sri Madhabdev), taught by his mother, at a public function. Subsequently he sang songs for Assamese movies.
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika earned his PhD from Columbia University, New York in 1952. At Columbia University, he met Priyamvada Patel, whom he married in 1950.
Hazarika made several award-winning Assamese films such as Shakuntala, Pratidhwani etc. and composed evergreen music for many Assamese films. He was also considered as a new trend setter in Bengali music.
He was introduced to Kalpana Lajmi by his childhood friend and India's top tea planter Hemendra Prasad Barooah in Kolkata. Her first feature film Ek Pal with music score by Hazarika was produced by Barooah. Subsequently, Lajmi began assisting him professionally and personally till the end of his life.
In the period after the release of Ek Pal (1986) until his death, Bhupen Hazarika mainly concentrated on Hindi films, most of which were directed by Kalpana Lajmi - Ek Pal, Rudaali and Daman.
He served as an MLA (Independent) in the Assam Legislative Assembly.
The longest bridge in India, Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the River Brahmaputra, in Assam is named after Dr. Bhupen Hazarika.