• Film features Dr Hazarika’s associates and several grassroots singers in its effort to assess the impact of his songs across generations.
• An academic documentary through which the makers have sought to pay tribute to the genius on his birth centenary year.
• After the much-acclaimed “Baruar Xongxar” (The House of Baruas), Utpal Borpujari takes up another subject highlighting pathbreakers of Assamese culture.
Guwahati, Aug 22: As Assam prepares to celebrate the finale of Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s birth centenary this September, renowned filmmaker Utpal Borpujari has come up with a feature-length documentary film that aims at making people beyond Assam and Bengal aware about how many of his songs had strongly taken up social and socio-political issues. Titled “Manuhar Gaan” (The Hum of Humanity), the 82-minute film analyses how many of Dr Hazarika’s songs chronicled social injustice as well as social and historical events, making him a creative genius who passionately spoke for the downtrodden all through his life. “While entire India knows him as a great musician, except for his ‘Dil Hoom Hoom Kare’ and ‘Ganga Behti Ho Kyon’, very few outside Assam and Bengal know the depth of his social commitment as an artiste. This film strives to fill that gap in its own small way, even though we are fully aware that only one film cannot do justice to the huge expanse of his creative genius,” Borpujari said after the release of the poster and trailer of the documentary. The poster and trailer were released by Dr Bhupen Hazarika Cultural Trust president and noted singer Manisha Hazarika. “It’s our tribute to the humanist that Dr Hazarika was.
He wrote and sang songs across genres, ranging from the most-sensuous love ditty to songs celebrating Assam’s seasons, but it is his social responsibility that he consciously practiced throughout his life is something that makes him one of India’s most-important artistes ever,” Borpujari said. “We also have plans to release the unused footages, especially portions of interviews that could not be included in the final film, on YouTube later so that they can be of use for academics, researchers and others interested in Dr Hazarika’s music,” said producer Abhijit Bhuyan. The launch ceremony was followed by an engrossing panel discussion on “Have we failed to adequately share the vastness of Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s creativity with the outside world?” Moderated by senior journalist Bhupendra Nath Bhattacharyya, the discussants were singer and Dr Hazarika’s nephew Mayukh Hazarika, senior theatre and film personality Nayan Prasad, scientist and poet Bipuljyoti Saikia, critic and poet Aparajita Pujari and author Manaswinee Runumi Mahanta. Produced by Dolly Borpujari, Prabhat Chandra Borpujari and Abhijit Bhuyan under the banner of 92X26 Films, “Manuhar Gaan” took eight years to complete as it was purely a passion project that faced funding issues during and after the Covid pandemic. “While we had filmed a major portion of the film in 2018, the remaining portions were filmed last year even while editing of the large amount of footage had been going on all these years,” Borpujari says about the film that was shot across Assam.
The film features noted personalities like the late (Dr) Dilip Kumar Datta who authored the iconic “Bhupen Hazarikar Geet Aru Jiwan Rath”, Dr Hazarika’s sister the late Sudakshina Sarma and nephew, the late Hrishiraj Sarma, close associate the late Ratna Ojah and Dilip Hazarika, musicians Kamal Kataki and Rupam Talukdar who perfomed with Dr Hazarika for many years, noted singer-author Loknath Goswami, singers Nayan Axom Koliaboriya, Asha Sarmah Kataki, Bipul Kathar, Ranjan Kumar Dutta, noted journalist-author Dr Samudra Gupta Kashyap and several others. Grassroots singers like Manik Chandra Bordoloi of Boko and Molan Gogoi of Dhalpur village near North Lakhimpur, as well as child singer Chaokhun Gogoi of Sivasagar also features in the film. The crew of the film include Chida Bora (Cinematographer), the late Bhaskar Jyoti Das (Associate director-editor), Diganta Bora (Editor), Debajit Gayan (Sound Design), Uday Bhaskar Patar (Assistant director), Rituraj Shivam (2nd unit cameraman)., The evocative poster of the film has been designed by Samudra Kajal Saikia. (PRESS RELEASE)
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