The music of Assam consists various genres of folk and modern music, drawing its artistic basis from the history of Assam, from Assamese culture and its ancient traditions. In recent times, starting from the late eighties, popular artistes have modernized the music catering to local popular demand.
Srimanta Sankaradev Kalakshetra, commonly known as Kalakshetra, is a cultural institution in the Panjabari area of Guwahati, Assam, India, named after the medieval poet-playwright and reformer Srimanta Sankardev. It includes a cultural museum, library, a children's park, and various facilities for preserving, demonstrating and performing cultural items and history. In addition to being Northeast India's largest cultural congregation, the Kalakshetra is also a major tourist spot in Guwahati. Built in the 1990s, art of Assam and rest of the north-eastern region is displayed here. There are eateries, places of worship, emporiums and open-air theatres within the Kalakshetra premises.
Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor, artist, editor, filmmaker, professor and politician from Assam, widely known as Sudha Kontho. His songs were 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.
Sarbananda Sonowal is an Indian politician who serving as 9th Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways since 2024. He also the Member of the Rajya Sabha representing Assam since 2021 and also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs since 2021. He is the 14th Chief Minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021 and the former of Assam Legislative Assembly from Majuli from 2016 until he resigned in 2021 and from Moran constituency from 2001 to 2004. Sonowal earlier served as the Assam state unit President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2015 to 2016. He has also served as the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of India, from 2014 to 2016 and the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development from 2014 to 2014 and the member of the Lok Sabha from Lakhimpur from 2014 to 2016 and from Dibrugarh from 2004 to 2009. He was also the member of the Asom Gana Parishad from 2001 to 2011.
Assamese cinema is the Indian film industry of Assamese language. It is based in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie Joymoti. Since then the Assamese cinema has developed a slow-paced, sensitive style. In the beginning the industry were called Jollywood, for Agarwala's Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio.
Bhabendra Nath Saikia was a novelist, short-story writer, editor and film director from Assam, India. Dr. Saikia received his doctorate in physics from the University of London. He began his career as a reader in the Department of Physics, University of Guwahati. He later played an important role in the publication of college level textbooks in the Assamese language during his tenure as the Secretary of the Co-ordination Committee for production of textbooks in regional languages.
Jahnu Barua is an Indian film director. He has written and directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films. Some of his notable films are Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai (1987), Firingoti (1992), Xagoroloi Bohu Door (1995), Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara (2005), Konikar Ramdhenu (2003), Baandhon (2012), and Ajeyo (2014).
Jayanta Hazarika was an Indian singer and composer associated with Assamese music. He wrote lyrics for a few songs and composed music for several movies. He was the younger brother of Bhupen Hazarika.
Joymoti is a 1935 Indian film widely considered to be the first Assamese film ever made. Based on Lakshminath Bezbaroa's play about the 17th-century Ahom princess Joymoti Konwari, the film was produced and directed by the noted Assamese poet, author, and film-maker Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, and starred Aideu Handique and acclaimed stage actor and playwright Phani Sarma. The film, shot between 1933 and 1935, was released by Chitralekha Movietone on 10 March 1935 1935 and marked the beginning of Assamese cinema.
Indramalati is a 1939 film directed by the Assamese poet Jyotiprasad Agarwala.
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute, formerly known as the Jyoti Chitraban Film and Television Institute, is the only government-owned film institute in northeastern India located at Sila, Changsari in Assam. It was named after Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, the first Assamese film director and producer. The Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio was established in the year of 1961 by the Government of Assam. The Film Institute was set up at the same Studio premises using the same infrastructure in the year 1999.
Hazarika was a Paik officer under the administration of the Ahom kingdom and Koch kingdom. The commander over 1,000 (Hazar) paiks was known as a Hazarika. As it was a purely administrative position, the title holder could belong to diverse ethnic groups and religions.
Gauhati Cine Club is a registered film society of Assam. It was founded by Dr Bhupen Hazarika on 26 April 1965, along with a handful of film lovers, critics, and writers. It was formed three years after the formation of the first film society of North East India "The Shillong Film Society" founded by Padum Barua, Md. Sadullah and some of film enthusiasts. The main objective of the society is to create awareness in the society about cinema as a serious art and to form an environment for serious discourse and debate in the cinematic and intellectual world. Since its inception, the society has been organizing Film Appreciation Courses with experts from the field, publishing books on film and holding workshops on film craft. It is registered under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. The current advisers of the club is Harekrishna Deka and Bhuban Chandra Lahkar and the president is A. K. Absar Hazaika.
Basundhara is a 2009 Indian Assamese drama film directed and produced by Hiren Bora, with a screenplay by Sagar Sangam Sarkar, Birinchi Kumar Medhi and Bora himself. It stars Barsha Rani Bishaya in the title role, and Saurav Hazarika, Bishnu Kharghoria, Ifftikar Ahmed, and Prithiraj Rabha in other major roles. The film deals with a pressing contemporary ecological issue of human-elephant conflict in the region of Assam.
Ajeyo is a 2014 Assamese language drama film directed by Jahnu Barua; based on the Sahitya Akademi Award winner 1997 Assamese novel Ashirbador Rong written by Arun Sharma and adapted as screenplay by the director himself. It was produced by Shankar Lall Goenka and stars Rupam Chetia and Jupitora Bhuyan in the lead roles. The film was released on 3 January 2014.
Chalachitram National Film Festival (CNFF) is a festival conducted in Guwahati, Assam. The festival director is Utpal Datta, a National Film Award-winning film critic and film maker.
Surjya Kanta Hazarika is an Assamese litterateur, an eminent scholar, author, publisher, playwright, lyricist, composer, cultural activist, feature film and documentary maker, social worker and philanthropist. Hazarika is a recipient of the Padma Shri Award in 2008 for his contribution to Literature & Education. He is the current president of Asam Sahitya Sabha.
Monita Borgohain, IAS, is the Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Director of the Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute, Secretary of the Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio, Festival Director of the Guwahati International Film Festival, and Producer of the feature film Xobdo Nixobdo Kolahol. Occasionally, she writes for journals, such as the Film Critics Circle of India Journal of Indian Cinema and the FIPRESCI-India journal.
Jaicheng Xai Dohutia is an Indian film director, editor, writer and cinematographer from Tongana Gaon, a small, isolated village in Tinsukia district, Assam. He is an alumnus of Jyoti Chitraban Film & Television Institute, Guwahati currently known as Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute.
