Bhupen Hazarika BR (Assamese: [bʱupɛn ɦazɔɹika] ⓘ; 8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011), widely known as Sudha Kontho, was an Indian singer, songwriter, writer, filmmaker and politician from Assam.

[3][4] His songs, based on the themes of communal amity, universal justice and empathy, are especially popular among the people of Assam, West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Subsequently, Hazarika sang two songs in Agarwala's film Indramalati (1939): Kaxote Kolosi Loi and Biswo Bijoyi Naujawan at the age of 12.

After completing his MA, he briefly worked at the All India Radio station at Guwahati[16] before embarking for his doctoral studies at Columbia University.

[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 the Kaibarta community making it as a musician of note and kept him away from the upper-caste Brahmin woman he had loved.

[19] He was introduced to Kalpana Lajmi in the early 1970s by his childhood friend and India's top tea planter Hemendra Prasad Barooah in Kolkata.

[22][23][24] 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.

[30][31][32] His body lay in state at Judges Field in Guwahati and cremated on 9 November 2011 near the Brahmaputra River in a plot of land donated by Gauhati University.

[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.

[36] Some of his most famous compositions were adaptations of American Black Spiritual that he had learned from Paul Robeson, whom he had befriended during his years in New York City in the early 1950s.

During his lifetime, a full-length documentary feature biopic film on his life titled Moi 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.

[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.