Bhupen da Uncut – A documentary on Dr Bhupen Hazarika

‘Bhupen da Uncut’ is a vintage, candid camera first person account of the legendary singer-musical maestro – Dr Bhupen Hazarika while he was on a visit to England in 1999 to participate in a cultural program organized by the Assam Medical College Doctors Alumni Group

My husband Chinmoy Sharma and I were also invited to cover his program to telecast it in our then ongoing musical series on Doordarshan Guwahati titled ‘Geetimalika’. The program coincided with the 50th episode of our serial. Thereafter we shot with Dr Bhupen Hazarika in New Castle and London. We shot two of his songs as well as interviews.

However the best part were the casual conversations that we had shot with him in a relaxed home setting where he spoke at length on his life and journey – right from his childhood and influences of cultural stalwarts like Jyotiprasad Agarwala, the pioneer of Assamese cinema, his time in New York, how he met his wife – the dynamics of their relationship, his philosophy and ideology and most importantly he recited a few poems penned by himself some of which I believe have not yet been published.

We managed to retrieve these old tapes last year (which we thought we had lost!!) and digitized them to make a documentary on him since this has great archival value. This year Assam Government and Government of India is also celebrating 100th birth anniversary of Dr Bhupen Hazarika. This documentary is also a tribute to the Bard of the Brahmaputra on his centenary birth anniversary.

‘Bhupen da Uncut’ was premiered on 7th September in Guwahati in the presence of Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s US based son Tej Hazarika and other family members of Dr Hazarika. The documentary also had an international premier in Warsaw, Poland on 14th October at an event organised by the Assamese Association, Poland, in Luxembourg on 25th October at Axom Milon, an event of Assamese NRI’s settled in Europe and at the Nehru Centre, London, UK on 28th October, organised by the High Commission of India in UK in association with Luiporia Nasoni to commemorate Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s centenary birth anniversary celebrations.

The documentary had a special screening at the 56th International Film Festival of India in Goa on 23rd November 2025.