An Analysis of Assamese Film Songs: Themes and Their Characters

The journey of Assamese films that started with Jaymoti (1935) has passed over 85 years with many ups and downs. Alongside films, Assamese modern songs also started their journey, though the birth cry can be heard two decades earlier from the release of the first Assamese film. Jyotiprasad Agarwala, the first filmmaker of Assam, emphasised songs in his two films. That legacy was followed by other filmmakers in later decades. Thus, songs became an essential part of mainstream Assamese cinema. A total number of 227 Assamese language films were released between 1935 and the end of that century. Among them, films without songs are few. This paper attempts to discuss the features of Assamese film songs from its inception to 2000 A.D.