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Music has played an important role as a strong folk element in Assamese cinema since its inception. Like the culture of Assam as a whole, cinema is also never complete without the influence of folk music. Following the footsteps of the pioneer Jyotiprasad, the filmmakers of Assam laid emphasis on projecting their stories in tune with the regional folklore. Music being an indispensable part of the folklife, automatically became an important aspect of films as well. Popular devotional songs, lullabies, and other folk music have been tremendously utilized by filmmakers. The film Sorapat (1956, Dir. Anowar Hussain) has a song sequence that depicts time lapse between the childhood and adulthood of the lead characters. Traditional tunes from Dashavatar (a vaishnavite song and dance form portraying ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu) have been used in the film, reflecting the use of traditional music in cinema.

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika was one such musician, music director and filmmaker, who, throughout his long and versatile career in Assamese cinema, carefully picked up folk tunes to create a unique genre of film music in Assam. Apart from the vivid depiction of history, the film Piyoli Phukan (1955, Dir. Phani Sarma) is remembered for its rich music composed by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, who is highly credited for bringing folk music into films. The popular songs of the film such as, Dukhore upori dukh mor aai, Asomir mukhote hanhi naai, Gaore jiyori sapun sundari, Piyoli Piyoli were based extensively on varied folk tunes of the region. Dr. Bhupen Hazarika used the Borgeet (Assamese Vaishnavite devotional song) Tejore kamalapoti porobhato nindo in one of the early morning sequences of the film. Another song from the film O ho ho mohoho which is full of patriotic temper, has been directly influenced by the rhythmic beats of Mo ho ho folk songs popular in western Assam. Mo ho ho or Mohkheda is a popular festival celebrated on the full moon night in the Assamese month of Aaghon (November-December). A group of men, with sticks in their hands, move from door to door in a village merrily singing the Mo ho ho songs with rhythmic beats of the sticks. The songs are sung to drive away the mosquitoes from the village. With offerings in cash and kind, the households ask blessings from the group in return. There is a folk belief that after the Mo ho ho festival, the mosquitoes gradually disappear from the area (Das & Rajbongshi: 2012: 275). Dr. Bhupen Hazarika used the Mo ho ho tunes for such a song in the film Piyoli Phukan in which the revolutionists are gearing up to drive away the British from the soil. Hence he has used the mood of the song as well as the tunes as a perfect piece of metaphor.

For the first time in the history of Assamese cinema, the film Maniram Dewan (1964, Dir. Sarbeswar Chakravarty) consisted of a cabaret song which was mixed with Bihu songs. The music director quite successfully experimented with two unrelated genres of music, to prove his excellence over the medium. The song starts with western beats and gradually changes its course to Bihu tunes, with the cabaret dancer doing Bihu dance steps on the screen. It also carries significance in the fact that the narrative of the film was designed to portray patriotism during British rule. The music director also employed in the film a Goalpariya folk song from Goalpara region of western Assam. The song titled Shonar boron pakhi depicts the unpredictable journey of human life and has been intelligently used to support Maniram Dewan鈥檚 journey on a boat through the Brahmaputra, as he moves places. The film also consists of a Bihu dance with vivid music and singing. Apart from these, a Kamrupi folk song, originating from the Kamrup region of western Assam, titled Mai here josowa was also included in the film. However the most popular song from the film, which still reverberates throughout the musical world is Buku hom hom kare mor aai.

Stories based upon folk performing arts have also been filmed in Assam. Notable among these is Sonar Boron Pakhi (2016, Dir. Bobby Sarma Baruah), a biopic of Pratima Baruah Pandey, acclaimed artist of Goalparia lokogeet (folk songs), originating in western Assam's Goalpara and Dhubri districts. The film depicts the musical culture of western Assam (undivided Goalpara) surrounding mainly the Gauripur area. Padmashree Pratima Barua Pandey, a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, best known for popularizing the Goalpariya (Koch Rajbongshi/Deshi) folk songs was born to the royal family of erstwhile Zamindars of Gauripur. Daughter of Zamindar and famed elephant catcher Prakritish Chandra Baruah (Lalji) and niece of filmmaker Pramathesh Baruah of Devdas fame, Pratima was inspired to learn singing from an early age. The folk songs which dwelt on the banks of the Gadadhar river mesmerized Pratima. In spite of being a princess, young Pratima spent most of her time at elephant camps where the giants were kept captive. That is where she learnt songs from the elephant catchers (phandi) and elephant riders (mahout). The film Sonar Boron Pakhi reflects the erstwhile culture of Gauripur, surrounding the royal family and the tumultuous life of Pratima. The filmmaker made the film in Goalpariya dialect to give it an acute flavour of the land. It is worth mentioning that Goalpariya music was brought to light by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika in the film Era Bator Sur (1956).

In spite of the fact that Assamese filmmakers since ages have resorted to adorning their narratives with folkloric elements, especially music, yet very few filmmakers from the region have tried to explore the dying musical traditions in their cinema and make films exclusively on such subjects. To name a few, Nilakantha (2007, Dir. Rajani Barman) was made with a narrative based on the life and struggle of existence of a dhuliya oja, an artist who plays the traditional instrument Bordhol. On the other hand, Bhaworiya (2019, Dir. Biswajit Kalita) is yet another film which tries to portray the sufferings of folk artists in an era of modernization in every aspect, including music. Bhaworiya has scenes from the traditional dhuliya naat, a form of satirical folk drama, performed mainly in Kamrup and adjoining areas of Assam in the premises of a namghar (place of community worship). In both these films, the directors have tried to project the pain of the folk artists in an era of modernization, where traditional music is gradually fading away.

Bihu songs and dances, performed during the major festivals of Assam, have been an integral part of Assamese cinema. There are many films where the male protagonist happens to be a dhuliya, who plays the bihu dhol or the female is a nasoni or bihu dancer. Examples include films like Maghot Mamonir Biya (2002, Dir. Chandra Mudoi), Senai Mor Dhulia (2005, Dir. Chandra Mudoi), and Jaanmoni (2011, Dir. Rajesh Bhuyan). Runumi (1953, Dir. Suresh Goswami) was the first Assamese film to include a Bihu dance item (Chakravarty ed: 2017: 8). Director of the film Suresh Goswami was a dancer himself. It is worth mentioning here that the film was based on Henrik Isben鈥檚 romantic-tragedy play 鈥楾he Warriors of Helgeland鈥� (1857). The original play was a patriotic celebration of ancient Norse Folklore in verse. However, the story of the film in Assamese was transferred to the milieu of the tribal society of Nagaland.

Apart from Bihu, traditional Sattriya music and dance has also been explored in films such as Kadam Tole Krishna Nache (2005, Dir. Suman Haripriya).

Filmmaker Manju Borah made a concerted effort to document several folk performing arts in her 2003 film Akashitorar Kothare (A tale told a thousand times). The plot of the film revolves around a female folklore researcher who tries to explore the femalecentric folk performing arts of Assam, but couldn鈥檛 finish her thesis due to marital engagement. As the protagonist explores the cultural trails centered around women in Assam, several folk performances are shown on the screen. The researcher is shown visiting a village of the Bodo tribe where she enjoys a folk festival called Kherai puja. In this festival, the Kherai goddess is worshipped by the community with pomp and gaiety. The most exciting ritual of this festival is that a woman called doudini, believed to be possessed by the goddess, moves into a trance state of mind with some unusual movements and predictions. People believe that the doudini is not less than a fortune teller and keep asking questions to her. In the next phase of her fieldwork, the researcher visits an old temple to witness an ancient form of dance called Devadasi nritya. Like many other places of India, Assam too had such temples wherein there prevailed an ancient practice of temple dancers called devadasi or 鈥榝emale slaves of the God鈥�. These were female dancers who danced in front of a deity to appease him and dedicated her life for his worship at the temple. Another ritual which was demonstrated in the film Akashitorar Kothare was the Hudum puja. This is a traditional practice of the females who, during severe drought, sing erotic songs and dance naked in an open field to appease the Rain-God. This once popular ritual among the Rajbangshi community in western Assam is slowly fading away with time. Though the conclusion of the film could not make a lasting impact on the audiences or the critics, it should be agreed that the filmmaker has tried to use some female-centric ritual practices of Assam as metaphors, building a subtext for the narrative. Lastly, the on-screen guest appearance of renowned folklorists from the region Dr. Nabin Chandra Sarma and Dr. Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi added an academic aspect to the storyline.

This is quite evident from the above discussion that Assamese cinema has made ample use of the folkloric elements of the region ranging from story structures to other aspects including material culture, community lives, social customs and music of the soil. In some films, these elements have been religiously highlighted by the directors, while in others these have added a regional influence to the films. In the next chapter, this mode of discussion would be narrowed down to the films made by Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia for a detailed analysis.