File picture of Lou Majaw

Guwahati, May 23: When music lovers the world over celebrate the birthday of American cultural icon Bob Dylan tomorrow, the Northeast will salute its very own Bob Dylan, the man credited with turning rock ?n? roll into a craze in the region.

Musician Lou Majaw, a contemporary and self-proclaimed disciple of Dylan, will come alive on celluloid in the first-ever film on him, to be premiered at the State Central Library auditorium in Shillong as part of Dylan?s birthday bash.

The Meghalaya capital has been celebrating Dylan?s birthday for the past 33 years and the credit for this goes to Majaw and his band.

The celebrations will also feature a Dylan look-alike contest for the first time, but the high point certainly will be the 40-minute film on the 60-year-old pony-tailed vocalist by debutant filmmaker Shivajee Ashim Das.

The film traces the rise of the musician and his contribution in spreading music across eastern India. ?If not for Lou, Western music would not have achieved the popularity it enjoys today across the region,? said Das, an alumni of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.

The movie is also a personal journey of the director, a self-confessed fan of Majaw, who had spent his childhood in Shillong.

?We are in touch with the organisers of the Toronto and Stockholm film festivals to showcase the film to an international audience,? said associate director Alfarid Hussain.

But the man in the spotlight is modest on his achievements. ?It is a film not on me and my band. The film has for the first time brought to light the impact of Western music on the lives of common man of the region,? said Majaw.

The film is named after Majaw?s band, The Great Society, which comprises guitarists Rudy Wallang and Arjun Sen, drummer Sam Shullai and bass guitarist Ferdie Dkhar.

The Great Society started out like any other band ? a group of friends jamming together to make good music, mostly rock, blues and reggae. It evolved to become an institution and a learning ground that acquired a cult-like status in the region.

Some of the record-breaking albums by the band are Breakthrough, Dance Your Ass Off and Forever Young-Lou Strikes Gold, released on Majaw?s 50th birthday.

The last album features some of Dylan?s immortal songs like Forever Young and Ghost Revisited as well as Majaw?s personal favourites like Blowin? In the Wind, Farewell Angelina, The Times They are a Changin?, Don?t Think Twice and It?s All Right.

?In a region marred by political turmoil, Lou?s songs are a breath of fresh air. Lou and his friends are no Sufis, yet no less,? said Hussain, a lecturer at the department of Mass Communication at the University of Silchar.