Guwahati: He is to Assam what Uttam Kumar is to Bengal, to Assam's cinema what Jayanta Hazarika is to its music - evergreen.

Not that touchstones and comparisons are necessary, for he, and his crooked smile, stand apart in a firmament where they shone the brightest. If comparisons are made, it is because it isn't often that one who has passed is spoken of as of the present, or as a gift to the future. Biju Phukan died at 6.15 this evening, at Apollo Hospitals here of cardiac arrest. He was 70.

A master artiste of more than 50 films, including four in Bengali, Phukan had in him every bit that was required to live past his times. "He was a genial guy and a true romantic hero," said former teacher of Cotton College Pradip Acharya, who comes from Phukan's Dibrugarh neighbourhood Chiring Chapori, was a year junior to him in school and a member of the same club, Jayashree, at Amolapatty.

Phukan the hero, walked, more like sauntered, onto the Assamese screen in 1971 with Aranya, which won a National Award in the best regional film category. He was folksy, pulling off with aplomb the visualisation of a song that went Mon hiradoi, saikel nohoi tilinga... that at best could have only meant: My darling, it's not a bicycle but a bell... a sort of ' Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...' that makes good sense to any soul in love. As the first reports trickled in from Apollo on TV this evening, that song turned into his title track. His last role came in 2016, with Dur. In between, Phukan had wooed, and fought, and been a lover and a lech ( Agnisnan, 1985).

"We lost today a good man, a good actor and a good friend," said Nipon Goswami, actor and fellow achiever. The Telegraph honoured Phukan with The Axom Shrestho 2016. "I have come to the last chapter of my life and I have aged a lot. But it is the people's love that has kept me feeling young," he said at the function, the smile and style intact.

The chief minister's office this evening sent out a statement. "Biju Phukan ... is largely responsible for promoting the Assamese film industry and (he) brought it to its present status..." it said.

Ward boys in blue and lots of friends and admirers and relatives brought Biju Phukan out this evening on a stretcher, draped in white, a few marigold garlands across. Assam pays Biju da back with a state funeral tomorrow.

Additional reporting by Rajiv Konwar and Manash Pratim Dutta