Guwahati, April 15 (IANS): Award-winning Assamese filmmaker, actor and director Bidyut Chakraborty passed away in a hospital here on Wednesday morning, a doctor said.

Chakraborty, 56, was undergoing treatment at the Nemcare hospital here for the last 15 days. Hospital doctors said that his condition improved initially, but deteriorated since last Monday.

"He breathed his at around 7 a.m. today," said the doctor.

Chakraborty, who started out as a stage actor, later took up film production and direction. He even won the National Award for his first film "Rag Birag" in 1996 in the category of Best First Film of a Director.

He was also known for his films including "Anurag", "Gun Gun Gane Gane" and "Dwar", apart from his role in "Ahir Bhairab".

Chakroborty has left behind his wife and mother.

The news of Chakraborty's death cast a pall of gloom across Assam, particularly among the film fraternity and cine lovers.

"It is a sad very news. The first day of Assamese New Year became so tragic and it's a great loss for the state as a whole. He has been a genuine human being and a fantastic person to work with. We are contemporaries and it is a saddening news," said the state's cultural activist Natan Prasad.

"Chakraborty has brought laurels to Assam through his creative works -- his films. It is a great loss for Assam. His death has created a void in the state's cultural landscape, which will be difficult to fill up," said one of Assam's leading cine actor Jerifa Wahid.