Hemanta Mukhopadyay born in the city of Varanasi, in June 1920. The family moved back to Kolkota where he had his
schooling, it was here that he made friends with Subhas Mukhopadhyay and Santosh
Kumar Ghosh. At that time, Hemanta wrote short stories, Santosh
Kumar wrote poems and Subhash Mukhopadhyay sang songs.
Hemanta joined an Engineering course, however quit
academics to pursue a career in music, despite parental objections. He briefly indulged
in writing short stories but by the late-1930s he had firmly decided to be
entirely with music. Thanks to his childhood buddy Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta
recorded his first song for All India Radio in 1935. He started classical music training from Ustad Faiyaz Khan's student Fanivusan Banerjee. He pursued Rabindra Sangeet in right earnest and
eventually became one of the most prominent exponents of Rabindra Sangeet.
In the 1930s Hemanta was active in the music
circles of Kolkota, and recorded a few non-film songs and also for his first Bengali
film in 1941. His first movie as a music director was the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947, not a commercial success, though it received generous critical
acclaim.
Since the mid-1940s, Hemanta became an active
member of a left leaning group Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and started an association with another active IPTA member — songwriter
and composer Salil Chowdhury. In 1947, Hemanta recorded a song called
"Ganyerbadhu" ("The rural bride") that had music and lyrics
by Salil Chowdhury. The song was path braking in its non conforming lyrics and
structure and depicted the plight of the rural population during the Bengal
famine. This song generated an unforeseen popularity for Hemanta and Salil Da
and in a way, established Hemant Da and Salil Da as singer and music composer
respectively.
Hemant Da was also a favourite composer of film
maker Hemen Gupta’s for his Bengali films. When Hemen Gupta moved to Mumbai, he pursued Hemant Da to migrate to Mumbai. Their first film together in
Mumbai was Anandmath. Perhaps, the most notable song from this movie
being 'Vandemataram' sung by Lata. Following Anandamath, Hemant Da scored music for quite a few movies,
notable amongst them being Shart. Simultaneously, Hemant Da gained
popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer.
By the mid-1950s, Hemant Da had consolidated his
position as a prominent singer and composer in Bengal and in Mumbai. He composed music for Nagin (1954) which
became a major success owing largely to its music. The Nagin Been tune, still
remains the most played tune all over the country by the Snake Charmers
(Saperas). In the latter part of the 1950s, Hemant Da composed music and sang
for several Bengali and Hindi films.
Hemant Da also ventured into movie production under his own banner Hemanta-Bela productions, later on he rename his production
company to ‘Geetanjali Productions’ and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohraa, Biwi Aur Makaan,
Faraar, Rahgir and Khamoshi — all of which had music by Hemant Da.
In the 1970s, Hemant Da's contribution in Hindi
films was nominal. He scored music for a handful of his home productions, but
none of these movies were successful nor their music. In Bengal, however, he
remained the foremost exponent of Rabindra Sangeet.
Hemant Da perhaps was the first Indian composer to
have scored music for a Hollywood production. It was for movie ‘Siddharth’ of famous
director Conrad Rooks. The US government honoured Hemant Da by giving him
citizenship of Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1980, Hemanta had a heart
attack that severely
affected his vocal capabilities. In 1987, he was nominated for Padma Bhushan
which he refused politely, having already turned down the offer to receive
Padma Shree in the 1970s. In September 1989 he had a massive heart attack which
claimed his life.
I heard HemantDa as a singer in the
early 70s, it was the Koli Geet( Fisherman song) Dolkaar Dolkaar with Lata, for
Hridaynath (it may still be the most popular Marathi Song outside of
Maharashtra).
In the mid 70s, from 6th
standard onwards some of us friends got into the habit of bunking classes and
going for Matinee shows (12-3 or 1-4 PM shows). These were typically old movies
on reruns. It was here that we were exposed to the mesmerizing songs of ‘Bees
Saal Baad’, ‘Khamoshi’, ‘Anupama’ and ’Kohra’. These were classic compositions and
very melodious, but above all they were extremely addictive, used to enter into
a ‘do-loop’ in one's mind, and never leave. In many ways I think his genre had
shades of Madan Mohan and Sachin Da.
Hemant Da has a unique place in the Bollywood scheme of melodies as a composer
and as a singer.
I tried to capture some of his well
known melodies, hope you enjoyed it.
Dada would have been 101 this month,
his melodies though remain as young as, when they were conceived by him. Pranam
Hemant Da and thanks for adding so many colours to the lives of so many
generations of melody seekers.
To listen to the song played on Accordion by Shirish Purohit click the link below
If you like Shirish Purohit's / my music please subscribe to my You Tube channel, link given below
https://www.youtube.com/user/shirishpurohit
Shirish Purohit
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