Kalipada Sen and Bengali films.

Kalipada Sen and Bengali films.

Composer Kalipada Sen made very valuable contribution in Bengali films during the 50s, 60s and 70s. He faced the keen competition against legendary composers during the golden age of Bengali film music including Robin Chatterji, Anupam Ghatak, Pabitra Chatterji, Anil Bagchi, Salil Choudhury, Sudhin Dasgupta, Nochiketa Ghosh, Manobendra Mukherjee, Hemanta Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra, and yet created his own identity.

He composed brilliant music in Uttam Kumar’s film Sare Chuattor in 1953. His shyamasangeet “e maya proponchomoy” sung by Dhananjoy Bhattacharya enchanted the viewers. The other song was chorus song “amar ei jouban champachameli bone” where Manobendra Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra and others did lend their voices. Manobendra Mukherjee and Shyamal Mitra even acted in the film. The film was directed by Nirmal Dey.

In Chitta Basu’s film Chele Kar, Kalipada Sen composed decent music. The comedy film released in 1954 had legendary actors and actresses like Bikash Roy, Chabi Biswas, Arundhuti Debi, Suprabha Debi, to name a few. The songs “badla akash”, “rononigandha”, etc., became hit. Ajoy Kar directed Shyamali in 1956, and Kalipada Sen composed music for the super hit.

He composed music in many successful films of Uttam Kumar including Bidhilipi, Lakhahira, Punarmilan, Kankabatir Ghat, Raja Shaja, Upahar, Biraj Bou, etc. Very significantly he composed music in the films of directors from 50s to 60s. It included Ankush and Nirjan Saikate directed by Tapan Sinha, Darpa Churna directed by Dilip Ray, Bindur Chele directed by Chitta Bose, Sadanander Mela directed by Sukumar Dasgupta, Dui Bari directed by Ashim Pal, Debatra directed by Haridas Bhattacharya, Kathin Maya directed by Sushil Majumdar, Bamuner Meye directed by Ajoy Kar, to name a few.

At the same time he had composed music for all the legendary singers of the golden age including Sandhya Mukherjee, Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Shyamal Mitra, Supriti Ghosh, Manobendra Mukherjee and others.

His films and music should be restored and preserved.

Salil Choudhury and Bengali modern songs.

Salil Choudhury and Bengali modern songs.

Salil Choudhury was one of the most gifted creators of Bengali modern songs during the golden age. As he was a versatile scholar, his scholarly attributes were reflected in his creations. He was both the lyricist and the composer and numerous songs sung by legendary singers over 50 years.

His creation “ami parini bujhite parini” and “tumi jaante” for Manobendra Mukherjee were created with two different andaz, one having classical orientation while the other having westernized treatment. His creation “jhanana jhanana baje” and “antabihin oi andharater shesh” for Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya showed his class in handling classical singers.

On the other hand his base in folk songs were evident in his song “sunayoni sunayoni” sung by Nirmalendu Choudhury and Sabita Choudhury. Nirmalendu became famous all across the world with his folk numbers. Salil Chouhdury huge experiment with Shymal Mitra in songs like “jadi kichu amare shudhao”, “aha oi ankabanka poth jai shudure”, “dur nai beshi dur oi”, “ja jare ja ja pakhi”, to name a few. In “jadi kichu amare shudhao”, Salil Choudhury’s orchestration was unique, half of the song was blank verse while the other half had musical treatment.

Salil Choudhury created a gem with the song “nil nil pakhi” for Sandhya Mukherjee. Besides, bengal’s literary community were astonished with Salil Choudhury conversion of famous poetry “ujjal ek jhak paira” sung by Sandhya Mukherjee into song. The poet’s feelings were translated into musical tune by sheer brilliance of Salil Choudhury. Other examples of converting legendary poems into songs include “runner” written by Shukanto Bhattacharya and “palki chole” written by Satyendranath Dutta which were sung by Hemanta Mukherjee which both became history. In “runner” the march of the postman on foot from remote corners of village was given adequate expression by Salil Choudhury.

Salil Choudhury’s national fame allowed him to do numerous experiments with bollywood singers like Mukesh and Lata. Articles after articles can be devoted to Lata Salil Choudhury creations in Bengali. Mukesh also sung hit song “jhum jhum pakshi nachona” composed by Salil Choudhury.

Salil Choudury created his masterpieces in Bengali films as well like Shyamal Mitra’s song “onek ghuriya sheshe” in Hrithik Ghatak’s film Bari Theke Paliye, Nirmalendu Choudhury’s song “sojoni o sojoni” and Manna Dey’s “uthali pathali amar buuk” in Rajen Tarafdar’s film Ganga. Besides his song “he bhai re bhai” and “baje go beena” sung by Manna Dey in the film Marjina Abdulla made the listeners speechless. Even Lata’s song “bujhbe na keu bujhbena” was equally popular.

Bengal and India was as a whole was indebted to a maestro like Salil Choudhury and several researches can be undertaken for finding out the history behind his creations. The creations should be preserved and restored.