Manna Dey
Prabodh Chandra Dey, known professionally as Manna Dey, was an Indian playback singer, music director, and musician. With a strong foundation in classical music, he is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and celebrated vocalists in the Hindi film industry. He is also credited with bringing Indian classical music into mainstream Hindi cinema.
Dey was especially acclaimed for blending classical music elements with popular compositions, a style that played a significant role during the golden era of Hindi cinema.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Dey recorded about 3,047 songs. While most were in Bengali and Hindi, he also sang in 14 other Indian languages, including Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and Chhattisgarhi. His peak popularity was during the mid-1950s to the 1970s.
For his contribution to Indian music, Dey received numerous honours. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.
He belonged to the Bhendibazaar gharana and trained under Ustad Aman Ali Khan.
Early life
Dey was born in a Bengali family to Mahamaya and Purna Chandra Dey on 1 May 1919 in Calcutta. Besides his parents, his youngest paternal uncle, Sangeetacharya Krishna Chandra Dey highly inspired and influenced him. He received his early education at Indu Babur Pathshala, a small pre-primary school. He started doing stage shows in school from 1929. He attended Scottish Church Collegiate School and Scottish Church College. He participated in sports events like wrestling and boxing in his college days, taking training from Gobar Guha. He graduated from Vidyasagar College.Dey began taking music lessons from Krishna Chandra Dey and Ustad Dabir Khan. During this period of learning, he stood first for three consecutive years in three different categories of inter-collegiate singing competitions.
Career
Early career (1942–1953)
In 1942, Dey accompanied Krishna Chandra Dey on a visit to Bombay. There he started working as an assistant music director first under Krishna Chandra Dey in a Bengali film Chanakya in 1939 and then under Sachin Dev Burman. Later, he assisted other music composers and then started to work independently. While working independently as a music director for various Hindi movies, Dey continued to take musical lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan. He worked with nearly 185 music directors in his singing career in Bollywood.Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie Tamanna, in 1942. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna sang a duet named "Jago Aayee Usha Ponchi Boley Jago" with Suraiya which was an instant hit.
But it was only in 1943 that he got his first solo break with Ram Rajya. Incidentally, the producer of the film Vijay Bhatt and its composer Shankar Rao Vyas had approached K C Dey with an offer for playback in the film. When K C Dey refused the offer on the grounds that he would not lend his voice to other actors, they spotted Manna Dey sitting in the corner of the room and offered him the opportunity.
Shankar Rao Vyas taught Manna Dey the songs and he chose to sing them in his uncle's distinct style. And thus started the illustrious career with the first song "Gayi tu gayi Seeta sati".
His songs like "O Prem Diwani Sambhal Ke Chalna" from 1944 film Kadambari composed by Anil Biswas, "Dil Churaney Ki Liye from Dur Chaley" composed by Jafar Khurshid, his duets with Amira Bahee like "E Diniya Jara Suney" from Kamala and duet song "Aaj Bor Aayee" with Meena Kapoor from 1947 film Chaltey Chaltey became chartbusters in respective years. Between 1945 and 1947, many Dey-Rajkumari duets like "Hay Gagan Me Badal Tharey" in 1945 for the film Vikaramaditya, "Aowji Morey" from Insaaf, all four duets from the film Geet Govind composed by Pandit Indra – "Kit Ho Nando Kumar", "Chorr Sakhi Aaj Laj", "Apney Hi Rang", "Lalit Labang Lata" from Geet Govind became popular.
He sang for first time songs composed by Sachin Dev Burman, Upar Gagan Vishal and Duniya Ke Logo in the 1950 movie Mashal, which became popular and from here his association with S.D.Burman began. Its lyrics were written by Kavi Pradeep. In 1952, Dey sang for a Bengali and a Marathi movie with the same name and storyline, Amar Bhupali. This established him as a leading playback singer in Bengali films and Marathi films as well by 1953.
In the post independence period, after 1947, Dey was regularly used by music composers Anil Biswas, Shankar Rao Vyas, S.K.Pal, S.D.Burman, Khem Chand Prakash, Mohd.Safi from 1947 to 1957. Dey-Anil Biswas combination gave hit numbers from films like Gajre, Hum Bhi Insaan Hai, Do Sitaare, Hamdard, Mahatma Kabir, Jasoos and Pardesi. Though Anil Biswas worked with Dey in very few films, their songs remain famous. He recorded his first duet with Shamshad Begum, who was the Hindi female singer most in demand from 1940 to 1961, "Phoolon Ka Swapna" in the films Girls School composed by S.K.Pal.
His first duet with the then upcoming singer Lata Mangeshkar was "Lapat Ke Pot Pahaney Bikral" composed by Vasant Desai for Narsingh Avtar, and with Kishore Kumar it was "Subaho Ki Paheli Kiran" from 1951 film Anadolan composed by Pannalal Ghosh. His first duet with Geeta Dutt was "Dhonyo Dhonyo He Ayodh Puri" from the film Ram Vivah composed by Shankar Rao Vyas, first duet with Umadevi was "Hay Ye Hain" from Jangal Ka Jaanwar composed by Ghantshala. His first duet with the then struggling singer Asha Bhosle was "O Raat Gayee Fir Din Aya" from 1953 film Bootpolish.
Dey established his verstality between 1948 and 1954 by singing not only the classical based film songs but also singing such film songs which were fusion of Indian classical music and pop music and by giving classical music concerts. His experimentation with western music too produced many unforgettable melodies resulting in an increase in singing offers in films from 1955. He began singing ghazals in Hindi films from 1953. He became a music composer in Hindi films when he composed music along with Khemchand Prakash for both Shri Ganesh Janma starring Trilok Kapoor and Nirupa Roy and Vishwamitra.
1953–1967
By 1954, Dey became popular among musical circle across film industries of various Indian languages. He became nationally famous after release of Do Bigha Zamin where two of the songs sung by him and composed by Salil Choudhury became hits. Salil Choudhury worked with Dey from 1953 to 1992 in Hindi films and made Dey sing even in Bengali and Malayalam films right from the late 1950s to early 1990s. His association with Shankar–Jaikishan and producer Raj Kapoor had begun while working for Awara, but their combination became famous while working together for Boot Polish in 1954. The trio worked in many films together from 1954 to 1971 whose musical scores were appreciated, irrespective of their box-office fate, like Shree 420, Chori Chori, Mera Naam Joker, Awaara, and Kal Aaj Aur Kal. He also sang for Raj Kapoor in Parvarish, Sriman Satyavadi, Dil Hi To Hai, and Abdullah. The Raj Kapoor-Manna Dey combination produced superhits and was a pair to reckon with. While Mukesh sang the slow pathos for Raj Kapoor, Dey sang the fast peppy ones, the classical numbers, the romantic duets and the naughty numbers. Dey has the rare distinction of doing playback for both father and son – Raj Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor. C. Ramchandra worked with Dey very first time in Insaniyaat in 1955 and then recorded songs with Dey consistently even in the 1960s in films like – Tallaq, Navrang, Paigham, Stree, Veer Bhimsen etc.In 1956, he sang with a new batch of singers. He recorded his first duets with Sudha Malhotra "Ghar Ghar Deep Jalao Re" from Ayodhyapati in 1956, with Binata Chatterjee in the duet "Tum Mile Mil Gaye Karaar" from Grand Hotel composed by Suresh Talwar, and then his first duet with Sabita Banerjee in the song "Jamine Hamari Jamana" composed by A.R.Quereshi from Laal-E-Yaman and with singer Meena Kapoor in the song "Rim Jhim Jhim Rim Jhim" from Pardesi composed by Anil Biswas.
Dey turned into an independent music composer in Hindi films with Maha Poojaa in 1954. He sang eighty-three Hindi songs in three years from 1953 to 1955 and his demand increased such that he sang 45 songs in the year 1956. His career reached in peak form when he recorded 95 Hindi songs in single year 1957 and 64 in 1958. His peak period in Hindi film industry is considered to be from 1953 to 1969 where he recorded 758 Hindi songs of which 631 came between 1957 and 1969. He worked extensively with other music directors like Naushad, K.Dutta, Vasant Pawar & Ram, Vasant Desai, Ravi, S.K.Pal, Avinash Vyas, S. N. Tripathi, Sanmukh Babu, Nissar Bazmi, Husanlal Bhagatram, B.N. Bali, Sushanta Banerjee, O.P. Nayyar, G.Ramanathan, T.G.Lingappa, Nirmal Kumar, Ghulam Mohhammed, Bipin Dutta, Rabin Banerjee, Roshan, Sapan Jagmohan from 1954 to 1968.
New age composers like Kalyanji-Anandji started recording songs with Dey from 1958 and Laxmikant Pyarelal from 1964. Rahul Dev Burman made Dey sing the westernised songs – "Aao Twist Karen" and "Pyar Karta Ja" which became chartbusters in 1965. But the composers who gave Dey consistent popular song numbers in commercially successful films from 1955 to 1969 were S.D.Burman, C.Ramachandra, Ravi, Avinash Vyas, Vasant Desai, Anil Biswas, Salil Choudhury and Shankar Jaikishan. The solo songs sung by Dey like "Lapak Jhapak Tu Aa Re" from Boot Polish, "O Gori Tori Tu Pyar Ka Sagar Hai" from Seema, "Yeh Kahani Hai Diye Aur Toofan Ki" from Diya Aur Toofan composed by Vasant Desai, "Humdum Se Gaye" from Manzil, "Aye Mere Pyare Watan" from Kabuliwala, "Laga Chunari Mein Daag" from Dil Hi Toh Hai, classical songs like "Sur Na Saje" from Basant Bahar, "Kaun Aya Mere Mann" from Dekh Kabira Roya, "Pucho Na Kaise Maine Rain" from Meri Surat Teri Aankhen, "Jhanak Jhanak Tore Baje Payalia" from Mere Huzoor ; folk based songs like "Kisi Chilman Se" from Baat Ek Raat Ki, "Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen" from Waqt, "Chalat Musafir Moh Liya" from Teesri Kasam, "Aao Aao Sawariya", and duets with Lata like "Masti Bhara Yeh Sama" from Parvarish, "Nain Mile Chain Kahan" from Basant Bahar, "Kehdoji Kehdo Chupaona Pyar" from Kismat Ka Khel, "Tum Gagan Ke Chandrama" from Sati Savitri, "Dil Ki Girah" from Raat Aur Din, "Chunari Sambhal Gori" from Baharon Ke Sapne, were chartbusters in their respective year of release. Credit is also given to Dey for popularising classical based solo and duet songs to the masses like the duet with Lata – "Pritam Daras Dikhao" from Chacha Zindabad, became a popular song though it was based on classical Raag Lalit. His rendition of "Kasame Vaade Pyar" from Upkar pictured on Pran and composed by Kalyanji Anandji won accolades for Dey, and was also significant in Pran's career as he began to do positive roles.
Dey gave playback for Raj Kapoor in Shree 420, Chori Chori, Parvarish, Dil Hi To Hai, Mera Naam Joker and "Ek Paon Chal Raha Hai" from Kal Aaj Aur Kal. R.D.Burman recorded hit songs with Dey regularly from 1965 with films like Bhoot Bangla, Gomti Ke Kinare, Chandan Ka Palna, Baharon Ke Sapne, Padosan, in late 60s. He sang for Balraj Sahni in many films from 1950 till 1969 and was voice of Mehmood and Anoop Kumar in many films from 1960 to 1975.
Among the new breed of singers which emerged after 1956, Dey's duets with Suman Kalyanpur were popular making them a celebrated team. Their first duet was "Prem Bada Balwan Jagat" from Maayaa Nagri composed by B.N.Bali and since then have sung around 45 songs together. Their popular duets include "Tum Jo Aao" from Sakhi Robin composed by Robin Bannerjee, "Dil Se Jo Baat" from Al Hilal composed by C.Ramachandra, "Na Jane Kahan" from Zindagi Aur Khwab, "Ye Din Hai Khushi Ke" from Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai and "Bheegi Hawaon Mein" from Shriman Sataywadi - all 3 composed by Dattaram Wadkar, "Aankh Mein Shokhi" from Reshmi Roomal composed by Babul, "Aao Hilmil Ke Nacho Re" from Jaane Anjaane composed by Shankar–Jaikishan and "Dil To Dil Hain Phool Bhi" from Dafaa 302 composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal.
Dey recorded popular duets with Mohd. Rafi, Dey sang 101 Hindi songs along with Rafi which include 58 duets with Rafi such as "Ishq Ishq" "Tu hai mera prem Devta", "Mama o mama", Duniyaan ke liye from Maan Gaye Ustaad, "Main Hoon Tera Prem Aur Tu Ho Meri Pran" from Rahu Ketu, the song "Hindustan Ki Kasam" from Hindustan Ki Kasam, "Hum To Tere Hai Deewane" from Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong, "Badey Miya Diwane" from Shagird, "Ye Do Diwane Dil Ke" from Johar Mehmood in Goa, "Agar Dil Dil Se" from Shola Aur Shabnam.
With Asha Bhosle, recorded around 160 Hindi songs from 1953 to 1982 though their duets kept releasing till 1986 and their last song sung together was in Teri Maang Sitaaron Se Bhar Doon. Popular duets of Asha-Dey include "Ye Hawa Yeh Nadi Ka" from Ghar Sansar, "Tu chupi hai kahan" from Navrang, "Jodi Hamari Jamegi" from Aulad, "Sanjh Dhali Dil Ki Lagi" from Kala Bazar, "Aye Kash Chalte Milte" from Manzil, "Na Tohh karvan Ki Talaash Hai" from Barsaat Ki Raat, "Jane Na Doonga" from Dadimaa, "Re man sur me ga" from Lal Patthar, "Zindegi hai khel" from Seeta Aur Geeta and "Paisa Daulat" from Dharkan. Dey sang around 27 Hindi duets with Geeta Dutt from 1949 with the last being from Ziddi in 1964. The popular duets of Geeta Dutt-Dey include both classical songs as well as those which have style of Twist dance, Rock & Roll, cha-cha-cha like "Aan aan milo" from Devdas, :O Mister Suno Ek Baat" from Agra Road, "Karo Na Phere Gali Ke Mere" from Bengali film Gali Theke Rajpath composed by Sudhin Dasgupta, "Naya Naya Chand Hai Jee" Khuda Ka Banda starring actor Chandrashekar and composed by S.N.Tripati. The song "Picnic Me Tick Tick" from Piya Milan Ki Aas composed by S.N.Tripati is noted for Dey yodelling and singing in a style which is known as forte of Kishore. With Lata Mangeshkar, Day recorded around 103 Hindi duets of which songs like "Tere Bina Aag Yeh Chandni" from Awara, "Yeh raat bhigi bhigi" and "Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein" from Chori Chori, "Pyar hua iqrar hua" from Shree 420, "Woh Chand Muskaye" from Akhri Dao, "Ritu aye", "Dil Ki Girah Khol Do" from Raat Aur Din, "Aya Abdulla Aya" from Juaari, "Soch Ke Ye Gagan Jhume" from the flop film Jyoti and "main buddho lambo lambo" of Buddha Mil Gaya'' are still extremely popular.