Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music director and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian languages like Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Tamil, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Konkani, Sanskrit and Urdu. He was an artist of Bengali and Hindi film music, Rabindra Sangeet, and many other genres. He was the recipient of two National Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and was popularly known as the "voice of God".
Bengali music comprises a long tradition of religious and secular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium. Composed with lyrics in the Bengali language, Bengali music spans a wide variety of styles.
Jôdi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tôbe Ekla Chôlo Re, commonly known as Ekla Chôlo Re, is a Bengali patriotic song written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905.
GeetashreeSandhya Mukherjee was an Indian playback singer and musician, specialising in Bengali music. She received Banga Bibhushan, the highest civilian honour of the Indian state of West Bengal in 2011. She also won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her songs in the films Jay Jayanti and Nishi Padma in the year 1970.
Saptapadi is a 1961 Indian Bengali-language romantic drama film by Ajoy Kar, starring Suchitra Sen, Uttam Kumar, Chhabi Biswas and Chhaya Debi. Music direction and playback singing for Kumar voice was by Hemanta Mukherjee and in Sen's voice by Sandhya Mukherjee. The story is based on a 1958 novel by Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay. This is regarded as one of the greatest romantic film in the history of Bengali cinema. The film become highest grossing Bengali film in 1961. It was featured retrospectively at the 45th IFFI in the "homage section" of Indian panorama.
Shyamal Mitra was an Indian versatile playback singer and music director along with Hemanta Mukherjee and Manna Dey. Mitra had also worked in many Hindi and Bengali films as a music director and film producer. He was the most notable musician of the golden era of Bengali music industry. His baritone voice reflected a range of emotions. Besides recording a huge number of popular Bengali basic songs, he also worked as a playback singer in more than a hundred Bengali films and directed music in more than fifty Bengali films. He also sang in various other Indian languages, like Hindi, Assamese, and Oriya.
Chaowa Pawa is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language romantic comedy film directed by three directors Sachin Mukherjee, Dilip Mukherjee, Tarun Majumdar. It is based on the 1934 Academy Awards winning American film It Happened One Night. The film stars Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. This is the debut film of the legendary director Tarun Majumder and this film is regarded as one of the best film pairing Uttam-Suchitra. Film become huge success.
Manabendra Mukhopadhyay was an Indian singer and music composer in Bengali films. Coming to limelight in the early 1950s Manabendra was an innovative and stylish singer who had a strong foundation in Indian classical music. With his distinctive voice, Manabendra was an instant hit with the audience. demonstrating great talent also as a composer, using the lyrics and melody of a song with good effect. At that time Bengali modern song world had the presence of some outstanding performers like Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Manna Dey, Satinath Mukherjee, Akhilbandhu Ghosh, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay to name a few.
Vālmīki-Praṭibhā is an opera by Rabindranath Tagore. The Bengali libretto was written by Tagore himself based on the legend of Ratnakara the Thug who later became Sage Valmiki and composed Ramayana, a Hindu epic.
Sudhin Dasgupta was a prolific Bengali music director, lyricist, and singer. He worked in various other Indian languages, such as Hindi, Assamese and Oriya. His contribution opened a new horizon to the Bengali music for both the arenas of Bengali basic song as well as Bengali film song.
Atul Prasad Sen was a Bengali composer, lyricist and singer, and also a lawyer, philanthropist, social worker, educationist and writer.
Robin Chatterjee was an Indian music director and sound recordist who scored music for about ninety films. Starting from the 1942 film Parineeta, he has composed music for evergreen soundtracks such as Godhuli, Bipasha, Sagarika, Kamallata, Dwiper Nam Tiya Rang, etc.
Mahanayak was a Bengali mini-television drama series of 112 episode that premiered on June 27, 2016, on Star Jalsha. The series starred Prosenjit Chatterjee, Paoli Dam, Tanushree Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar, Manali Dey, Biswanath Basu and Biswajit Chakraborty in lead roles. The series is loosely based on the life of megastar Uttam Kumar.
Trijama is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language romantic drama film directed by Agradoot, based on Subodh Ghosh's novel of the same name. This film was released under the banner of Sunrise Films. Music direction of the film was made by Nachiketa Ghosh. Film starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen in lead role. It's critically acclaimed but become semi hit at the box office. But in 1960s when the film was re released it's become huge blockbuster hit at the box office.
Rajlakshmi O Srikanta is a 1958 Bengali drama film directed by Haridas Bhattacharya and produced by Kanan Devi based on the iconic and famous novel Srikanta of the legendary Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. This film was released in 1958 under the banner of Srimati Pictures. The film starring Uttam Kumar Suchitra Sen, Anil Chatterjee, Tulsi Chakraborty. Music direction of the film was done by Jnan Prakash Ghosh.
Indrani is a Bengali romantic drama film directed by Niren Lahiri based on a story of Achintya Kumar Sengupta. This film was released in 1958 under the banner of H.N.C. Productions. Nachiketa Ghosh was the music director of the movie. The film starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen in lead role. This was the first Bengali film where the legendary playback singer Mohammed Rafi was sing. Later he worked with Uttam Kumar in 1967 film Chhoti Si Mulaqat. The film become blockbuster hit at the box office and ran over 70 days in theaters.
Pathey Holo Deri is a 1957 Bengali film directed by Agradoot. The film has been music composed by Robin Chatterjee. The film starring Uttam Kumar, and Suchitra Sen who was in leading role and others artists like Shishir Batabyal, Anil Bhattacharya, Mihir Bhattacharya, Chhabi Biswas, Bharati Devi, Chandrabati Devi, Jahar Ganguli, Anup Kumar, Shyam Laha, Gopal Majumdar, Chitra Mandal, Sova Sen, Kamala Mukherjee in the supporting roles. This is the first ever color Bengali film in history. The film become huge successful at the box office.
Hrad is a Bengali drama film directed by Ardhendu Sen. The film starring Uttam Kumar, Sandhyarani, Chhabi Biswas, Asit Baran. This film was released on 29 July 1955 under the banner of Rupmaya films. The story was based on Bimal Kar's novel of same name. The film showed to Uttam's one of the most different and critical character, where he played a memory lost patient and give one of the finest performance in his entire career. Uttam received for the first time BFJA Best Actor Award in his career. The famous music composer Manabendra Mukhopadhyay was the music director of the film. This was a mental health and a psychological treatment film. The film became moderate success at the box office.
