HEMANTA MUKHERJEE |
Hemanta Mukherjee was a singer,
composer, and producer in the Hindi and Bengali film
industry. He is practically known for his Bollywood songs from the
1950's and 1960's. In his career, he recorded roughly 2000 songs.
Hemant Kumar Mukherjee was born on June 16, 1920
in Benares (Varanasi). He had three brothers and one sister. Though
he was born in Benares, his family originally recognize from Baharu in West
Bengal. When he was young, his family move to Calcutta. There he
grew up and attended Mitra Institution school of Bhawanipore. After he
graduated from Intermediate, he attended Jadavpur
University and began studying engineering.Hemanta participation in music began early.
He sang his first song in All India Radio in 1933. His age was only 13.
However it was never clear that Hemanta would
become a singer. His original training was in engineering, but he released
out of the University to persevere other paths. Initially he tried his
hand at writing ; he even managed to have a short story
published in a major Bengali magazine. But after a while it became
clear that his calling was music.
Hemanta had a understandable degree of formal
training in music. He had respective teachers. The major portion of
his training seems to have been under Sailesh Duttagupta. He also studied
under Phani Banerjee, and received his training in Rabindra Sangeet under Anadi
Dastidar. Later he was a supporter of the great Faiyaz Khan.
Unfortunately this last training did not last very long, it ended with the
death of Faiyaz Khan in 1950.
It was in 1937 that he recorded his first
disk. The names of the songs were Janite Jadi Go Tumi and Balo Go Balo
More. The lyrics to these songs were written by Naresh Bhattacharya and
the tune and arrangement was by Sailesh Dattagupta. This was recorded
under the Columbia label. Thereafter he had a continuous output of
non-film songs from the Gramophone Company of India up until 1984. His career as a film playback singer began with
the Bengali film "Nemai Sanyas"; this was
released in 1941. After that he did playback for a number of other
Bengali films.
The Bengali film industry was good training ground, but for him to fulfill a wider
audience, he had to work in the Hindi film industry. He was first able to
sing his first Hindi film song in "Irada" which was released in
1944. This was under Pt. Amarnath's music direction. But Hemanta wanted to represent that he could do
more than just sing. He wished to show his proficiency as a music
director. He was first able to do this in the Bengali film
"Abhiyatri" in 1947. These were all very fine achievements, but
he was just not able to attain commercial success.
This period of life was marked by a properly normal
personal life. In 1945 he married Bela Mukherjee, who was also a Bengali singer.
Together they had two children, one boy named Jayant and one girl named
Ranu. It is pleasurable to note the the son Jayant married the 1970's
film actress Moushmi Chatterjee.
The middle of 1940's was a unrestrained period in
Indian history and Hemant felt committed to use his art for social and
political development of the people. The waning days of the British Raj made the problems of imperialism very
evident, and multifarious social discrimination
cried out for some resolution. When these problems did not go away after
Independence, many people felt they could no longer remain quiet. In this
environment, it is no surprise that Hemanta joined Indian People's Theatre
Association (IPTA).
The purpose of the IPTA was to create works of
art that would raise the political awareness of the common man. Plays,
music, and other dramatic works were created with the aim of concentrate on the
social and political abomination of the day. The IPTA was administered by the
Communist Party of India, but not all of the participants were members of the
party.
Hemanta’s time in the IPTA may
not have done much to advance his career financialy, but it was not without its
betterment. First it gave Hemant Kumar the satisfaction of standing up
for his beliefs. It also produced some interesting work ; especially
notable was his partnership with Salil Chowdhury. In 1948 he sang an epic
6 min. song. This song was entitled ‘Ganyer Badhu’. It is said that
when this song was released, Salil was not present because he was covering from
police. The success of this song surface the way for a number of other partnership
with Salil Chowdhury in the future.
Other music directors also began to take note of
his qualification. In the late 1940's Hemant started to compose music for
a director named Hemen Gupta. This association would produce life
changing results.
This association with Hemen Gupta led Hemanta to
Bombay in 1951. Sometime earlier Hemen Gupta moved to Bombay to work in
the growing and lucrative Hindi film industry which
was developing there. Hemen liked Hemanta's music so he called him to
Bombay to be the music director for his first Hindi Film. This was
"Anand Math" (1952) and was released under the Filmstan banner.
This movie may not be intentional a great hit, but it performed well enough for
the Hemanta and Hemen Gupta partnership
to produce several more films together.
Hemant's fortunes were about to change. He
had been working very hard in the film industry for many years, yet popular commendation
was slow in coming. It was SD Burman who gave him his break for the film
"Jaal" (1952). The song from this film Yeh Raat, Yeh Chaandni Phir
Kahan, became a big hit, and connect his position as a major playback singer.
Hemant began to work as a music director.
His music directed flim’s areu "Nagin" (1954) "Jagriti" (1954),
"Bees Saal Baad" (1962), and "Khamoshi" (1969).
In the 1950's, Hemanta had a varied artistic
life. In Bengal he was known as a major representative of Rabindra
Sangeet. In Bombay he now had two occupations. He was known by many
as a successful playback singer, and to others he was a music director.
However that was not enough for him; he also tested in as a film
producer. He established a film company by the name of Hemata-Bela whose
first production was the Bengali "Neel Akshar Neechay" (1959).
This film company was later renamed as Geetanjali Productions; under this
banner, films such as "Bees Saal Baad", and "Khamoshi",
were released.
Acknowledgment came his way in the 50's and
60's. In 1955 he won the "Filmfare Award for the Best Music
Director". This was for his film "Nagin" (1954). He
won the "Presidents Gold Medal" for his film "Neel Aksher
Neechay" (1959). He also received many other awards.
In 1980's health problems began to take their assessment.
In 1980 he had a heart attack. Although he recovered this impacted his
abilities. His last concert was in September of 1989.
He went to Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudhan Award. There he
gave a representation in Dhaka. Upon his return he had a severe heart
attack and died on September 26, 1989.
Though Hemant Mukherjee
died long ago, there are constantly re-releases of his old material.
Sometimes these are mere repackaging of his older works and at other times they
are remixes. Today, several decades on, he is fondly remembered for
giving us some of the most unforgettable songs ever to come out of Bollywood.
HEMANTA MUKHERJEE Bengali song Download here :
HEMANTA.VOL.1
HEMANTA MUKHERJEE Hindi song Download here :
Hemanta vol.1