East India Company

But this is not Rahman’s first brush with Bengali. ‘‘Mani Ratnam insisted on a folk-based melody for Yuva,’’ he says of the saccharine Neem Neem. And he can’t stop raving about classical singer Ajoy Chakraborty, who worked with him during the production of the yet-to-be-released Water. Though Rahman’s earliest memories of bhatiali (songs composed and sung by boatmen in east Bengal) go back to the ’60s, when the legendary Salil Chowdhury gained demigod status in Chennai. ‘‘My father worked with him during Chemmeen,’’ he says of the 1965 Malayalam cult film.

Most identify Chowdhury as the brilliant composer who gave us Dil Tadap Tadap Ke (Madhumathi) and Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli (Anand), but his anthems for the Indian Theatre Peoples Association (IPTA) and left-wing pieces are other reasons why composer Shantanu Moitra idolises him. ‘‘Who could be so red, so modern and so ideological? He’s India’s Dylan,’’ says 36-year-old Moitra, who is currently working on the soundtrack for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parineeta. Set in 1962, about a married woman’s scarlet life in Kolkata, the script also inspired Moitra to use Phule Phule, another popular Tagore number.

‘‘I’m also using a lot of folk,’’ adds Moitra, who began tracing regional sounds during his days as an economics student at Delhi University. He speaks in awe of the time spent in Bolpur, a Baul hub near Shantiniketan, in search of Jogindronath Baul: ‘‘Their ears are attuned to nature. They can even tune themselves using the sound of the wind.’’

Long before Bollywood met Parineeta, composer Debojyoti Mishra was adding the final touches to Rituparno Ghosh’s debut Hindi feature, Raincoat. Having worked with Chowdhury for over a decade, the 41-year-old says, ‘‘Salilda was a very strong influence in my early years. Too strong. It will take another 13 years to shake it off and start afresh.’’ Hear him in the supine, minimalist Mathura Nagarpati and Piya Tora Kaisa Abhimaan, rendered by Shubha Mudgal.

Album sales for the critically-acclaimed Raincoat are on par with the soundtrack for the year’s biggest hit, Page 3, which also released last October. But Mudgal is cynical about Bollywood’s acceptance of Bengali music. ‘‘Bengal is rich in music, but it’s still arty and caters to a niche,’’ says the 45-year-old singer, who also worked with Moitra on albums such as Ab Ke Sawan.

‘‘There’s a resistance against contemporary influences in Bengali music,’’ explains Mishra.‘‘The melodies and compositions have remained pure. That innocence attracts people.’’ Maybe, then, this love affair won’t die out soon.