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Journalism of Courage
A musical evening in memory of Salil Choudhury and Sudhin Dasgupta by Amit Kumar Fan Club.
Few beyond Kolkata know about the existence of a very active music club named after singer Amit Kumar. Every year,it celebrates an annual musical evening in tribute to some genius from the world of film music. This years tribute was to the unforgettable musical creations of two contemporary pillars of music,namely Salil Chowdhury and Sudhin Dasgupta,who stood independent in their artistic contribution to the archive of Indian music of all genres. But it is their music for films that has stood the test of time because film music is the most widely heard genre in India,besides having a very long shelf-life.
The evening at Uttam Mancha in March was soaked with live orchestra performances by Rocket Mandal and his team. Mandal had been under the able tutelage of Salilda when he was young. Shaukat Khan played Zindagi kaisi hai paheli from Anand on his saxophone beautifully. It was an enchanting trip down memory lane embellished with performances by the famous Calcutta Youth Choir founded by Ruma Guhathakurta,Amit Kumars mother. The Calcutta Youth Choir sang six non-film compositions in all,three dedicated to each of the two composers. One of the most popular numbers they sang is Pathey ebaar naamo shathi in which the audience joined in with great gusto. This performance was followed by veteran mouth harmonica player Bhanu Gupta who was with Salilda for many years till the time the musical genius passed away. He played famous songs of Salilda,including Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha as his tribute to his mentor and guru.
The late Shyamal Mitras son Saikat Mitra,a talented singer in his own right,sang six numbers and regaled the audience with boyhood memories of both Salilda and Sudhin Dasgupta who had given Asha Bhosle some of the best Bengali songs she had ever sung. Asha almost rediscovered herself in Bengali for the songs she rendered in Picnic and sang some of his most memorable hits in Prathom Kadam Phool (1970),Chhadmabeshi (1971),Jibon Soikate (1972),Nishikanya (1973),Epaar Opaar (1973) etc. Another unique feature of Sudhin Dasguptas music is that he is the first to introduce Manna Dey as Uttam Kumars voice for his films. Hemant Kumar was till then exclusively the voice of Uttam Kumar but Sudhin broke Hemant Kumars monopoly when he persuaded Manna De to sing Lag lag bhelkir khela in Goli Theke Rajpath (1959). Amit Kumar made his Bengali debut under the baton of Sudhin Dasgupta in the film Sangini (1974).
The final song renderings came from Salil Chowdhurys daughter Antara who is almost a mandatory performer for every Amit Kumar Fan Club musical evenings. Among the six songs she dedicated to the memory of her father and his friend Sudhin Dasgupta,mention must be made of the unforgettable numbers Kon she alor shwapno niye originally sung by Asha Bhosle for the film Picnic,Keno kicchu kotha bolona,a non-film number to which Lata Mangeshkar had lent her voice,and Hemant Kumars famous non-film number Kono ek gaanyer bodhur whose lyrics and music both were by Salil Chowdhury.
The orchestra drew the evening to a close with its mind-blowing rendering of the universal Sudhin Dasgupta hit – Jeebone ki pabona bhulechhi she bhabona recreated and remixed by hit music director Jeet Ganguly for the Bengali film Jackpot (1999). Sudipta Chanda,founder-secretary of Amit Kumar Fan Club and his dedicated team must be commended for putting together such an unusual musical evening.
