Manna Dey – There won’t be another Dey

That’s why Shankar-Jaikishan had none else to bank upon when they composed the iconic ‘Ketaki gulaab juhi champak ban phule for Basant Bahaar.’ Faced with the intimidating challenge of competing with classical music’s most awesome voice,a reluctant Dey was egged on by his Keralite wife Sulochana – herself an accomplished musician – to grab the opportunity. As a result,an enthused Manna Dey excelled in a manner only he could have among all his contemporaries and anyone ever after till date.

While it is nobody’s argument that Bhimsen actually lost to Dey – it was deemed to be so as the song sequence required – Manna Dey’s day was clearly made.

Light music – film and non-film – always needs a classical touch. And who had it as good as Dey had? Even Rafi,who had an unmatched repertoire of songs ranging from folk to classical and light to ghazals under his belt bowed to Dey when it came to pure classical. Be it the ones embellished with a flurry of ‘taans,sargams’ and ‘taraanaas’ like ‘Laga chunari me daag,Bhor ayi gaya andhiyara,Jhanak jhanak tori baaje payalian,Chham chham baje re payalian,Gori tori painjaniyan,Tere naina talash kare jise wo hai and above all the ever unsurpassable Na’ to ‘kaanravaan ki talaash hai’; or the semi-classical like ‘Poonchho na kaise maine rain bitaayi,Aayo kahaan se ghanashyam’ and ‘Tum bin jeevan kaise beeta,’ one can’t imagine anyone else than Manna Dey to sing them with such authority. Listen to the soulful ‘Sur na saje kya gaaun’ main and just see how magnificently Dey turns the meaning of the lyrics upside down.

And who can beat him on his terrific showing in ‘Ek chatur naar’ in which Manna Dey’s versatility touched its highest peak. The original Hindustaani stylist masterfully rendered the Carnatic modulations to make it one of the most loved songs ever. While lyrically and histrionically the other Bengali icon,the quixotic Kishore Kumar,runs away with popular claps for his “victorious” singing battle on behalf of the film’s hero,the real touch of difference goes to Manna Dey’s credit. For,Manna Dey wasn’t an actor like Kishor who had had several similar comical renditions to his credit and,unlike Dey,comedy came so naturally to his real life personality.

In the spirit of competition,the song was for Manna Dey ‘Ketaki gulaab juhi’ revisited. And as he admits in his autobiography “Memories Come Alive”,he was anxious about his ability to match the co-singers on both occasions. As it turned out,he actually excelled given,as said earlier,that he had no background in comedy like Kishore Kumar and he was very good but not as good as Bhimsen was in classical music.

Interestingly,’Ek chatur naar’ was only one of the many comic songs Manna Dey rendered,almost on par with Kishore. ‘Mere bhains ko danda kyon maara,Bade miyaan diwane,Jodi hammari jamega kaise jaani,Kacchi kali kachnaar ki’ and the classically-styled ‘Phool gendvaa na maaaro’ and ‘Pyaar ki aag me tan badan jal gayaa’,to mention a few. So much so that he had to bear with some acerbic attacks from purists in Kolkata,who would condescendingly ask him: “Must you,after all,sing film songs? That too for comedians?”

Coming back to his forte – classical songs,O P Nayyar chose Rafi to sing with him in ‘Tu hain mera prem devataa’. While both rendered it equally well,it couldn’t probably have been the case when Roshan chose the two to partner in ‘Na to kaarvan ki’ (‘Barsaat ki Raat’). It was Manna Dey,who was chosen to sing the pure classical while Rafi was given the more soulful and sublime part of what undoubtedly is to date the greatest ever ‘qawwaali’ from Hindi films. Arguably,Manna Dey could have sung the Rafi part with equal aplomb.

Interestingly,Mohammed Rafi sang all but one great song in the musical hit ‘Mere Huzoor’ (1969) but Dey won the National Award for the only one he rendered,’Jhanak jhanak tori baaje paayaliya.’

The comparison,of course,is just academic and is only to underscore the the master’s greatness. That the two always respected each other as “better” than the other is quite well known. Mohammed Rafi would say,”you listen to my songs? I listen to Manna Dey’s.”

But Manna Dey didn’t allow himself to be typecast as classical singer. And it would be injustice for us as well to do it. He had as much variety,and versatility,as anyone else had.

Check the range of emotions in the touchy ‘Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haaye and Kaun aayaa mere man ke dwaare,’ the romantic resonance of ‘Tum gagan ke chandramaa ho,Yeh raat bheegi bheegi,Aaja sanam madhur chaandni me ham’ and ‘Dil ki girah khol do,’ the old-age flamboyance in the one and only and a veritably encore number Ae meri zohra jabin,the Afghani folk touch in ‘Yaari hai imaan mera’ (can you imagine this in anyone else’s voice?),the ‘desi’ folk in ‘Chunri samhal gori’ and ‘Dil ka haal sune dilwaalaa,’ the patriotic fervor in ‘Ae metre pyare watan,’ the philosophical calling in ‘Nadiya chale chale re dhara,’ the spiritual angst in Bhay bhanjana vandana,the godly surrender in ‘Tu pyar ka saagar hai’ and the worldly resignation in ‘Kasme vaade pyar wafa sab.’ Dey had all that a singer needed to take them to the iconic heights these numbers had gained.

And who can forget that classy Filmfare and National Award clincher of 1971 from Meraa Naan Joker,E bhay jaraa dekhke chalo?

His contribution to non-film music was also equally great. Just revisit Madhukar Rajasthani’s Nathni se tootaa moti re with Dey’s own musical score. And to Harivanshrai Bachchan’s great impressionist composition Madhushala set to music by Jaidev. Dey didn’t have to make efforts to sing them with as much ease as he has done in his film numbers because he never was typecast as a typically filmy singer.

While he matched the best in terms of versatility and variety,what set Dey apart from others in Hindi film music was that his voice was typically nobody’s voice and yet suited the call of the occasion for all actors he sang for. From Rajesh Khanna to Shammi Kapoor and from Raj Kapoor to Pran and Mehmood,Dey lent his voice to heroes,comedians and character artists alike. In that sense,he was second to none and had no competition. And unlike Rafi or Kishore,he never got linked to any particular actor in terms of suitability or match of voice tone or pitch. He wasn’t part of any favourite combinations like Rajesh Khanna-Kishor Kumar,Raj Kapoor- Mukesh,Rajendra Kumar-Rafi (whose voice,to be fair,naturally matched with many others). He,with a naturally mature,somewhat elderly voice wasn’t a typical “hero’s playback”. He also did perhaps feel bad after Raj Kapoor chose Mukesh to be his voice after all those superb Dey playbacks in Shree 420 and Chori Chori,Later,when both he (E bhay jara dekh ke chalo ) and Mukesh (Jeena yahaan marna yahaan) played back for Raj Kapoor in Meraa Naan Joker,Dey’s won the Filmfare and the coveted National Award,and possibly a point too.

No matter if he wasn’t a hero’s voice and that his 3,500 numbers were quantitatively much less than all other big names had under their belt,but Hindi film music wouldn’t have been able to acquire its classic touch without the “classical’ Manna Dey. No surprise if he was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2005 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.

Those were the Dey’s:

Born May 1,1919
• Learnt music from uncle K C Dey and Ustaad Dabir Khan
• Shifted his base to Mumbai along with uncle in 1942 and worked as his and later S D Burman’s assistant in music direction.
• Debut in film singing with a duet alongside Suraiya in Tamanna in 1942 the song Jaago aayee usha panchhi bole jaago.
• Married Keralite Sulochana Kumaran in 1953 and has two daughters Shuroma and Sumita. Sulochana passed away in 2012.
• National Award in 1969 for Mere Hujoor song Jhanak jhanak tori baaje payaliya,followed by another in 1971 for Mera Naan Joker number E bhay jara dekh ke chalo
• Besides,Hindi,Dey lent his voice to Bengali,Marathi,Malayalam,Gujarati,Kannada and Assamese songs.