New Delhi: Hindi cinema`s celebrated singer Manna Dey died on today morning at a hospital in Bangalore. He was being treated for respiratory illness and renal failure. He was 94. Of his kin and relatives, Dey`s daughter and son-in-law were present at the time of his death. “Manna Dey who was under treatment for the last four months breathed his last around 4 a.m. K.S.Vasuki, spokesman of Narayana Hrudayalaya, said to the reporters. According to press reports, the veteran singer`s dead body will be kept for public viewing so that people could come and pay tributes at Bangalore`s Ravindra Kala Shetra from 10 am to 12 pm, followed by his funeral. Credited with pioneering a new genre by infusing Indian classical music in a pop framework, Manna Dey epitomized the golden period of Hindi cinema with his inimitable style and memorable songs like ‘Puchho na kaise’, ‘Aye meri zoharajabi’ and ‘Laga chunri mein daag’. Along with Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar, Dey was the last member of the famous quartet of singers who dominated the Hindi music industry from 1950s to 1970s.
Adept also at singing Rabindra Sangeet, the multi-talented legendary singer’s experimentation with western music and qawwali produced many unforgettable melodies. Dey, who had made Bangalore his home for the past few years, started his career in playback singing with the film ‘Tamanna’ in 1943. The musical score was set by his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey and he had to sing a duet with Suraiya. The song ‘sur na saje kiya gaon mein’ was an instant hit. In 1950, ‘Mashal’ was the second film where Dey got the opportunity to sing a solo ‘Upar gagan vishal’, a melody created by Sachin Dev Burman. In 1952, Dey sang both for a Bengali and a Marathi film of the same name and storyline, Amar Bhupali, and established himself as a booming Bengali playback singer that in years to come took him to greater heights. Dey was much in demand for complicated raag-based songs and was once even pitted against his idol Bhimsen Joshi in 1956 movie ‘Basant Bahar’ for ‘Ketki, gulab, juhi’ song, something that he initially refused.
Manna, a name given to him by KC Dey, was initially planning to become a barrister but under his uncle’s influence, he decided to opt for a career in music. He took his first singing lessons from his uncle, Ustad Dabir Khan, Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan. Dey was married to Sulochana Kumaran from Kerala with the couple having two daughters. He referred to Sulochana as his inspiration. “She was everything in my life – the one I always consulted about my profession not to speak about my personal life as well.” His autobiography ‘Jiboner Jalsaghorey’ was published in 2005 and was later translated into English (Memories Come Alive), in Hindi (Yaden Jee Uthi) and in Marathi. He had turned a recluse in the last years of his life, especially after the death of his wife Sulochana in January, 2012 and lived on his own in Bangalore. Dey’s death marks the passing away of an era in a year that marks the century of Hindi film industry. The voice behind ‘Coffee Houser Sei Addata’, the timeless song on youth and their aspirations which is still as popular as when it was released three decades ago, has permanently fallen silent.
Bureau Report
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