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Manna Dey is, no doubt, a living legend and a doyen of the golden era of ONCE upon a time, there was a young boy who learnt wrestling and boxing and loved to fly kites. He had a robust physique and loved team sports like football and cricket, too. But his father wanted him to follow the family tradition of professionals and become a lawyer.
Born on May 1, 1919, in Kolkata, and originally christened Probodh Chandra Dey, he became famous as Manna Dey, and went on to win the biggest of the film awards in the country — the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recently. A down-to-earth man, Manna da still prefers to stay at his original residence, 9 Madan Dutta Lane, sandwiched between Hedua and Central Avenue, near Shimla Street in north Kolkata, whenever he visits the city, and never puts up in a hotel. His small office is sparsely furnished and the walls are adorned with his pictures and some trophies. He mostly wears a grey safari suit and cap. He stands ramrod straight and till recently could hold an audience captive for a three-hour solo performance. He insists on playing the harmonium himself. He is fond of watching television, reading the daily newspaper, discussing the topic of the day and holding discussions on any subject under the sun with friends, fans and youngsters who surround him all the time. As a child, he would listen attentively when his uncle rehearsed under the tutelage of Ustad Badal Khan Saheb. "I would often be asked to fetch paan for ustadji from the corner shop. One day, he heard me singing a few notes from one of his tans. He was so pleased that he called me back. That, perhaps, was my first lesson in music. "While studying for my intermediate at Kolkata’s Scottish Church Collegiate School, during recess, I would entertain my friends with songs sung loudly, keeping time by beating on the desks. Soon, the news reached the Principal, a Scotsman. He penned a letter to my uncle asking him to allow me to take part in a music competition to be held in the college.
"The competition had 10 sections such as dhrupad, khayal, tappa, thumri, bhatiali, baul, bhajan and ghazal, and I stood first in each section. This feat was repeated for the next two years along with gruelling training sessions under my uncle and from Ustad Dabir Khan," Manna da recalls. He was awarded an honorary D. Lit. by Rabindra Bharati University (2004) and Burdwan University (2005). Apart from the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, he has won the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer both for Hindi and Bengali songs. But the string of awards does not weigh on the excellence of his performance. "I got my first break when I was around 22-23, with a duet with Suraiya in the film Tamanna in 1942. My first solo was Gayi tu gayi Sita sati`85 for Ram Rajya in 1943, which immediately branded me as a singer of devotional songs. I was always asked to sing for old, bearded characters. It was frustrating. I sang Chali Radhey rani akhiyon main pani`85 for Bimal Roy’s Parneeta. It was a big hit. Bimal Roy asked me: ‘Manna, have you seen the song on screen?’, I said no. He told me to see for myself how deeply it moved the audience. "I went, only to see an old man with a beard singing the song. I was so mad that I felt like giving up and returning to Kolkata," he recalls. Lip-synced on screen by a beggar, this song, however, remains one of the best situational songs in Hindi cinema till date. In 1952, Manna Dey sang for a Bengali and a Marathi film of the same name and storyline — Amar Bhupali — and established himself as a Bengali playback singer. Incidentally, very few in the world of music know that Manna Dey’s famous uncle and guru, K. C Dey (1893-1962) had pioneered sugam sangeet (light, entertaining songs) in Indian music. His uncle had foreseen that the audience for classical music was rather limited, and that simplifying the same classical music would attract a larger audience. He was right. Sugam sangeet was something that a common man could listen to and identify with. So, during his lifetime, K. C. Dey became a legend in music. Reminiscing the effect of his legendary uncle, Manna da says: "His bhajans and kirtan in Bengali and in Hindi were outstanding. He taught people how to sing. Burman saab and Pankaj Mullick used to learn from him. I have seen my uncle move the audience to tears with his rendition of bhajans. I wished to have a similar kind of involvement in singing. He modelled his music in a way that the common man could listen and identify with. But he shifted to Mumbai and soon after and pulled me also there, marking a turning point in my life and career." Manna da’s talent won him a lot of fans all over the country. Highlighting this point is Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha’s short film in Bengali called Pagol Tomar Jonne Je (Crazy About You). The film is about an ordinary man’s hero worship of Dey and his dream of wanting to meet the great singer in flesh and blood. The main protagonist has a chair in his living room choc-a-bloc with the singer’s records, cassettes, albums, posters and photographs, and another beautiful chair on which he does not allow anyone to sit. Dey finally comes to his house and sits on this chair. The film portrays Dey not only as a great artiste but also as a sensitive and caring human being. In one scene we see him cooking for children suffering from cerebral palsy. Another scene shows him chatting up youngsters at Kolkata’s famous Coffee House. Another shows him presiding over the release of an album of old hits by S.D. Burman. The opening line of one of his famous Bengali songs has been copied to name a chain of Bengali restaurants in Kolkata. The chain is called Bhojohori Manna from his song aami sri sri bhojohori manna`85 from a famous Bengali film. Another memorable number is Coffee House-er shei addata aaj aar nei, aaj aar nei`85 This song has a special place in Manna da’s heart. The lyrics were by Gauriprasanna Majumdar set to music by Suparnokanti Ghosh. In all modesty, Manna da credits the lyricist for the song’s massive popularity. He then gives credit to Ghosh who set the lyrics to music and finally to his personal style of rendering the song. It is a song that pulsates with life and captures within itself, the vibrant culture of Kolkata’s legendary intellectual platform — the Coffee House. "The song carries the spirit of life and a sense of timelessness, a universality that transcends language, culture and people. That is why it is so famous," says Manna da. What does he do these days? "I live a disciplined life. I am grateful that there are so many people who deeply appreciate the kind of music I believe in and come to hear my songs. That is the reward for the honest and hard work I have put in all these years," he sums up smiling.
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He was very much
attached to his uncle Krishan Chandra Dey, who was a famous vocalist
and musician. K.C. Dey had already discovered that his nephew had a
gifted voice and, if trained and handled well, he would grow up to be
a great musician. Seventy years down the line, young boy is one of the
most versatile and long-standing singers in the country, in films and
outside films.
