Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Uttam Kumar and Hemant Kumar.

Uttam Kumar and Hemant Kumar.

By: CR Chatterji.

Uttam Kumar was the uncrowned monarch of Bengali silver screen and his brilliant lips in the legendary songs sung by the leading playback singers had become immortal over the period of years. Hemant Kumar sang many songs for Uttam Kumar and most of them were superhits.

In the film Sapmochon, in 1955, the song “shurer akashe tumi je go shuktara”, “jhor utheche”, became landmark hit. Also the songs in the film Bondhu, meaning friend were very popular. The notable songs include “mou bone aaj mou jomeche”, “maloti bhromore”, etc.

Hemant Kumar’s songs in the film Morutirtha Hinglaj, directed by Bikash Raoy, became very very successful. The film was based on pilgrimage. Although Uttam Kumar was the leading star in the film the songs were picturised on Anil Chatterji including “pather klanti bhule”, “tomar bhubone mago eto paap”, etc., which became successful.

Hemant Kumar sang the title song of the film Kal Tumi Aleya, where Uttam Kumar composed the songs for the film. The song “jai chole jai”, which was composed with a tragic andaz impressed the viewers.

Also the songs in the film Indrani, where Suchitra Sen acted opposite Uttam kumar, became big hits. The notable songs include “surjo dobar pala ase jodi”, “neer choto khoti nei”, etc.

Uttam Kumar also gave lips in hit songs composed by Hemant Kumar in the films Harano Sur and Saptapadi. All the songs were very successful. In the mid-60s Manna Dey and Shyamal Mitra sang leading songs for Uttam Kumar and they were successful also.

The songs and the films have lot of musical value and should be restored.

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