Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Manobendra Mukherjeesahab remained the king of romantic classical songs

Manobendra Mukherjee and stylish classical Bengali songs. Manobendra Mukherjee was one of the legendary classical singer of Bengal who had simplified classical ragas and used them in Bengali modern songs. His romantic song “ami eto je tomay bhalobesechi” written by Shyamal Gupta and composed by himself had classical touch embedded in it. His other own composed song “emni kore porbe mone baki jibon dhore” was also a masterpiece related to classical andaz. Manobendra Mukherjee’s pure classical numbers were even more melodious. One example is “ei moushumi mon shudhu rong bodlay”. In this song there was a small alaap or khanak taken at the place “mori je hay” where Manobendra had used the sargam by uttering in “aa aa” form. It was brilliant. There were other romantic songs like “boroshaklanto o duti nayan mele”. The song had been composed by Anal Chatterji. Manobendra Mukherjee had another master piece “bolo raat bolo se kothay”. The song was totally raga oriented. Manobendra Mukherjee was sublime in the song “ei nil nil jal sagore” composed by Probir Mojumdar and “tomar pather prante moner monidip jele rekhechi” composed by Satinath Mukherjee. Some of his own compositions like “ei ganga sei padda” and “sei bhalo ei bosonto noi” had absolute romantic andaz. Manobendra Mukherjee had given adequate expression to songs composed by Himangshu Dutta including “birohini chiro birohini”, “tumi je andhar”, “biroho barisha”, etc. The songs were difficult in nature and Manobendra was probably the most classically trained singer to do justice to them. Manobendra had also sung some of the songs created in thumri style. One example was “koto je soyechi betha” composed by Chinmoy Lahiri. One more classical number included “tumi to dariye acho”. Articles after articles can be devoted to Manobendra Mukherjee whose classical touch was as elegant and stylish as Neil Harvey’s wristy strokes.

Deepti Navalji and Farooq Sheikhji were outstanding in film Kisi Se Na Kehna

Actors Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval were a brilliant intellectual pair who stormed Bollywood films in the 1980s. They were cast in different experimental characters after the pair of Naseeruddin Smita Patil and Om Puri Shabana Azmi. Kisi Se Na Kehna was a light-hearted comedy film made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1983. The film was produced by Ashok Raut or Jayant Pathare. The music was composed by Bappi Lahiri. In the film Farooq Sheikh became the general manager of the firm run by SN Banerjee. He fell in love with Deepti Naval who was the niece of SN Banerjee. Utpal Dutta, the father of Farooq Sheikh wanted to get him married to girl who knew Indian traditions and did not know the language. Utpal Dutta himself went to see a number of girls and found that the ones who were modern learned poor culture and were disrespectful towards elders. He asked Farooq Sheikh to marry only that girl who knew not a single letter of English. Sayeed Jaffery helped Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval to get married. He asked Deepti Naval and SN Banerjee to pretend that they were from the village and never heard any English word in life. Deepti Naval faced huge trouble as she was a learned doctor, but she managed the false relationship. Deven Verma, her cousin brother was the relief character in the film who was seen with different girlfriends at different times. At the end of the film when Utpal Dutta faced a heart attack, Deepti Naval had to give an injection to save him and told the truth. At the beginning Utpal Dutta told her to leave his house but after hearing the version from Sayeed Jaffery reconciled the situation. Hrishikesh Mukherjee gave a great message in the film. He showed the world that development is not based on roughness created by advanced education but the humbleness earned by traditional knowledge. Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval after creating havoc with brilliant performances in the films Saath Saath, Katha, Chasme Badoor, continued the dream run in the film Kisi Se Na Kehna. Utpal Dutta had a class of his own when it came to acting. Right from negative roles in the films Barsaat Ki Ek Raat to comedy roles in Golmaal and social roles in Kisi Se Na Kehna, he became the pride of the industry in character roles. Sayeed Jaffery was a great actor and showed his class in films like Shatranj Ki Khiladi, Masoom and many other films. The music of Bappi Lahiri was impressive with Asha Bhosle’s song “kisi se na kehna” which was very soft and melodious. The film should be restored and preserved.

Friday, September 11, 2026

On birth anniversary of Dev Anandji it can be said he remained evergreen star for last 100 years

Dev Anand will be remembered by the nation for generations. Dev Sahab was remembered on his 100th birth anniversary and he has remained evergreen. Dev Sahab was remembered on 100th birth anniversary on 26th September 2022. Dev Anand was remembered on his birth anniversary on 26th September, 2022. Romantic star Dev Anand died in London on 4th December, 2011, at the age of 88 years. Everyone in India mourned his death right from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to superstar Shahrukh Khan, actress Hema Malini to actor Rishi Kapoor. He was staying in London and died out of cardiac arrest as had been said by his son. Most of his fans all across the world had said that they Dev Anand never looked back at life, but looked forward and for that reason became the inspiration for every optimistic film personality. It was the end of an era, as Dev Anand represented Indian films for more than 60 years, right from 1946, when he started his career. His hit films included CID, Kala Pani, Hum Dono, Guide, Jewel Thief, to mention a few. He received filmfare award for best actor for his performance in the films Kala Pani and Guide. He received Dadasaheb Phalke award for immense contribution to bollywood films. He had also being remembered for his brilliant songs of Mohammad Rafi, Geeta Dutt and Lata Mangeshkar like “din dhal jaye”, “kabhi khud pe kabhi halat pe rona hoga”, “piya tose naina lage re”and brilliant compositions of Shankar Jaikishan, Sachin Dev Burman, and others. His songs sung by Rafisahab had been masterpieces like "kya se kya ho gaya", "kabhi khud pe", "aise to na dekho", "ankhon hi ankhon me", "tujhe jeevan ki dor se", "dil ka bhawar kare pukar", "teri zulfon ki judaai", "khoya khoya chand", "hum bekhudi me tuk ko pukare", "mai zindagi ka saath". The list goes on. Evergreen star Dev Anand had this year gave an interview to journalist Gautam Bhattacharya which had been published in Anandabazar Patrika on 25th June, 2011. He had said that he had been busy working with his new film Charge Sheet. He had crossed 88 years and still showed the enthusiasm to work on the sequel of the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna, which he made in 1971. When he was asked about Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar, he said, if Raj Kapoor would have taken care of his health he would have survived for more time and made more films. Dilip Kumar was happy to be an actor and never showed the interest of directing films. Dev Anand missed his team of performers like Vijay Anand, Kishore Kumar, Sachin Dev Burman, but he said that death was also a reality which people should face.