Manna Dey's Unusual Devotees
DebaPrasad
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MANNA DEY'S UNUSUAL DEVOTEES
Shree Prabodh Chandra Dey alias ‘Manna Dey’ will soon be
honored with prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ award. On this
great occasion, it will be interesting to know about two Bengali
persons who are great devotees of Manna Da and his music. Mr.
Deba Prasad Das is from Arunachal Pradesh and Dr. Gautam
Roy is from Howrah, Kolkata. Both consider Manna Da as their
‘Guru’ and have done great work in preserving Manna Da’s
legacy for posterity.
Mr. Das is a music teacher in a government school at Tezu in
district Lohit of Arunachal Pradesh. He met Manna Da in
February 1982 during a concert and proposed to write a book on
him. Manna Da was quite amused with this thought and
wondered who would read such a book. Besides, he was mostly
in Mumbai and very far away. Even today, normal postal
services are quite slow and highly unpredictable. Modern
facilities such as mobile phones and internet were not even
dreamt of. However, Das did not want to give up. He worked
hard against all odds and decided to accomplish his task. He
began to collect information, articles, photographs, song texts
and booklets, gramophone discs and audio/video tapes. He also
met Manna Da several times in Kolkata and wrote letters for
more and more information.. He began to put together the
biographical and discographical details. He came in contact with
the members of ‘Society of Indian Record Collectors’ in 1990
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and made an appeal for help support and guidance from every
possible person. As a result, he published Manna De’s first ever
Bengali Autobiography titled ‘Aami Niraalaay Bosey’ in 1997
Kolkata book fair. Renowned lyricist Pulak Bandyopadhyay
wrote the preface of this book. HMV published a set of two
audio cassettes of Manna Dey songs on this occasion. This book
was very well received by both press and public.
Encouraged with this success, Mr. Deba Prasad Das published a
discography of Manna Dey’s songs titled ‘Mera sab kuch mere
geet re’ on Manna Da’s birth day on May 1, 2001. According to
this study, Manna Da has sung over 2900 songs in number of
different Indian languages, the major chunk being Bengali
(1165) and Hindi (1512) songs. Remaining two hundred songs
are in Marathi, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Panjabi, Maithili, Assamese,
Oriya, Gujrathi, Konkani, Kannadi, Malyalam, Sindhi and
Nepali. The book was marked as ‘an outstanding research’ by
the leading Bengali periodicals.
Eight years after the publication of this autobiography by Mr.
Das, one more autobiography of Manna Dey was written by Dr.
Gautam Roy of Howrah, Kolkata, and published by ‘Ananda
publishers Pvt. Ltd.’, 45 Beniatola Lane, Kolkata-700009.
This new Bengali book was also well received by Bengali
readers. Mr. Das was shocked when he found all his honesty,
passion, diligence and sincerity was copied in this book without
his knowledge or even an acknowledgement to his work. He
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tried to raise this issue of plagiarism in his own capacity and
gave an interview to e-TV Bangla channel . It was telecast on
April 30, 2007. Within a week, the same channel telecast an
interview of Manna Dey in which he said, “What is the wrong if
Dr. Roy has copied from Mr. Deba Prasad’s creation? Deba
Prasad is just a ‘Stupid’. Gautam is a doctor, a Ph.D. doctorate
man, thus I don’t like this type of insulations on Gautam by
Deba Prasad. On the contrary, he should definitely appreciate
Dr. Gautam Roy that Dr. Roy had done a very praise worthy
work indeed”.
Stunned with the ‘Guru’ and the ‘Mentor’s strange stand, Mr.
Das, recalling the case of ‘Ekalabya’, decided to keep quiet and
continued his passionate research for the benefit of future
researchers and students of music. He submitted both the
versions of the book to ‘Anand Bazzar Patrika’ for their
unbiased scrutiny and opinion. In an article dated August 9,
2008, Anand Bazzar Patrika supported Mr. Das. Pointing out the
word to word resemblance of both the books, they exclaimed,
“How Manna Dey himself marked ‘Jibaner Jalsaghare’ as his
first autobiography, while ‘Aami Niraalaay Bosey’ was already
published eight years ago!”.
Meanwhile, this new book received an award of ‘Publisher’s
Guild’. It was translated in English by Sarbani Putatunda and
published by Penguin books in 2007. Its Marathi translation is
done by Dr. Aparna Jha (Mehendale) and is published in 2008
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by Sahitya Prasar Kendra, Nagpur. Famous playback singer
Mrs. Suman Kalyanpur has written a preface for this Marathi
translation. Dr. Roy’s book will soon be translated into Hindi
and Gujrathi. Several years ago, in 1982, Manna Dey was
worried about the readership of such a book. However, he is
fortunate to see this day when his book is being translated in
many languages. This is quite unique compared to his
contemporary male singers (viz. Rafi, Mukesh, Talat and
Kishore) who received such honors after they passed away.
Both the Bengali biographies were based on the memoirs
narrated by Manna Da himself. So, there are many common
mistakes especially in the world of Hindi film songs. e.g. the
duet song “Bhaarat ki ek sannaari ki….”in Ramrajya was not at
all sung by Manna Dey but by Yashwant Nikam & Madhusudan
Pandey. But both Mr. Das and Dr. Roy mentioned the song as
Manna Dey’s song. This could probably be due to the fact that
both the Bengali writers did not have access to Mumbai film
world compared to the Bengali music lovers and film historians.
Moreover, it is difficult to understand how a researcher like Mr.
Das mentioned many songs of Hemanta Mukherji, Sandhya
Mukherji and Tarun Bandyopadhyay as Manna De’s songs and
how the same mistake was repeated by Dr. Roy?
Many Bengali friends who have read both the versions of the
autobiography have expressed that the book has repetitions of
incidences and goes round and round. These should have been
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edited professionally. However, Marathi translation is much
better and concise. However, all these books give a detailed
account of the emergence of Manna Dey as a musician, an
excellent singer and a great human being.
Prabhodh Chandra was lovingly called ‘Maanaa’ by his mother,
family members and friends. Upon arrival in Mumbai, the
pronunciation changed to ‘Manna’ and stayed in the film
industry and among music lovers. Young ‘Maanaa’ did not
realize that he has a melodious voice until he won the-inter
collegiate music competition in all the categories of music
successively for three years. His childhood and early youth was
full of fun, and he spent most of his time in wrestling and
wandering. His uncle Krishna Chandra (K.C.) Dey was a great
singer and actor of repute. He used to sing on radio, in concerts
and act in Bengali films. He was blind and hence ‘Maanaa’ used
to accompany him even in his music lessons by writing down
song texts, notations and play tanpura and harmonium. K. C.
Dey realized the potential and encouraged him in the field of
music. When Maanaa decided to take up music as his career, he
began to teach him music. He also took him to Mumbai in 1942
as his assistant when he was invited to compose music for Hindi
films. In the beginning, Manna sang a duet with Suraiyya for
film ‘Tamanna’. K. C. Dey had composed music for this film.
Around 1943, musician Shankar Rao Vyas approached K. C.
Dey with a proposal for playback for Prakash Pictures ‘Ram
Rajya’. As he was very busy with other films, he declined the
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offer and suggested the name of Manna Dey. Thus Manna sang
his first solo song for this film that was screened for three years
and this was the only film seen by Gandhiji. Manna Dey wanted
to be a singer and composer like his uncle. So he began to take
music lessons first with Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhendi Bazzar
gharana and then with Ustad Abdul Rehman whom he met in
All India Radio. Later he spent many years as an assistant music
director with Khemchand Prakash, Anil Biswas and Sachin Dev
Burman. Sachin Dev would first teach the tune to Manna and in
turn he would teach and rehearse it with the singers. He used to
get frustrated while teaching and would think that it would be
best in his voice. In 1950, Sachin Dev Burman composed ‘Upar
Gagan Vishal’ for film ‘Mashal’ and told Manna that this tune is
composed for you. Manna sang it so well that he got established
as a promising playback singer. Although he composed music
for few films, finally he emerged as a playback singer and
provided playback for over forty years. Soon he sang songs of
Bengali version of V. Shantaram’s ‘Amar Bhoopali’ composed
by Vasantrao Desai.
In 1951, he came in close contact with Raj Kapoor as his second
(first Mukesh) voice. This association lasted until award
winning song ‘Ae bhay jara dekhke chalo’ of ‘Mera Naam
Joker’. In many films, Raj Kapoor has used playback of both
Mukesh and Manna Dey. However, the audience seems to have
accepted this quiet willingly. Manna Dey changed the idiom of
romantic songs and gave it a masculine touch as evidenced in
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the duet songs from ‘Chori Chori’ and ‘Shree 420’. He has sung
songs of diverse moods from classical to western music. In
‘Bhoot Bangla’, ‘Ziddi’ and ‘Padosan’ he sang wonderfully for
Mehmood. On the other hand, the songs for Balraj Sahani in ‘Do
Bigha Zamin’, ‘Kabuliwala’, and ‘Waqt’ are in altogether
different mood. ‘O Meri Johrajabin’ is a must even today in
Indian marriages not only in North India but also in USA and
Canada. Pran was known for his villain roles in Hindi films for
several years. When he switched over to character actor roles in
‘Upkar’ and ‘Zanjeer’, Manna Da’s songs ‘Kasme Vada Pyar
Wafa’ and ‘Yaari Hai Iman Mera Yaar Meri Jindagi’ helped to
boost the roles at greater heights. It was also interesting to see
Pran singing on screen for the first time. Manna Da’s Marathi
film songs and devotional songs are popular even today. He won
award for his song in Malyalam film ‘Chemmin’. Mohammad
Rafi, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood and Kishore
Kumar were leading playback singers when Manna Da entered
this field. Each one had a special feature in singing. Manna Da
emerged as a singer with firm base in classical music, although
he sang songs in different moods. His songs based on pure
classical ragas are remembered even today. Some prominent
ones are ‘Tu pyar ka sagar hai’, ‘Puchoo na kaise maine rain
bitayi’, ‘Sur na saje kya gaun main’ and that eternal Bhairvi
‘Laga chunari men daag’. He has sung a duet ‘Ketki gulab juhi
champak bana jhoole’ with Pt. Bhimsen Joshi in film ‘Basant
Bahar’. Bengali film, Aadhunik and Puja songs are not much
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known outside Bengal. His non-film (Private) songs are even
less known. He sang ‘Naach Re Maura’ with singer Meena
Kapoor for the opening ceremony of Vividh Bharati station of
All India Radio. He sang famous Bhoopali ‘Ghanashyam
sundara shreedhara’ with Lata Mangeshkar in Bengali version of
‘Amar Bhoopali’ and with Laxmi Shankar he sang its Kannada
version. Mahatma Gandhi had written a letter to young Maniben
Patel, (daughter of Sardar Vallabhai Patel) replying her queries:
Where does God live? How to find him? Music director
Vasatrao Desai accepted a challenge to set tune to this unusual
letter during Gandhiji’s birth centenary in 1969. Manna Dey has
recorded it (‘He namratke sagar’) on a special 78-rpm disc
specially made by the Gramophone Company for this occasion.
He has also cut advertisements and propaganda records for
toothpastes and mine safety rules etc.
Around 1980, after Amitabh Bachhan’s Raj, Manna Da realized
that his voice won’t be suitable for the heroes of the new era and
hence he retired gracefully from playback singing. After about
1990, technological innovations brought in new gadgets in the
market and by 2005, personal computers, laptops, mobile
phones, internet and electronic mails became the daily tools.
Both Dr. Gautam Roy and Mr. Deba Prasad Das used these tools
effectively for better and faster outreach of their work for the
benefit of internet users and computer buffs. Soon, in Kolkata
book fair - 2009, Mr. Deba Prasda Das published ‘Manna
World’ - first ever multimedia CD. This is a part one containing
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Bengali section and contains biography, discography and a
video of Manna Da’s 60th year playback singing celebrations in
Kolkata in 2003. The contents of this CD are most elegant and
presented in a beautiful form. This CD is published by ‘Prama
Publication’, Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh and is available for just
one hundred rupees. Mr. Das has planned for part two
containing information on Manna Da’s songs in Hindi and other
languages. Next, Mr. Das has already begun to collect material
for bio-discography of his Grandguru [guru’s guru] Krishna
Chandra Dey. One day he wants to build a museum cum archive
at his home town ‘Alipurduar’, where he wants to display all the
material he has collected over last thirty years. While this is a
very ambitious project, it would be desirable to have it available
on internet for the visitors from all over the world. Glimpses of
his research and collection are also available on the net at
www.mannade.com. Mr. Das is also trying his best to convince
the Govt. of India for honoring Manna Dey with the highest
National award – “BHARAT RATNA”.
Dr. Gautam Roy has established ‘Manna Dey Sangeet
Academy’ at Howrah, Kolkata and also launched web site
‘www.Mannadey.in’. This web site is quite exhaustive and
contains his biography, list of the songs and a wonderful photo
gallery. This could be updated with audio and video clips in
future. Inspired by a heart touching music of Manna Da, these
two works will be quite useful references for the future
generations studying and listening to old music.
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October 10, 2009
Dr. Suresh Chandvankar, Hon.Secretary, ‘Society of Indian
Record Collectors’, Mumbai
801 Bhaskara, TIFR Hsg. Complex
Navynagar, Colaba, Mumbai 400005.
India
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chandvank...@gmail.com
tel. 91-022-2280 4986, mobile:9920813336
Manna Dey and Mr. Deba Prasad Das