Bollywood’s legendary Singer and Music Composer Hemant Kumar was born on 16th June 1920. His compositions are sung by the ultimate legends Kishore Kumar and the nightingale singer Lata Mangeshkar. Read below to find out more!
Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, known professionally as Hemant Kumar, was an Indian Bengali singer and music director/composer who sang in Bengali, Hindi, and other Indian languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Tamil, and Punjabi, etc. He was an artist par excellence of Bengali and Hindi film music, Rabindra Sangeet, and many other songs. Winner of two National Awards for Best Male Playback Singer. Despite his contribution, not many remember his contribution in both languages. By 1955, Hemant Kumar became most successful playback singer in bengali cinema.
In Mumbai Hemant Kumar Mukherjee was being appreciated more as a singer than when compared with his composer with hits in Anand Math (Vande Mataram) Nagin (Man dole mera tan dole, Jadugar saiyyan, Mera dil yeh pukare aaj, Tere dwar khada ek jogi), Bees Saal Baad (Zara nazron se keh do jee, Kahin deep jale kahin dil), Kohra (O beqaraar dil, Yeh nayan dare dare), Anupama (Ya dil ku suno, Dheere dhere machal), Do Dil (Sara mora kajra) and Khamoshi (Tum pukar lo, Wohsham kuch ajeeb thi).
Lata Mangeshkar’s love for HemantDa
Most of Hemant Kumar’s female compositions feels was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Lata ji told that “When he sang I thought of a poojari singing in a temple. Hemantda’s voice had an exceptional purity. As a composer his range was astonishing. Some of the best songs that I sang were composed by him. My favourite is Kuch dil ne kaha…kuch bhi nahin in Anupama. Kitni shanti(tranquility) hai iss gane mein, aur kitni mithaas(sweetness).His songs were very melodious and uncluttured. Unlike Salilda (Choudhary) Hemantda’s songs were easy on the lips. Another favourite of mine is Yeh nayan darey darey which he sang in Kohra and also Teri duniya mein jeene se to behtar hai ki mar jaayen in House No 44.”
There is another reason why Hemantda occupies a special place in Lataji’s heart. “In the 1960s I had almost been forced to give up singing. I was a victim of slow-poisoning and doctors said it would be a very long time before I sing. I was bedridden and frail for months.Hemantda came home, convinced my mother that I could sing again, took me to the recording, and then brought me back home. The song we recorded that day was Kahin deep jale kahin dil in Bees Saal Baad, one of the best songs of my career.”
Indeed no one can wonder why Lata Ji has so much respect for Hemant Kumar ji. I think its better if i share songs composed by the maestro so that you could listen and feel the mesmerising magic!
Also Read: More About Hemant Kumar
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