QUOTE
Golden Voice, Golden Era
S Nanda Kumar takes a nostalgic walk down memory lane with one of this year’s Padma Bhushan awardees, Manna Dey.
Tu Pyaar ka sagar hai… Ay mere pyaare watan... Laaga chunaari mein dhaag... The mellifluous voice of Manna Dey has filled airwaves across India for over 60 years now – he began singing for films in 1942. Born Prabodh Chandra Dey in Calcutta in 1920, ‘Manna’ was the nickname given to him by his illustrious uncle, another great singer – K C Dey.
Many great teachers taught K C Dey music at the 14-roomed mansion on Madan Ghosh Lane in Calcutta and so, the young Manna was exposed to classical music from childhood. “I listened to all these ustaads, like Inayat Khan. I came to know the intricacies of Indian classical music. I was not taught sa re ga ma , I just knew it,” said Manna Dey, in his house in North Bangalore.
Manna’s father wanted him to be a lawyer. But his uncle, K C Dey, had spotted the young man’s potential, and he was allowed to pursue music.
When K C Dey moved to Bombay in 1942, the young Manna Dey accompanied him. Manna began by assisting reputed music directors like Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash, and K C Dey himself. Manna Dey knew Sachin Dev Burman from childhood, as he had been taught music by K C Dey. “When Burman came to Bombay in 1946-47, I also worked as his assistant!”
But the singer Manna Dey had not yet emerged. His break came when film producer Vijay Bhatt came home with music director Shankar Rao Vyas to ask K C Dey to sing for Ram Rajya. K C Dey refused to lend his voice for the Valmiki character. “My uncle said if the role was his, then he would sing. When they asked him for an alternative, he pointed to me and said ‘why not try him?’ And I was just a young lad of 22!”
Manna Dey recorded the song for Vyas, and everybody was enthralled by his voice. But the music discs of those days did not carry the singer’s name. “I sang for so many people, but nobody knew my name!”
The turning point came in 1950, when he sang ‘Upar gagan vishaal’ for Naushad in the film Mashaal. “That song became a runaway hit, and I had arrived! From then onwards there was no looking back.”
Birth of a song
Manna travelled back in time to tell me how songs were recorded in those days. It was a ritual which began with the film’s director and the music director discussing the situation where the song was required. Next came choosing the song writer, who took his own time to supply the lyrics, after which the tune was composed. “Then they had to choose the artiste. Mohammed Rafi? Talat Mehmood? Manna Dey? Mukesh? Hemanta Kumar? They would pinpoint one artiste and call him.”
Only after the artiste learnt the song would the musicians be given the score. The whole process would take about a month. “It would be very leisurely and very dedicated. Songs made with such care and such love would last a long time - even the songs I have sung 40 years ago! When the song was ready for recording, it would be a sheer joy to listen to it. That’s the way a song was born those days.
“Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Hemanta Kumar... all of them had their different styles. They would choose the singer according to the composition. The first choice was always Rafi, he was a great singer, there is no doubt about it. If the song was a little intricate, if there was something special to be sung, they would consider me. And every time I sang a song, I would put my entire whole heart and soul into it, because I had to compete with all these singers.”
Manna has sung memorable duets with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. (Aaja Sanam madhur chandni mein hum, Pyaar hua ikraar hua hai, Yeh raat bheegi bheegi...) He was visibly excited as he recalled how they sang together. “Oh, Lataji and Ashaji,we used to rehearse each song for three to four days! We used to have wonderful addas, eating and making merry together. Each song used to be a really wonderful thing, especially when singing for Raj Kapoor, Nargis or Shankar-Jaikishan. Most of the Shankar-Jaikishan songs I have sung with Lata - those duets are immortal. People sing them even today.”
The story behind his duet with Hindustani maestro Bhimsen Joshi is now part of film lore (‘Ketaki Gulab’ for the film Basant Bahar). In the film the hero (for whom Manna sang) defeats his rival (for whom Joshi sang).
“I told my wife, ‘How could I possibly sing with Bhimsen Joshi? He is such a great singer, and I actually have to defeat him! Let’s abscond from Bombay for some time and come back after the recording is over. She said, ‘of course you have to defeat him, you are singing for the hero’.”
Manna asked Shankar-Jaikishan for extra time. “So I practised with doubled vigour, and when I recorded that song, I still remember Bhimsen Joshi telling me I should be a classical singer!” laughs Manna.
But Manna never pursued a career as a classical singer. “I like the science of classicism, but I don’t like the rigidity. If a raaga is sung for one and a half hours, can there anything but repetition? When I sing my songs on a classical basis, I take the essence of that raaga and the result is very good.”
Fun with Kishore
I asked Manna about that popular duet, “Ek Chatur naar karke Shringar,” with Kishore Kumar. (Padosan) “We rehearsed that song for five-six days with Sunil Dutt, Mehmood, and Pancham (Rahul Dev Burman). Every sitting lasted five to six hours. And finally we went for the recording. It was an event that started off at nine in the morning and finished at nine in the night! Wah, what songs. It was great!” He leaned forward as the old memories came flooding back.
“I still remember that day. The staff, who usually left the studio at about 6 pm, would not leave! They were all glued to the recording theatre. And while the song was being recorded, they were all dancing and laughing. We knew when we were recording that the song would be a hit. And the way we both sang that song! I don’t think the like of that will ever be born again.”
And what did he think of Kishore as a singer? “Kishore was a great, jovial and a very lively sort of person. He had the gift of a voice, and what a voice! We hadn’t had that kind of voice in our industry. Kishore made full use of that voice. And his playfulness! He made a style of his own with all that tomfoolery, which was grabbed by the younger folks. Kishore came to the forefront and he remained there.”
What does Manna think of today’s music? “In today’s films, the subjects are such that there is no scope for good, healthy music. You don’t get to listen to good music, good words. The same kinds of songs are being sung over and over again, the same kind of obscene dancing. I would say this is only due to the demand of the time.”
The remix massacre
And what about all those remixes of great songs? Manna sat up. “Making remixes is massacring the good old things. Remixes are unhealthy. The people doing these re-mixes, can they sing anything of their own? No! Some of Lata’s songs - sung in such a divine way, they are massacring it like this.” He looked a little disheartened and I hastened to go back to the past.
For all his expertise, not too many awards came Manna’s way. “When I sang ‘Nirbal se ladaiee’, V Shantaram wept. He said I should be given all the awards. I was never given any award for this. You will be surprised to know that I did not win any award for Poocho na kaise, Kasme vaade, Laaga chunari mein daag, Kaun aaya mere man ke dwaare, nothing of the sort. I got the award for Ay bai, zara dekh ke chalo. What nonsense. There was no singing in that, and they over-reacted so much!” he laughed.
Was he disappointed when awards didn’t come? He looked into my eyes. “It used to trouble me inside. Because awards are the final things that herald to the world a winner. So what? Just because I did not get the accolades, I could not stop singing.”
The woman behind
Manna met his wife Sulochana through Rabindra Sangeet. Manna was in charge of a programme to celebrate Tagore’s birthday in 1949. “I taught her the songs we planned for the evening - that’s how I came to know her well. I also taught Talat (Mehmood), Lata and Geeta Dutt - they also came and sang that evening!”
Their friendship gradually grew, and Manna describes her as a pillar of strength. He says there were times when he wanted to quit Bombay. “I wanted to join an ashram and sing bhajans, because I was struggling all the time. But she was so calm and always brought out the best in me.” Perhaps if not for Sulochana, we might have lost Manna Dey to some fortunate ashram!
Manna moved to Bangalore when he found Bombay becoming too violent. One of their daughters, Shumita, lives here, and Manna was quite familiar with the place. “I have been visiting Bangalore since 1950 - in fact, I got married here! The Bangalore of the 1950s was such a beautiful place.” The couple’s elder daughter, Shuroma works in the USA.
Manna still sings at programmes in India and abroad but has had enough of singing for films. “Moreover, my kind of voice will not suit stars like Shahrukh Khan. The timbre changes with age. And I should not be doing it. I don’t aspire to be in the limelight. I have sung enough.”
But he still wants to experiment – he is willing to sing Rabindra Sangeet in Kannada. “It requires a lot of effort, but if somebody is willing and trains me, I would love to sing Tagore’s songs in Kannada.”
As I left Manna Dey, I did not hear the loud chaos of Bangalore’s traffic - my ears were filled with the mellifluous music of Mannada. Poocho na kaise meine rein bithayee, I sang to myself, as I drove away into the dust and smoke and pollution.
Playing kite with Rafi!
Manna counts Mohammed Rafi among his good friends. “He was a very good, godfearing, simple person. He never smoked, never chewed paan, never drank. He used to go to work, come back and spend time with his family. I was also that kind of person, so we used to vibe very well with each other. I have been fortunate to have a friend like him.”
Another common passion that the two great singers shared was kite-flying! “Rafi used to love to fly kites, and so did I. I used to be very good at it. And I used to cut all of Rafi’s kites! He used to ask me, ‘Dada, is there some magic in your kites?’ And I used to say, ‘Shall I tell you something? You don’t know how to fly kites!”
S Nanda Kumar takes a nostalgic walk down memory lane with one of this year’s Padma Bhushan awardees, Manna Dey.
Tu Pyaar ka sagar hai… Ay mere pyaare watan... Laaga chunaari mein dhaag... The mellifluous voice of Manna Dey has filled airwaves across India for over 60 years now – he began singing for films in 1942. Born Prabodh Chandra Dey in Calcutta in 1920, ‘Manna’ was the nickname given to him by his illustrious uncle, another great singer – K C Dey. Many great teachers taught K C Dey music at the 14-roomed mansion on Madan Ghosh Lane in Calcutta and so, the young Manna was exposed to classical music from childhood. “I listened to all these ustaads, like Inayat Khan. I came to know the intricacies of Indian classical music. I was not taught sa re ga ma , I just knew it,” said Manna Dey, in his house in North Bangalore.
Manna’s father wanted him to be a lawyer. But his uncle, K C Dey, had spotted the young man’s potential, and he was allowed to pursue music.
When K C Dey moved to Bombay in 1942, the young Manna Dey accompanied him. Manna began by assisting reputed music directors like Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash, and K C Dey himself. Manna Dey knew Sachin Dev Burman from childhood, as he had been taught music by K C Dey. “When Burman came to Bombay in 1946-47, I also worked as his assistant!”
But the singer Manna Dey had not yet emerged. His break came when film producer Vijay Bhatt came home with music director Shankar Rao Vyas to ask K C Dey to sing for Ram Rajya. K C Dey refused to lend his voice for the Valmiki character. “My uncle said if the role was his, then he would sing. When they asked him for an alternative, he pointed to me and said ‘why not try him?’ And I was just a young lad of 22!”
Manna Dey recorded the song for Vyas, and everybody was enthralled by his voice. But the music discs of those days did not carry the singer’s name. “I sang for so many people, but nobody knew my name!”
The turning point came in 1950, when he sang ‘Upar gagan vishaal’ for Naushad in the film Mashaal. “That song became a runaway hit, and I had arrived! From then onwards there was no looking back.”
Birth of a song
Manna travelled back in time to tell me how songs were recorded in those days. It was a ritual which began with the film’s director and the music director discussing the situation where the song was required. Next came choosing the song writer, who took his own time to supply the lyrics, after which the tune was composed. “Then they had to choose the artiste. Mohammed Rafi? Talat Mehmood? Manna Dey? Mukesh? Hemanta Kumar? They would pinpoint one artiste and call him.”
Only after the artiste learnt the song would the musicians be given the score. The whole process would take about a month. “It would be very leisurely and very dedicated. Songs made with such care and such love would last a long time - even the songs I have sung 40 years ago! When the song was ready for recording, it would be a sheer joy to listen to it. That’s the way a song was born those days.
“Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Hemanta Kumar... all of them had their different styles. They would choose the singer according to the composition. The first choice was always Rafi, he was a great singer, there is no doubt about it. If the song was a little intricate, if there was something special to be sung, they would consider me. And every time I sang a song, I would put my entire whole heart and soul into it, because I had to compete with all these singers.”
Manna has sung memorable duets with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. (Aaja Sanam madhur chandni mein hum, Pyaar hua ikraar hua hai, Yeh raat bheegi bheegi...) He was visibly excited as he recalled how they sang together. “Oh, Lataji and Ashaji,we used to rehearse each song for three to four days! We used to have wonderful addas, eating and making merry together. Each song used to be a really wonderful thing, especially when singing for Raj Kapoor, Nargis or Shankar-Jaikishan. Most of the Shankar-Jaikishan songs I have sung with Lata - those duets are immortal. People sing them even today.”
The story behind his duet with Hindustani maestro Bhimsen Joshi is now part of film lore (‘Ketaki Gulab’ for the film Basant Bahar). In the film the hero (for whom Manna sang) defeats his rival (for whom Joshi sang).
“I told my wife, ‘How could I possibly sing with Bhimsen Joshi? He is such a great singer, and I actually have to defeat him! Let’s abscond from Bombay for some time and come back after the recording is over. She said, ‘of course you have to defeat him, you are singing for the hero’.”
Manna asked Shankar-Jaikishan for extra time. “So I practised with doubled vigour, and when I recorded that song, I still remember Bhimsen Joshi telling me I should be a classical singer!” laughs Manna.
But Manna never pursued a career as a classical singer. “I like the science of classicism, but I don’t like the rigidity. If a raaga is sung for one and a half hours, can there anything but repetition? When I sing my songs on a classical basis, I take the essence of that raaga and the result is very good.”
Fun with Kishore
I asked Manna about that popular duet, “Ek Chatur naar karke Shringar,” with Kishore Kumar. (Padosan) “We rehearsed that song for five-six days with Sunil Dutt, Mehmood, and Pancham (Rahul Dev Burman). Every sitting lasted five to six hours. And finally we went for the recording. It was an event that started off at nine in the morning and finished at nine in the night! Wah, what songs. It was great!” He leaned forward as the old memories came flooding back.
“I still remember that day. The staff, who usually left the studio at about 6 pm, would not leave! They were all glued to the recording theatre. And while the song was being recorded, they were all dancing and laughing. We knew when we were recording that the song would be a hit. And the way we both sang that song! I don’t think the like of that will ever be born again.”
And what did he think of Kishore as a singer? “Kishore was a great, jovial and a very lively sort of person. He had the gift of a voice, and what a voice! We hadn’t had that kind of voice in our industry. Kishore made full use of that voice. And his playfulness! He made a style of his own with all that tomfoolery, which was grabbed by the younger folks. Kishore came to the forefront and he remained there.”
What does Manna think of today’s music? “In today’s films, the subjects are such that there is no scope for good, healthy music. You don’t get to listen to good music, good words. The same kinds of songs are being sung over and over again, the same kind of obscene dancing. I would say this is only due to the demand of the time.”
The remix massacre
And what about all those remixes of great songs? Manna sat up. “Making remixes is massacring the good old things. Remixes are unhealthy. The people doing these re-mixes, can they sing anything of their own? No! Some of Lata’s songs - sung in such a divine way, they are massacring it like this.” He looked a little disheartened and I hastened to go back to the past.
For all his expertise, not too many awards came Manna’s way. “When I sang ‘Nirbal se ladaiee’, V Shantaram wept. He said I should be given all the awards. I was never given any award for this. You will be surprised to know that I did not win any award for Poocho na kaise, Kasme vaade, Laaga chunari mein daag, Kaun aaya mere man ke dwaare, nothing of the sort. I got the award for Ay bai, zara dekh ke chalo. What nonsense. There was no singing in that, and they over-reacted so much!” he laughed.
Was he disappointed when awards didn’t come? He looked into my eyes. “It used to trouble me inside. Because awards are the final things that herald to the world a winner. So what? Just because I did not get the accolades, I could not stop singing.”
The woman behind
Manna met his wife Sulochana through Rabindra Sangeet. Manna was in charge of a programme to celebrate Tagore’s birthday in 1949. “I taught her the songs we planned for the evening - that’s how I came to know her well. I also taught Talat (Mehmood), Lata and Geeta Dutt - they also came and sang that evening!”
Their friendship gradually grew, and Manna describes her as a pillar of strength. He says there were times when he wanted to quit Bombay. “I wanted to join an ashram and sing bhajans, because I was struggling all the time. But she was so calm and always brought out the best in me.” Perhaps if not for Sulochana, we might have lost Manna Dey to some fortunate ashram!
Manna moved to Bangalore when he found Bombay becoming too violent. One of their daughters, Shumita, lives here, and Manna was quite familiar with the place. “I have been visiting Bangalore since 1950 - in fact, I got married here! The Bangalore of the 1950s was such a beautiful place.” The couple’s elder daughter, Shuroma works in the USA.
Manna still sings at programmes in India and abroad but has had enough of singing for films. “Moreover, my kind of voice will not suit stars like Shahrukh Khan. The timbre changes with age. And I should not be doing it. I don’t aspire to be in the limelight. I have sung enough.”
But he still wants to experiment – he is willing to sing Rabindra Sangeet in Kannada. “It requires a lot of effort, but if somebody is willing and trains me, I would love to sing Tagore’s songs in Kannada.”
As I left Manna Dey, I did not hear the loud chaos of Bangalore’s traffic - my ears were filled with the mellifluous music of Mannada. Poocho na kaise meine rein bithayee, I sang to myself, as I drove away into the dust and smoke and pollution.
Playing kite with Rafi!
Manna counts Mohammed Rafi among his good friends. “He was a very good, godfearing, simple person. He never smoked, never chewed paan, never drank. He used to go to work, come back and spend time with his family. I was also that kind of person, so we used to vibe very well with each other. I have been fortunate to have a friend like him.”
Another common passion that the two great singers shared was kite-flying! “Rafi used to love to fly kites, and so did I. I used to be very good at it. And I used to cut all of Rafi’s kites! He used to ask me, ‘Dada, is there some magic in your kites?’ And I used to say, ‘Shall I tell you something? You don’t know how to fly kites!”
Source
Cheers,
