OBITUARY: Manna Dey (1919-2013)
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: The year was 1963 and Manna Dey was recording the song Hoke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bhulaayaa Hogaa at Famous Studio, Mumbai, along with legendary singer Mohammad Rafi, Talat Mehmood and debutant singer Bhupinder Singh. Dey’s rendering touched Rafi so much that tears welled up in his eyes during the session. As soon as the recording got over Rafi boomed “Manna Da Lajwab’’ and hugged the Bengali singer. It was the beginning of a unique chemistry between the two singers which endured for years. Dey had envied and admired Rafi.
In his autobiography Memories Come Alive, published by Penguin a few years ago, Dey confessed how jealous he was when he was told to bring in Rafi to sing a particular song. Dey says he could not understand why he was overlooked. But after the recording was over, he realized that Rafi’s voice was more suitable for that song. Rafi had told Dey one day “Dada, main apne gale se aap jaisi murki kar paon, to main zyada achha gayak ban paunga” (If I can replicate the tonal expressions and vocal variations that you have, I will become a better singer).
It was Dey’s versatility which was his strength and his ability to capture the essence of a folk tune or any other composition. He lent his voice for many top Bollywood heroes of his time, but he never remained a voice for any actor in particular, unlike Rafi and Kishore Kumar of his days. He was in essence a nobody’s voice.
When a young kurta clad Rajesh Khanna walked barefoot singing the haunting ‘Zindagi Kaise Hai Paheli’ (The riddle that life is) on the beaches of Mumbai, while releasing colored balloons into the azure skies in the film Anand, Dey’s playback had the timeless magic of delivering goose pimples even today.
Beginning in 1943, Dey sang nearly 4000 songs over a career straddling five decades some of the more memorable ones included Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua Hai (Shree 420, 1955, Aye Mere Pyare Watan (Kabuliwala, 1961), Aye Meri Zohra Jabeen (Waqt, 1965) and Yari Hai Imaan Mera (Zanjeer, 1973), Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin Todenge with Kishore Kumar and Ek Chatur Naar Badi Hoshiar. He also sang songs in regional languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and Assamese.
While Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore were the favored voices when it came to the lead actors, Dey stood out for his unique voice and was much in demand for complicated raag-based songs and was once even pitted against his idol Bhimsen Joshi, in the 1956 movie “Basant Bahar” for ‘Ketki, gulab, juhi’ song, something that he initially refused. While his mastery over classical numbers somewhat pigeonholed him, the uniqueness of his voice made it impossible for any singer to replicate him.
Dey recorded many popular duets with Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar and some of his biggest hits were with composers S D Burman, R D Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, Anil Biswas, Roshan and Salil Chowdhury, Madan Mohan and NC Ramachandra. He bagged awards like National singer, Padmasree, and Padmabhusan. He has also lent his voice for ‘Madhushala’ composed by late Harivansh Rai Bachchan.
Manna, a name fondly given to him by his paternal uncle KC Dey, initially wanted to become a barrister but decided to opt for a career in music. In his formative years, he took his singing lessons from his uncle, Ustad Dabir Khan, Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.
Married to Sulochana Kumaran from Kerala, the couple had two daughters. He referred to Sulochana as an inspiration. ‘’She was everything in my life – the one I always consulted ….’’ He had turned a recluse in the last years of his life, especially after the death of his wife in January, 2012 and lived on his own in Bangalore till the end came early Thursday morning at a city hospital. He was 94.