The songs of legendary composer and playback singer Hemant Kumar Mukhopadhyay aka Hemant Da, who adorns the film world with their melodious musical waves, still feel resonant.
Born on 16 June 1920 in Banaras, Hemant Kumar completed his early education at the Mitra Institute in Calcutta. Hemant Kumar enrolled in engineering at Jadavpur University after passing the Inter examination. But after some time Hemant Kumar gave up his engineering studies because at that time he turned to music and wanted to become a musician.
Meanwhile, Hemant Kumar also sought to make a mark in the literary world and published a story of him in a Bengali magazine, “Desh“. But by the end of the year 1930, Hemant Kumar started focusing his attention on music. With the help of his childhood friend Subhash, in the year 1930, Hemant Kumar got the opportunity to sing his first Bengali song for Akashwani (FM radio). Hemant Kumar got his early music education from a Bengali musician Shailesh Dutt Gupta. Hemant Kumar also studied classical music from Ustad Fayyaz Khan.
In the year 1937, Hemant Kumar sang non-film songs for a foreign music company Columbia Label under the music direction of Shailesh Dutt Gupta. After this Hemant Kumar gave his voice for the Gramophonic Company of India almost every year. Hemant Kumar got the opportunity to sing his first Hindi song “Kitna Dukh Bhoolaya tumne” under the musical direction of Kamal Das Gupta, 1940 for the Gramophonic Company, while Hemant Kumar lent his voice for a Bengali film released in 1941.
Hemant Kumar composed the music for a non-film Bangla song in the year 1944. This year, under the music direction of Pandit Amar Nath, he got the opportunity to sing in his first Hindi film “Irada” Also in the year 1944 Rabindra Nath Thakur. Hemant Kumar recorded songs for Columbia Label Company for “Ravindra Sangeet”. In the year 1947, he worked as a music composer for the Bengali film “Abhiyatri”.
Meanwhile, Hemant Kumar started working as an active member of Bharatiya Jan Natya Sangh (Ishta). Gradually, Hemant Kumar went on to make his mark as a musician in Bengali films. During this time Hemant Kumar gave music for several Bengali films, including several films directed by Hemen Gupta.
After some time Hemen Gupta came to Mumbai and he also invited Hemant Kumar to come to Mumbai. In 1951, Hemen Gupta offered music from Hemant Kumar for his first Hindi film “Anand Math” to be made under the banner of Filmistan. After the success of the film Anandamath, Hemant Kumar became established in the film industry as a musician. In the film Anandamath sung by the voice of Lata Mangeshkar “Vande Mataram” still brings the audience to the emotion.
Hemant Kumar reached the pinnacle of success in 1954 after the success of Hemant Kumar’s music adorned film Nagin. A song from the film Naagin “Mana Dole Mera Tan Dole” is still very popular among listeners even today. Hemant Kumar was also awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Composer for this film.
In the year 1959 Hemant Kumar also ventured into the field of filmmaking and founded a film company named “Hemanta Bella Productions” under whose banner Mrinal Sen directed a Bengali film “Neel Akasher Niche”. The film was awarded Gold Medal by the President’s. After this, Hemant Kumar under his banner after twenty years produced many Hindi films like kohra bibi or Makan, Farrar, Rahgir, and Khamoshi 1969.
In 1971, Hemant Kumar also directed a Bengali film “Anandita” but the film was badly rejected at the box office. In the year 1979, Hemant Kumar re-recorded the songs sung by Salil Chaudhary under the musical direction in the forties and fifties and released it as ‘Legend of Glory-2’ and the album was a huge success.
In 1989, Hemant Kumar went to Dhaka City in Bangladesh for the .. Michael Madhusudhan Award where he also attended a concert. He suffered a heart attack after returning to India after the end of the ceremony. After which Hemant Kumar said goodbye to this world on 26 September 1989.
