Prabodh Chandra Dey (born 1 May 1919), better
known by his nickname
Manna Dey ( ), is one of the
greatest playback singers in
Hindi and
Bengali films. Along with
Mohammed Rafi,
Kishore Kumar,
Mukesh, he dominated Indian film playback
music from the 1950s to the 1970s. He has recorded more than 3500
songs over the course of his career. He was also awarded the
"
Dadasaheb Phalke Award" -
the highest honour in Indian cinema for the year 2007 on 21 October
2009 by the President of India Prathiba Patil.
Biography
Dey was born to Purna Chandra (father) and Mahamaya Dey (mother) on
1 May 1919. Besides his parents, his youngest paternal uncle
Sangeetacharya (meaning "Venerable Teacher of Music" in
Sanskrit).
K. C. Dey highly inspired
and influenced him. Dey received his early education in a small
pre-primary school named Indu Babur Pathshala. Thereafter he
attended Scottish Church Collegiate School and
Scottish Church College, followed by
Vidyasagar College where he
received his graduate education. From his childhood Dey has pursued
wrestling and
boxing.
During Dey’s years at Scottish Church College, he sang to entertain
his classmates. He began taking singing lessons from his uncle,
Krishna Chandra Dey and Ustad Dabir Khan. During this period, Manna
Dey stood first for three consecutive years in three different
categories of inter-collegiate singing competitions.
In 1942,
Dey accompanied Krishna Chandra Dey on a visit to Mumbai
.
There he started working as an assistant, first under Krishna
Chandra Dey, and then under
Sachin Dev
Burman. Later he assisted other music composers and then
started to work independently. While working independently as a
music director for various
Hindi movies, Manna
Dey continued to take musical lessons in
Hindustani classical music from
Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.
Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie,
Tamanna, in 1943. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra
Dey and Manna sang a duet with
Suraiya. The
song was an instant hit. He sang a solo penned by Sachal Dev
Burman,
Upar Gagan Vishal, in the 1950 movie,
Mashal. In 1952, Dey sang for a
Bengali and a
Marathi movie with the same name and storyline,
Amar Bhupali. This established him as a leading playback
singer.
Dey recorded a popular duet,
Ketaki Gulab Juhi, with
classicist
Bhimsen Joshi. With
Kishore Kumar, he sang duets of
different genres such as,
Yeh Dosti Hum Nehi Torenge
(
Sholay) and
Ek Chatur Naar
(
Padosan). Dey sang with
singer/composer, Hemant Kumar (
Hemanta
Mukherjee), in Bengali movies, and also for some other Bengali
composers. He sang a duet, "Ke Prothom Kachhe Esechi", with Lata
Mangeshkar in the movie
Sankhyabela. Dey pioneered a new
genre in Indian music wherein Indian classical music is blended
with pop music. Dey also performed
Rabindra Sangeet and has recorded over 3500
songs.
Personal life
On 18
December 1953, Manna Dey married Sulochana Kumaran from Kerala
. They
have two daughters: Shuroma, born on 19 October 1956, and Sumita,
born on 20 June 1958.
Manna Dey
currently lives in Bangalore
in the township of Kalyannagar after spending more
than fifty years in Mumbai.
He also
maintains a Calcutta
address. He still travels widely in the world to present
musical programs.
His Bengali-language autobiography,
Jiboner Jalsaghorey,
has been published in English as
Memories Come Alive, in
Hindi as
Yaden Jee Uthi and in Marathi as
Jiboner
Jalsaghorey.
Jibaner Jalsaghore, a documentary on Dey's life, was
released in 2008. Manna Dey Sangeet Academy is developing a
complete archive on Manna Dey.
Accolades and awards
Dey has been honored with the titles
Padma
Shri and
Padma Bhushan.
The following is the list of Manna Dey's other awards:
Filmography
References
External links
(1980)
(1997)
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