Making beautiful music ( Manna Dey) - Page 4

A old article from


Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 02, 2003

Nectar in his throat

Manna Dey, the voice that stirred many a soul with his poignant numbers, lives a rather low-profile life in Bangalore. TINA GARG tracks down the singer who moved you to tears with his "Tu Pyar Ka Saagar Hai".

Manna Dey sang some of the unforgettable songs in Hindi films. — Photos: V. Sreenivasa Murthy IF YOU run into him somewhere in Bangalore and he calls himself Prabodhchandra Dey, don't just pass by. Take a good look and don't forget to shake his hand; for, the dear old man is none other that the legendary singer Manna (meaning nectar) Dey, who has made Bangalore his home for over a year now. Manna Dey and his wife Sulochana have moved to Bangalore to join one of their daughters Shumeeta, who lives in the City. The singing legend laughs as he recalls: "My association with Bangalore is 50 years old. My wife's family lived here and I got married in Bangalore!" The marriage was solemnised at a ceremony held on Kenchappa Road, but not before Lalbagh and Cubbon Park had witnessed the couple walking hand in hand, lost in each another. "I used to love going to the Green House at Lalbagh", reminisces Manna, as he talks about the prize-winning roses his wife took from here and planted at their home in Mumbai. However, he laments that those days are gone and, like a true blue Bangalorean, grumbles about the traffic and crowds. Is it possible to forget the heart-rending strains of "Poocho na kaise maine rain bitaye" by this dulcet-voiced singer (film Teri Surat Meri Aankhen)? What about "Sur na saje kya gaooun mein", "Kaun aaya mere man ke dware"? This singer, who has rendered some of unforgettable Hindi film numbers ever, now occasionally sings for audiences in the country and abroad. Manna Dey was introduced to the field of music, decades ago, by his illustrious uncle K.C. Dey. A singer himself, the older man recognised young Prabodhchandra's talent rather early. Much against the wishes of his parents who wanted Prabodhchandra to pursue a career in law, K.C. Dey groomed the boy for a career in music. Didn't Mannada want his children to pursue a career in music? "I have never imposed it on them," he says, and explains how both his daughters are talented singers, but are not keen going the commercial way. "Shumeeta, the younger one, sings very well. She has cut four or five discs. She enjoys singing but does not want to make a profession of it," adds Mannada. Manna, who began his career in Mumbai assisting music directors of his time, stumbled into playback singing with Ram Rajya in 1944. "I was being groomed for music direction and I worked with S.D. Burman, Anil Biswas, Khemchand, and others. But being my uncle's nephew, I had my eyes set on singing," he says, recalling his early years. He finally made it with the film Mashaal, produced by Ashok Kumar, where he sang, "Upar gagan vishaal". Soon, one hit followed another, and Manna found himself on top of the popularity charts. The versatile singer put his soul into every song that he sang, be it bhajans, romantic numbers, comedy songs (those for actor Mehmood are still very popular), patriotic songs, qawwalis, and so on. Almost all his songs were hits and they remain evergreen to this day. "Whenever I sang qawwalis, Mohammed Rafi used to tell me 'Dada, kamal hai! Aap qawwali itni achi tarah se ga lete hain,'" he recalls with a smile. Some of his personal favourites are "Tu pyaar ka sagar hai", "Dil ka haal sune", "Pyar hua ikraar hua", and "Yeh raat bheegi bheegi". The list of popular songs by the maestro is endless, especially those sung under the inspired baton of composers like Shankar Jaikishen and Madan Mohan, who were clearly his favourites. In his leisure hours, you still find him playing their melodies and listening to the classic renditions by his illustrious contemporaries like Rafi, Mukesh, Asha, and Lata. His years in the industry were replete with bittersweet moments, but Mannada would rather forget the lows and remember the highs. He recalls the good times he had with other singers of his time. He doesn't hesitate to mention that "Rafi was a wonderful person, a trendsetter in singing, he evolved a style of his own which I used to follow too. Talat Mehmood was also unique. Kishore Kumar was one of the most versatile singers of our industry; he ruled the popularity charts like nobody else." Though not a fan of Western music, he likes listening to old favourites like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, both of whom he adored during his college days. Does Mannada keep track of the classical music scene in Bangalore?? "I am not really into classical singing, though all the classical training I had in the raag and ragini helped me." However, where South Indian music is concerned, he is a great fan of M.S. Subbulakshmi and playback singer Chitra. Back in Bollywood, of course, its still Asha and Lata for him. Mannada feels extremely sad about the state of affairs in the music industry. Singers who have no training whatsoever making one album after another, the spate of remixes... are not too heartening. He, however, has a special place for Malayalam film music, particularly because his wife Sulochana is from Kerala. In fact, it was she who helped him with his pronunciation for the song "Manasa mynae varu" for the runaway Malayalam hit Chemmeen. This romantic number, set to music by the incomparable Salil Choudhary, went on to become an all-time favourite. "Even if there is one Malayali in the audience, he will insist that I sing that song," he laughs. When he talks of his mother tongue, Bengali, one notices a certain degree of pride in his voice. Mannada has sung over 2,500 songs in the language. "You need to have a different attitude and pay attention to the words. They are very sensuous and melodious," he says passionately.

No doubt that he has problems the direction in which the music industry is moving. But he is not completely dismissive. He quite likes the melodies by Anu Malik and A.R. Rahman. "My advice to youngsters is: listen to good, healthy music," he ends on a positive note.