Malayalis never forgot
the ever green emotional song “Manasa Myne Varu...” The Legendary singer Manna
Dey passed away, he fame in Malayalam with his single song in the 1964 classic
'Chemmeen". He also sang a song in “Nellu”. Only two songs in Malayalam but
he made his place ever green....
The song "Manase
myne varu..." composed by Salil Choudhury is an all-time hit because of
its romantic charm and emotional intensity. According to film buffs, no other
singer in Malayalam can claim such a distinction which Manna Dey alone enjoys
on account of the song he immortalised by his inimitable rendering.
Irony was the constant
refrain of Manna Dey’s life. A world happy to sway to jingles could not always
appreciate the steeped-in-classicism kalaam of Manna Da. Not blessed with the
rare yodelling skills of
Kishore Kumar or the
soaked-in-romance style of Mohammed Rafi, there were a few things Manna Dey
could do which his contemporaries could not aspire to. He could whip up a Lagi
chunari mein daag, or Aayo kahan se Ghanshyam with such ease that he
made a mockery of all predictions of the songs being difficult or challenging.
Music directors Shankar-Jaikishen, indeed Mohammed Rafi too, felt he was the
best choice when it came to songs with classical leanings.
Manna Da though wanted
to break the stereotype, ready at a moment’s notice to improvise, to innovate.
He could dish out Aao twist karein too but the Hindi film world gave
him only occasional opportunities to show his range, always keen to tap into
his classical reservoir. In some ways, he remained an under-valued genius, the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award notwithstanding. His voice was never associated with any
hero, his name never doing the rounds of any music director’s camp for all
songs of a movie; he charted his own path.
A man most humble who
did his own grocery purchases, he, however, was not happy about being the voice
of Mahmood in Padosan. The song, Ek chatur naar, a kind of a singing
contest in which he shared the baton with Kishore Kumar, was filmed on Sunil
Dutt and Mahmood with Manna Da’s voice being used for the comedian. It left him
unimpressed and he had to be persuaded to allow the song to be used in the
film. Yet the same Manna Da once refused to sing with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi out
of reverence for Pandit ji. The song in question, Ketki gulab juhi had
Bhimsen’s character losing to Manna Da’s character in the film Basant
Bahar. So Manna Da lost to Kishore Kumar in Padosan and defeated
Bhimsen Joshi a decade before that! Ketki gulab juhi, however, was the not
the biggest hit from Basant Bahar. That honour went to Sur na saje
kya gaoon main”, where again only Manna Da could have done justice to all the
ebbs and crests of music. Sur na… was picturised on Bharat Bhushan, a
fine case of Manna Da singing for the hero, otherwise though his voice
continued to be used for non-heroes.
Another memorable case
being Yaari hai imaan mera in Zanjeer, which was lip-synced by Pran,
not the hero Amitabh Bachchan.
The ironies did not
leave Manna Da there. Mukesh was generally regarded as the voice of RK Films.
Yet Manna Da gave some of his best songs for Raj Kapoor in films like Chori
Chori, Shree 420 and evenBobby. In Chori Chori he gave us
superhits like Aaja sanam madhur chandni mein hum and Ye raat
bheegi bheegi while Rafi had to make do with the now forgotten “All line
clear”.
Born in 1919, he
started as a music assistant in 1942. The following year he got his first whiff
of public appreciation with songs of Ramrajya. It was, however, not until Upar
gagan vishal in Mashaal (1950) that he began to be taken
seriously as a solo singer. By the time he left youth, he was an accomplished
performer, a diligent artiste who toiled endlessly yet never compromised on his
music. In a delicious irony of life, Manna Da, who was never taken to be voice
of any romantic hero of the era – the likes of Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor and
Rajesh Khanna used Kishore Kumar and Rafi’s voice – managed to give us two
ultimate romantic songs for people young, and those young at heart. His Pyar
hua iqrar hua hai pyar se phir kyun darta hai dil from Shree 420 (1955)
was used in an advertisement campaign to promote contraceptives some 40 years
after it became a chartbuster.
If this song was an ode
to love young and fearless, his number in Waqt was all about love
that has withstood the test of tide and time. The song Ae meri Zohra
Jabeen under the baton of music director Ravi, was a mischievous blend of
seasoned love with innocent pranks with both Balraj Sahni and Achala Sachdev
doing a wonderful job on the screen.
Little appreciated, but
Manna Da was a constant factor in the films of V. Shantaram; his songs of Do
Ankhen Barah Haath and Navrang have scarcely been forgotten.
His voice which could
encapsulate almost all shades of life was used for patriotic as well as
devotional songs. The irony could not have been greater – at one time Manna Da
was ready to quit the country when an article by Rupayan Bhattacharya in a
Kolkata daily compelled him to change his mind. And in the industry cine-goers
hardly thought beyond Rafi or Mahendra Kapoor when it came to patriotic songs.
Yet Manna Da gave us Ae mere pyare watan in Kabuliwala.
Memorable as his songs
were in Hindi cinema, Manna Da, who, for all his accomplishments, lived a
humble life, sang in many Indian languages — notably Bengali, Assamese, Gujrati
and Malayalam. His non-film albums too made a mark in the market, Yeh
Awaara Raatein being truly remarkable. In ‘live’ shows too, he was
peerless. Always holding the audience captive with his mastery over the medium.
For many years, he confined himself to his residence in Bangalore, venturing
out but rarely. Old age did not allow him to grace Kolkata on the opening day
of IPL-VI, which was a disappointment for all, notably for Manna Da too as he
was a keen student of the game. He had deep interest in soccer as well, being
among a handful of artistes in cinema whose interests went beyond movies. His
departure leaves a vacuum nobody will dare attempt to fill.
മന്ന ഡെയുടെ പിതാവ് പൂർണ്ണ ചന്ദ്രയും, മാതാവ് മഹാമയ ഡേയുമാണ്. തന്റെ സംഗീത അഭിരുചികളെ വളർത്തിയെടുക്കുന്നതിൽ മന്ന ഡേയുടെ അമ്മാവനായിരുന്ന കെ.സി.ഡെയുടെ വളരെയധികം പ്രഭാവം മന്നയിൽ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. വിദ്യഭ്യാസ കാലത്ത് മന്ന ക്ക് റെസിലിംഗ്, ബോക്സിംഗ് എന്നിവയിൽ താൽപ്പര്യമുണ്ടായിരുന്നു.
1943-ൽ സംഗീതസംവിധാനസഹായിയായാണ് മന്നാ ഡേ ചലച്ചിത്രരംഗത്തെത്തുന്നത്. പുരാണചിത്രങ്ങൾക്ക് ശാസ്ത്രീയസംഗീത ഈണങ്ങൾ നൽകുന്നതിൽ അദ്ദേഹം തന്റെ മിടുക്ക് കാട്ടി. 1950-ൽ രാമരാജു എന്ന ചലച്ചിത്രത്തിനു വേണ്ടിയാണ് മന്നാ ഡേ ആദ്യമായി ഗാനമാലപിച്ചത്. പിന്നീട് എസ്.ഡി. ബർമ്മന്റെ സംഗീതസംവിധാനത്തിൽ മഷാൽ എന്ന ചലച്ചിത്രത്തിനു വേണ്ടി അദ്ദേഹം ആലപിച്ച ഗാനങ്ങൾ വളരെ ശ്രദ്ധേയമാകുകയും ചെയ്തു. ഈ ചിത്രത്തിനു വേണ്ടി എസ്.ഡി. ബർമ്മന്റെ സംഗീതസംവിധാനസഹായി കൂടിയായിരുന്നു മന്നാ ഡേ. പിന്നീട് 1950-52 കാലഘട്ടത്തിൽ വളരെയധികം മികച്ച ഗാനങ്ങൾ പാടി. ആദ്യ കാലത്ത് ബംഗാളിയിൽ അധികം പാടിയിരുന്നു. മന്ന ഡെ 3500 ലധികം പാട്ടുകൾ റേകോർഡ് ചെയ്തിട്ടുണ്ട്.
മലയാളത്തിൽ ചെമ്മീനിലെ മാനസമൈനേ വരൂ എന്ന വിഖ്യാതഗാനം ആലപിച്ചത് മന്ന ഡേ ആയിരുന്നു.
1953, ഡിസംബർ 18 ന് മന്ന ഡെ സുലോചന കുമാരനെ വിവാഹം ചെയ്തു. സുലോചന അക്കാലത്തെ മികച്ച മലയാളി നാടക പിന്നണി ഗായികയായിരുന്നു. ഇപ്പോൾ ഇവർ ബാംഗ്ലൂരിൽ താമസമാണ്.
നെഞ്ചിൽ അണുബാധയുണ്ടായതിനെത്തുടർന്ന് 2013 ജൂൺ 8-ാം തിയതി ബാംഗ്ലൂർ നാരായണ ഹൃദയാലയ ആശുപത്രിയിൽ പ്രവേശിപ്പിച്ചു. ആദ്യം വീട്ടിൽ തന്നെ ചികിൽസിച്ചെങ്കിലും സ്ഥിതി ഗുരുതരമായതിനെത്തുടർന്ന് ആശുപത്രിയിൽ പ്രവേശിപ്പിക്കുകയും, നില അതീവ ഗുരുതരമായതിനാൽ ചെസ്റ്റ് സ്പെഷാലിറ്റി തീവ്രപരിചരണ വിഭാഗത്തിലേക്കു മാറ്റുകയായിരുന്നു. 2013 ഒക്ടോബർ 24 നു പുലർച്ചെ 3:50 നു നാരായണ ഹൃദയാലയ ആശുപത്രിയിൽ വെച്ച് അന്തരിച്ചു.