Manna Dey was one of the great artists of Hindustani playback singing. The character with whom this story of Manna Dey begins is – Amiya Chakraborty. It is about 1957. That means 10 years had passed since India’s independence. Renowned filmmaker Amiya Chakraborty was making a film – Dekh Kabira Roya. Amiya Chakraborty was an all-round personality of cinema. Along with writing films, he had also left his mark in film making. During the 1940s and 50s, he was called a great filmmaker. He had films like Daag and Seema in his credit. He also received the Filmfare Award for the film Seema, released in 1955. Amiya Chakraborty is also credited with the fact that he discovered a strong actor like Dilip Kumar.
He was the one who made Dilip Kumar’s first film Jwar Bhata in the 40s. Another introduction to Amiya Chakraborty is that he was a distant relative of the great sitar player Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar. In this film of Amiya Chakraborty, actors like Anita Guha, Anup Kumar, Shubha Khote were actresses, who usually used to do side roles in films.
Madan Mohan was responsible for the music of the film. Who by then had composed the music of about two dozen films. He composed 10 songs for this film. All these songs were written by Rajendra Krishna. These songs were sung by veteran artists like Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mehmood, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi and Sudha Malhotra. The problem was that Madan Mohan wanted Manna Dey to sing a song of this film. That song was – Kaun Aaya Mere Mann Ke Dware which was filmed on Anup Kumar.
Why did this song have to be sung from Manna Dey?
The story behind this is also interesting. Actually, composer Madan Mohan had composed this song on the basis of a classical raga. By that time, it was known in the industry that Manna Dey had expertise in playing songs based on classical ragas. The reason behind this was that Manna Dey had taken proper training in classical singing. Well, Madan Mohan gave a huge bribe to Manna Dey to prepare him for this song.
One day Madan Mohan called Manna Dey and asked what he was doing. Manna Dey replied that nothing, I am just sitting. On this Madan Mohan said that come to my house, I will feed you mutton ladyfinger. Manna Dey was surprised and asked what kind of dish this was, ladyfinger with mutton. Madan Mohan said that one can know what kind of dish it is only after coming to his place and eating it. In those days, Manna Dey lived in Bandra and Madan Mohan lived on Padder Road. There was a decent distance between the two places, but everyone knew that Madan Mohan makes amazing food, so Manna Dey could not stop himself. Manna Dey reached Madan Mohan’s house. Hosted by Madan Mohan, he ate scrumptious Bhindi Mutton. When Manna da’s heart was filled with joy, Madan Mohan told him the tune of this song and said that he had to sing this song for Madan Mohan. Manna Da immediately agreed. This song is heard a lot even today.
When Manna Da got scared while singing with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
This story of Manna da’s career is also interesting. This story is also from the 50s. Director Raja Nawathe was making a film named Basant Bahar. The music of this film was the responsibility of Shankar Jaikishan. According to the script of the film, the hero had to participate in a music competition in which the winning artiste was to get the title of royal singer. The songs of the film were written by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. The lyrics of the song that was prepared for this occasion were- Ketaki Gulab Juhi.
Shankar Jaikishan composed this song on the classical raga Basant. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was to sing it. There were plans to rope in Manna Dey as the second singer. But when Manna Da came to know about this, he got scared. He felt that how would he be able to sing in front of a veteran singer like Pandit ji. Manna De himself says in one of his books – I shuddered at the thought of becoming unpleasant by being compared to such an idol and the reputation I had earned as a singer with great effort would be ruined. Later Manna Dey’s wife said that he must sing this song. When Manna Dey told his wife about his fear, she explained that above all, he is not weak in classical music.
According to the script of the second film, in the end only the hero has to win this competition and Manna Dey is singing the hero’s part in the song Ketki Gulab Juhi, so there is no question of losing. Manna Dey’s wife was adamant that she would have to sing that song. Before recording this song, Manna Da had touched the feet of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and taken his blessings. Manna Da’s singing was so amazing that when the recording was over, Pandit ji patted him on the back and asked – Why didn’t you make classical singing your profession?
