Remembering Music director/Singer Hemant Kumar Ji 1920-89

Born: 16 June 1920, Varanasi

Died: 26 September 1989, Kolkata

Music lovers have always had a tough time slotting Hemant Kumar. Was he a great composer who also sang well or was he a great singer who also made some memorable music? Was he a better music director than he was a singer? 

Under the influence of his friend Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta recorded his first song for All India Radio in 1935. In his early life Hemanta used to follow the famous Bengali singer Pankaj Mullick. For this he was nicknamed as "Chhoto Pankaj".

 In 1937, Hemanta cut his first gramophone disc under the Columbia label. Thereafter, every year Hemanta continued to record non-film discs for the Gramophone Company of India (GCI) till 1984. 

His first Hindi songs were "Kitana Dukh Bhulaya Tumne" and "O Preet Nibhanewali", released in 1940 under GCI's Columbia label. Music for these songs was composed by Kamal Dasgupta; lyrics were by Faiyaz Hashmi.

Hemanta's first film song was in the Bengali film Nimai Sanyas released in 1941. His first movie as a music director was the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947. 

Hemanta started receiving more assignments for music composition for Bengali films. Some were for director Hemen Gupta. When Hemen moved to Mumbai a few years later, he called upon Hemanta to compose music for his first directorial venture in Hindi titled Anandmath under the Filmistan banner. Responding to this call, Hemanta migrated to Mumbai in 1951 and joined Filmistan Studios. 

Following Anandamath, Hemanta scored music for a few Filmistan movies like Shart in subsequent years, the songs of which received moderate popularity. Simultaneously, Hemanta gained popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer. His songs playbacked for actor Dev Anand under music director Sachin Dev Burman in movies like Jaal (" Yeh raat, yeh chandni phir kahan ... "), House No. 44 (" Chup hai dharti, chup hai chand sitare... "), Solva Saal (" Hai apna dil to awara ..... "), Funtoosh (" Teri duniya mein jeene se ... "), and Baat ek raat ki (" Na tum hame jaano ..... "), became very popular and continues to be so. In the 1950s, he also play-backed for other heroes of Hindi films like Pradip Kumar ( Nagin , Detective ) and Sunil Dutt ( Duniya Jhukti Hain , ) and later in the 1960s for Biswajeet ( Bees saal Baad , Bin Badal Barsat , Kohra ) and Dharmandra ( Anupama ); he was the music composer for all these films.

By the mid-1950s, Hemanta had consolidated his position as a prominent singer and composer.

In the late 1950s, Hemanta ventured into movie production under his own banner: Hemanta-Bela productions. The first movie under this banner was a Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen, titled Neel Akasher Neechey (1959). The story was based on the travails of a Chinese street hawker in Calcutta in the backdrop of India's freedom struggle. The movie went on to win the President's Gold Medal — the highest honour for a movie from Government of India. In the next decade, Hemanta's production company was renamed Geetanjali productions and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohraa, Biwi Aur Makaan, Faraar, Rahgir and Khamoshi — all of which had music by Hemanta. 

In 1980, Hemanta had a heart attack that severely affected his vocal capabilities, especially his breath control. He continued to record songs in the early eighties, but his voice was a shade of its rich baritone past. Despite his ageing voice, he became the Best Male Singer in 1988 for his rendition in the film "Lalan Fakir".

In September 1989 he travelled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudan Award, as well as to perform a concert. Immediately after returning from this trip he suffered another heart attack on 26 September and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcutta.

Awards

• 1956: Filmfare Best Music Director Award: Nagin

• 1971: National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer: Nimantran

• 1986: National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer: Lalan Fakir

• 1975: BFJA Best Male Playback Singer Award: Phuleswari: Won

• 1976: BFJA Best Male Playback Singer Award: Priya Bandhobi: Won

• 1985: D.Litt. by Vishwa-Bharati University

• 1986: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

• 1989: Michael Madhusudan Award