KOLKATA: Music director Abhijit Bandyopadhyay, who made listeners romance the eternal charm of ‘sarengi’ with Haimanti Shukla’s ‘Ekhono sarengita bajhchhe’, breathed his last in the city on Monday due to age-related complications. The composer of cult songs, including Arati Mukherjee’s ‘Tung tang pianoe sarati dupur’, Subir Sen’s ‘Noy thakle aro kichuukhon’ and Asha Bhonsle’s ‘O pakhi ure ae’, was 90 and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Bandyopadhyay was among the few Bengali music directors who was also known for his song writing. “This was indeed a rare quality in those days. He was an assistant of Salil Chowdhury. As a composer, versatility was one of his traits and we often couldn’t identify his compositions as his. For a very long time, we didn’t even know that ‘O pakhi ure ae’ was his composition,” Shukla told TOI.
Shukla, who had recorded many of his compositions including ‘Baundule chondi choron’ and ‘Kono kichhu harabena’ and ‘Ami ek aadhphota suryamukhi’, fondly remembers the first time she had heard ‘Ekhono sarengita bajhchhe’. “He had initially given me a different song. I requested him to make me listen to another composition. I instantly fell in love when he sang the first line of ‘Ekhono sarengita…’ and asked him to let me sing it. He smiled and assured me that he had always reserved that song for me. I had tried to add a classical touch but he insisted that I do away with it,” she remembered.
Bandopadhyay would never be shy about acknowledging his singers. When Subir Sen passed away, Bandopadhyay had mentioned how the singer had made him listen to Jim Reeves’ ‘I hear the sound of distant drums’ and ‘Snow Flakes’. “The first song inspired me to compose ‘Saradin tomae bhebe’. The first line of ‘Snow Flakes’ song inspired me to compose ‘E jeno shei chokh’,” he had told TOI. Shukla too had experienced this trait. “Once he composed a classical-based baiji song called ‘Khosh mejaje mejaj dite’ and asked me to sing it. Accompanied by Radhakanta Nandy on the tabla, I sang it to the best of my ability. Abhijit-da had openly confessed that he couldn’t get the exact rhythm pattern right later while teaching the same song to his students. It’s rare to come across someone so appreciative of others’ talent,” Shukla added.
