Hemant Kumar

Book Review: “The Unforgettable Music of HEMANT KUMAR”

The Unforgettable Music of HEMANT KUMAR
By Manek Premchand
Pages: 441
First Edition: 2020
Blue Pencil, New Delhi
(With study of his Bengali repertoire by Antara Nanda Mondal and Sounak Gupta)

Salil Chowdhury once said if God wanted to sing, he would do it in the voice of Hemant Kumar. Lata Mangeshkar said about him, “Listening to Hemant Da songs, I feel as if a Sadhu is singing bhajan in a temple.” A darling of Bengal where he was known as “Chhoto Pankaj” (Little Pankaj Mullick), and one of the top singers of Rabindra Sangeet. There was something divine about his mellifluous voice. I have not met a person who is not deeply passionate about Hemant Kumar’s voice. This blog celebrated his centenary in a very comprehensive manner in 2020, anchored by two erudite articles by N Venkataraman – Hemantayan Part 1 and Hemantayan Part 2 and a number of other articles on Hemant Kumar’s music in different combinations. Thus SOY readers’ appetite whetted  by the capsules on him, they would lap up Manek Premchand’s exhaustive book on Hemant Kumar.

Hemant Kumar was a man of many parts. We love him as a singer, his non-film songs are as mesmerising as his film songs. If he ruled our hearts in Hindi, he was an icon in Bengal. He continued his professional commitments in both Bombay and Calcutta, shuttling between the two cities at a  frenetic pace. He was a composer par excellence where he didn’t show any partiality to his own voice, freely taking other male voices if he considered that more suitable. He also ventured into film production, which barring some exceptions, were a commercial failure. With all that he looked after and provided for a large family. All this, coupled with his smoking habit must have told upon his health. All this is captured in the book in sufficient detail.

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Hemant Kumar’s Hindi Duet Compositions

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav in the continuing series of Hemant Kumar’s Centenary (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989)  celebrations

(The Grand Centenary Celebrations of Hemant Kumar were set off by N Venkataraman’s omnibus article Hemantayan Part 1 on his Birth Centenary 16 June 2020, which covered his early life and his career up to 1960. He completed his comprehensive overview with its Part 2 on his Remembrance Day 26 September 2020. In parallel Ashok M Vaishnav offered to take a closer look at Hemant Kumar’s career as a music director in Hindi films. He has already written on his songs for female playback singers and male playback singers. Ashokji completes his micro view of Hemant Kumar as a music director with this third article in the series in which he covers his duet compositions. Ashokji, characteristically, covers some unknown songs; his logic being that everyone knows his famous songs. This also gives an opportunity to the readers to post some obvious songs which are missing here.

Ashokji is a systematic researcher. That comes from his engineering and management background. After retirement he now freelances as management training professional. I convey my thanks to Venkataramanji and Ashokji for their series of articles which is such a befitting tribute to Hemant Kumar who was a great artiste and a great human being. – AK)

Quantitatively, duets are known to constitute a smaller share of Hindi Film Songs, as compared to the solo songs. However, it is well acknowledged that duets have an important place in the portfolio of any music director and singer. Musicologists will have their own detailed treatise to address the intricacies of duet compositions. They may also have different analyses of why one duet is better than the other or which duet has experimented successfully or otherwise with some out-of-the-box experiments. However, as an amateur listener of Hindi Film Songs, my inherent bias towards duets invariably is reflected in the joy of listening to a song composed as (MF) duet. In that context duets of Hemant Kumar have their own charm – be it an another music director composition or a Hemant Kumar’s own composition. Certainly, there should be no comparison between Hemant Kumar’s duets composed by other music directors and the ones that he composed himself. They are two different worlds and must be enjoyed as such.

Presently, we will focus our attention to the duets composed by Hemant Kumar in Hindi films

Hemant Kumar_Duets singers

Hemant Kumar has composed music in 54 Hindi films, spanning around 418 songs. Of these, 9 films (covering ~66 songs) had no duets. From the rest of the songs that Hemant Kumar has composed, duets have a little more than the one fourth share. These comprise MM and MF duets and triads+ where he is a singer and music director, and FF and MF duets and triads+ which have only ‘other singers’, in nearly 53:47 proportion. Well, well, it seems the statistical analysis of Hemant Kumar composed songs itself seems to be a full-fledged subject that can be discussed as interestingly as listening to his songs, and hence better be left for the more competent people to address.

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Hemantayan – Part 2

A tribute to Hemant Kumar on his 31st Remembrance Day (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) in his Birth Centenary year by guest author N Venkataraman

(N Venkataraman launched the Centenary Celebration of Hemant Kumar with his superb article Hemantayan Part 1 on his Birth Centenary, 16 June 2020. This gave a comprehensive overview of Hemant Kumar’s early life, his rise as a singer and composer of great repute in Hindi and Bengali films and non-film songs, up to 1960.

In this second and concluding part of his tribute, Venkatarmanji carries on his excellent work and covers his remaining career post-1960. The special aspect of this article is his focus on Hemant Kumar’s forays into production of films, which is not highlighted much as his heavenly voice left such a powerful impact. This aspect is also important because it became Hemant Kumar’s hubris, sucking him into deep financial troubles. But the multifarious talent that he was, he was able to come out of it as he had become an icon in Bengali music as a singer and composer. That became his main arena, where he was the Monarch.

This two-part tribute by Venkataramanji is the most comprehensive you can find on any blog. It is not only a chronicle of Hemant Kumar’s life and his professional achievements, it also provides insight into the ecosystem of Hindi and Bengali films of the era, his strength of character, simplicity and generosity and also his foibles, and his ups and downs. We are passionately fond of his singing and music direction, our awareness being primarily limited to Hindi. Thanks to Venkataramanji now we know that Hemant Kumar was much larger than that.  We can’t thank Venkataramanji enough for this. – AK)

Hemant Kumar 1“It was now time to build up on this success and reputation. Was he able to consolidate his position and career in Bombay and also in Calcutta? I will leave that for another post, the second part of this write-up. I would be covering his career post-1960 in the second part of my article”.

I had concluded the first part, Hemantayan – Part1 with the above lines.

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Hemant Kumar’s male playback singers

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav in the series of centenary tributes to Hemant Kumar (b. 16 June 1920 – d. 26 September 1989)

(Hemant Kumar’s centenary celebration was set off with an excellent article by N Venkataraman, ‘Hemantayan Part 1’, in which he wrote about his family origin, early life, and his career up to 1960. Venkataramanji would write his second and last part on Hemant Kumar’s Remembrance Day, 26 September, covering his post-1960 career.

Ashok M Vaishnav has a great interest in delving deep into film songs and present micro-analysis on various parameters. He very kindly offered to supplement Venkataramanji’s two-part overview with some articles going into Hemant Kumar’s career on various parameters in greater detail. Ashokji’s first article in the series was on Hemant Kumar’s female playback singers. in his second article he covers his male singers. This article is another evidence of Ashokji’s perseverance in going deep and wide.

Ashokji is an engineer by profession. After retirement, he is engaged in management training. I thank him for his efforts to make this series of tribute so befitting the respect Hemant Kumar commands. – AK)

Hemant Kumar_Manna Dey-Rafi-Kishore KumarEvery time the topic of Hemant Kumar’s Hindi Film songs in male voice comes up, the discussion usually gets marooned in the question – was he a great composer who also sang well or was he a great singer who also made some memorable music?

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Hemant Kumar’s Female Playback Singers

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav in the series of centenary tributes to Hemant Kumar (b. 16 June 2020 – d. 26 September 1989)

(Is Hemant Kumar a major singer or a music director? For his fans his mesmerising singing overshadows his contribution as a music director. Ashok M Vaishnav is known for going deep into data analysis and classification – SoY regulars have seen his perseverance in his mega-series, Multiple version songs. Ashokji plans to write a series of guest articles on Hemant Kumar’s various facets as music director, as a part of his centenary celebrations, which were set off brilliantly by N Vankataraman’s outstanding tribute, titled ‘Hemantayan – Part 1’, on his Birth Centenary, 16 June 2020.

Venkataramanji is planning his Part 2 on 26 September 2020 to coincide with Hemant Kumar’s death anniversary. His scheme, as the readers must have noticed, is to divide Hemant Kumar’s life and career in two parts chronologically – the first part going up to 1960 – taking a comprehensive overview of his career as a music director and singer in Hindi, Bengali and other languages, as well as his non-film songs.

It was very kind of Ashokji to offer on his own to supplement Venkataramanji’s two-part overview with some articles going into more detail on Hemant Kumar’s career on various parameters. Here is the first article of his planned series, on his female playback singers (in Hindi films). Since I have written on his songs for Lata Mangeshkar long ago, Ashokji only mentions her few songs, focussing more on his wide range of other female singers. He consciously chooses less familiar songs as a prudent policy.

Many readers have rightly observed that SoY is blessed with very generous guest writers. We are all lucky. Thank you Ashokji for your guest article. – AK)

 

Hemant Kumar with his female singers 2

Hemant Kumar (16-6-1920 | 26-9-1989) had already shown flare for music composition from his early childhood. Even though his formal career commenced as a singer, his talents as a composer also did not have to wait longer to get formal recognition. Of course, in so far as Hindi Films is concerned, the first ever film for which he got to compose the music was a decade after he sang his first film song. He then went on to compose music for 50+ films for the next 27 years.

(Note: Many sites mention film ‘Irada’ (1944) as his debut as a singer in Hindi films. However, it is now generally accepted that his first song was ‘Aankhon ki oat jo rahta tha’ in the film ‘Meenakshi’ (1942). – AK)

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Hemantayan – Part 1

A tribute to Hemant Kumar on his Birth Centenary (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) by guest author N Venkataraman

(Lata Mangeshkar once said in an interview about Hemant Kumar, “Listening to Hemant Da, I feel as though a sadhu sitting in a temple is singing a bhajan.” But a more endearing observation was made by Salil Chowdhury: If God had to sing, he would do it in the voice of Hemant Kumar. After you read this article, you would say, if Hemant Kumar wanted someone to write a tribute on his Centenary, he would have N Venkataraman do the honours.

Venkataramanji needs no introduction to the regular readers of SoY. He is a management professional based in Kolkata, but on SoY we know him for his scholarship and breadth of knowledge. Truly a Renaissance Man from Bengal. I am grateful that he has agreed to write a superb tribute to Hemant Kumar on his Centenary in two parts. In the first part he covers Hemant Kumar’s career up to 1960, giving us a broad panorama of his family roots, his early life to his emergence as a singer and composer of great repute in both Hindi and Bengali, including films and non-film songs. This article also gives a summary of his output in other regional languages. Thank you Venkataramanji for your great effort. – AK)

Section-1: 1920 – 1940

Hemant Kumar 1The Mathurapur- Laksmikantapur railway tracks pass through South 24 Parganas, leaving in its trail many old-world, sleepy stations. One such station is BAHARU. BAHARU, one of the many janapadas, that grew up along the old Bhagirathi offshoot from the ancient times, finds a mention in Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasavijaya, composed in 1495; BAHARU, the place where the Dewan of the East India Company, Nandakumar Bose, in the beginning of the 19th century, built a temple for Shyamsundar, acquiring stones from Chunar and requisitioning architects from Jaipur, to recreate Mathura-Vrindaban for his aged mother; BAHARU, the origin of Joynagarer Mua, a sweet well-known all over Bengal, made of Kanakchur, a sweet-smelling variety of rice (popped or puffed) grown in this region, mixed with good quality of liquid palm jaggery and desi ghee; BAHARU, the place where the famous singer and music director Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay spent eight years of his childhood and the village his ancestors originated from.

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Hemant Kumar’s duets with ‘other’ singers

A tribute to Hemant Kumar on his 99th birth anniversary (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989)

Hemant Kuma-Asha Bhosle-Geeta Dutt

I had written on the best duets of Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar in my first year of blogging. Then I had said: “Hemant Kumar in his voice brought the beauty of Bengal and melody of Rabindra Sangeet. When he joined with Lata Mangeshkar the effect was magical. Easily the best duets of Hindi films are of Hemant-Lata”. I further described these duets as the ultimate in melody. Now Songs of Yore has entered the tenth year, and Hemant Kumar would have entered his centenary year today. All this while I have been struck by the beauty of his fascinating duets with ‘other’ singers like Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, and was looking for some opportunity to write a post on them. While Lata Mangeshkar personified melody and sweetness with Hemant Kumar, the ‘other’ singers brought their own unique verve and joy, and combining with his deep melodious voice created a different kind of charming effect.

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Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by Hemant Kumar

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Lata Mangeshkar (b. 28 September 1929) on her 88th birth anniversary and a tribute to Hemant Kumar (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) on his 28th death anniversary

Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant KumarHemant Kumar was endowed with one of the most sonorous voices in light music. His film songs are universally popular. His non-film Hindi songs are equally sweet. In Rabindrasangeet, he is regarded as a titan. He has composed music for a large number of Hindi and Bengali films. The sweetness of his voice has also dripped into the music he composed. The melody-incarnate Lata Mangeshkar became his natural choice for the female songs. One Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar combination I have already covered – his duets with her, and they are indeed out of this world. Just recall some of them: Aa neele gagan taley pyar hum karein, Chandan ka palna resham ki dori, Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan, Badli mein chhupe chaand ne phir mujhse kaha hai, Ek baar zara phir kah do, Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag and Nain so nain naahi milaao. One more Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar combination has long been my great favourite – that is her solo songs composed by him.

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