Suman Kalyanpur

In Memoriam: Suman Kalyanpur, an epitome of talent, grace and dignity

Guest article by Dr Rajesh Deshpande as a tribute to one of the last of doyens of playback singing of the Golden Era

(When Suman Kalyanpur passed away recently, I suddenly felt that with her one of the last links with the Golden Era of playback singing is gone. She was a tragic figure, the similarity of her voice with Lata Mangeshkar was both a curse and boon for her. Curse, because when original was available, why go for a duplicate! And boon, because when the mighty Mangeshkar had her famous spats with all and sundry because of her own hubris, Suman Kalyanpur got a chance to sing some exquisite songs. I thought SOY had to write a tribute on her. I did not have the same urge when Asha Bhosle passed away a couple of months earlier, because she had created her own niche, and there were a good number of articles on her on SOY thanks to some of her inveterate fans.

I realised Suman Kalyanpur enjoyed tremendous respect in Marathi music, and some Marathi knowing person can do proper justice to her. I am happy to say that Dr Deshpande accepted my request to write a guest article on her. Her work is so vast that it was not possible to fit into one article. He proposes to write two articles, one on solos and the other on duets.

As the SOY readers are aware, Dr Deshpande is a pathologist by profession and works in a healthcare MNC, based out of Bombay. Thank you Dr Deshpane for a superb article on Suman Kalyanpur. – AK)

Within two months of the passing away of Asha Bhosle, we lost another illustrious singer who mesmerised us with her golden voice since the 50s. Suman Kalyanpur, the last pillar of the golden era of Hindi film music left for heavenly abode on May 31, 2026 at the age of 89 due to age-related ailments.

Looks like Sundays have been bringing us the sad news as all the 3 queens of melody (Lata, Asha and Suman) passed away on a Sunday. A singer par excellence, Suman Kalyanpur’s career began in 1954, peaked in the 60s and she retired in 80s, having sung in Hindi, Marathi and other regional languages.

She was born as Suman Hemmady on 28 January 1937 in Kolkata. The family moved to Dhaka and then to Mumbai, where they finally settled. Besides music, she was also interested in painting and got admission in the Sir J. J. School of Arts for higher studies. She received primary training in music from family friend and composer Keshavrao Bhole. She later took professional training from Navrang Nagpurkar and Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan. She got an opportunity to sing for a Marathi film Shukrachi Chandani, which unfortunately got shelved. However, composer Mohammad Shafi had heard her singing during the recording and offered her songs for the film Mangu (1954). Her first release was Darwaza. She also sang a few lines uncredited for the film version of the song Mohabbat kar lo jee bhar lo of Aar Paar under OP Nayyar.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Usha Khanna’s best songs for Lata Mangeshkar, and other female singers

Concluding the series of tributes to Usha Khanna with her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers

Usha Khanna’s debut score in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) sounded so much OP Nayyar-ish that you may get the impression that she too would exclude Lata Mangeshkar completely and her female singer would be predominantly Asha Bhosle as she was in Dil Deke Dekho. But from her very second film Hum Hindustani (1960), just as she showed great felicity with Mukesh, she also composed a superlative Lata Mangeshkar song in the film, Chori chori tori ayi hai Radha, kadam tale haule haule. Usha Khanna showed remarkable competence for composing for most of the prominent female playback singers, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur and others. My first post was on her best songs for Rafi, and second on Mukesh and other male playback singers. In these two posts I have also included their male-female duets. The third and last post in the series of tributes to Usha Khanna is on her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers. Since their duets with male singers are already covered this would be limited to their solos, and female-female duets.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

SN Tripathi Part 5 (post-50s): His best songs by other female playback singers

Concluding the series on SN Tripathi with his best songs for ‘other’ female playback singers

It is time to conclude the series on SN Tripathi after a comprehensive coverage of his multi-faceted talent in the Vintage Era (1949 and earlier) in Part 1 as a singer, actor, music director and dialogue and story writer; Part 2 (post-50s) about his best songs for Rafi; Part 3 (post-50s) about his best songs for Mukesh and other male singers; and Part 4 (post-50s) about his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar. I also mentioned that during post-50s, while we know him primarily as a music director, he continued to act and added a new talent to his immense portfolio – as a director of famous films, such as Rani Roopmati (1959). While writing on Lata Mangeshkar I discovered that she did not appear much in SN Tripathi’s music in her Tsunami years of 1949 through early 50s. He used several ‘other’ female playback singers, with Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum appearing quite frequently.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Dattaram Part 2: Breaking out of the Banyan Tree with ‘Other’ Singers

Second and final part of tribute to Dattaram (1929 – 8 June 2007)

DattaramWe saw in Dattaram Part 1 dealing with his songs for Mukesh and Manna Dey, how his association with the Big Banyan tree, Shankar-Jaikishan, made it difficult to get out of the comfort zone of SJ. The readers Mahesh and Hans Jakhar opined that Dattaram was himself part of the Banyan Tree. We need not presume that it was a millstone around his neck. The association gave him steady work and a sense of importance. Not everyone is entrepreneurial, he was contented with his station in life.

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Rafi’s duets by Roshan

Rafi with RoshanMy post on Rafi’s solos by Roshan appeared more than six years ago, several years before I started the series on the stalwart music directors. And the reason was simple: Roshan ranked among the top in my reckoning for Rafi songs, along with Naushad, SD Burman and OP Nayyar. Duets have no less importance in creating this imprint on my mind. It just so happened that I am coming back to the duets of this combination after six years when DP Rangan set off a tandem series on Roshan and Madan Mohan.

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Mukesh’s best happy duets

Mukesh duetsHaving recently done a list of happy songs of Mukesh, I had no intention of doing another Mukesh post anytime soon. But dustedoff, AP Joshi and Subodh Agrawal in their comments entered into an earnest discussion on ‘happy’ duets of Mukesh and requested I do a list of my favourite such duets. This opened the floodgates of my memory and several beautiful duets came streaming in my mind. About the same time another amazing coincidence happened. I heard on radio, after at least four decades, a most fabulous Mukesh-Lata duet lying in deep recesses of my memory. This post is an outcome of all these happenings.

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Suman Kalyanpur outshines Lata Mangeshkar

Haal-e-dil unko sunana tha sunaya na gaya

suman_kalyanpur Suman Kalyanur had to remain in the shadows of Lata Mangeshkar because of her uncanny similarity to Lata’s voice. Many of her songs are indistinguishable from Lata’s style, either because she was subconsciously imitating her style or the music directors were viewing her essentially as Lata’s replacement. Yet there are several songs which bear her special imprint. There is one particular song in which she seems to have clearly overshadowed Lata. I am referring to Haal-e-dil unko sunana tha sunaya na gaya from the film Fariyad (1964).

The beautiful lyric by Kedar Sharma is worth reproducing in full:

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