THE DUET: BENGALI EMBRACES MALAYALAM

Salil-da had another wife, Malayalam was a mistress

Malayalam owes it to the serendipity of Ramu Kariat.In the mid-1960s he was determined to make a cinematic statement. He was mesmerized by the scriptwriter of Do Bigha Zamin(1953) and music composer of Madhumati(1958). Ramu Kariat, Director of the epoch-making film, Chemmeen(1965), met that script writer and composer, Salil Chowdhury. Madhumati had two stalwarts and was scripted by Ritwick Ghatak; its Editor was Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who later edited Chemmeen, Ezhu Rathrikal and Nellu.

 

Salil Chowdhury

It was not music that changed Salil's life; it was the story, Rikshawalla that he wrote in the early 50s. His close friend Ritwick Ghatak wanted to make it into a film. But when Bimal Roy visited Kolkata, Ritwick made Salil tell him the story. It was shot in Hindi in 1953 as the famous Do Bigha Zamin. Bimal Roy wanted initially Salil to write the script only but was asked to do the music later. Rickshawalla finally made in Bengali in 1955 was a flop. His debut in Bengali was Poribortan(1949).It had a chorus and a solo,Abujh manre bal morey.Debabrata Biswas, whom he knew from the Indian People's Theatre Association(IPTA )days, sang the debut song for him(source: Wikipedia). Debabrata had sung some of Salil's protest songs.Mahabharoti(1994) was Salil's last  Bengali movie.

Salil Chowdhury(1922-1995) was born in Kothaliya, Sonarpur in the 24 Parganas district of West Bengal; it was also the birthplace of Subash Chandra Bose. Salil spent his childhood in the village, of Harinavi. His father, Dr Gyendra Mohan Chowdhury was working in a tea garden in Assam. The childhood days Salil spent in Assam made him a musician. His father had inherited a lot of Western classical records and a gramophone from the departing Irish doctor. Salil listened to Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Tchaikovsky. He heard the chirping of birds in the jungles and listened to Assamese folk music. Mozart, who died at 35 and created six hundred compositions, was his favourite. He used to joke later that he was Mozart reborn. He taught himself flute. He learnt Piano, violin and Esraj.

He also imbibed progressive ideas from his father who used to stage plays with the coolies and tea garden workers. According to Reghu Chakraborty, Salil's friend and close associate, financial difficulties, pushed Salil to choose music as his vocation. His father, who resigned from his job in Assam, died suddenly. It fell on Salil to look after the family were eight brothers and sisters. When he joined the Bangabashi College in Kolkata in 1944, he became part of the Communist Party. He took part, as a worker in the peasant movement, in the Tebhaga struggle of the Kisan Sabha. At that time,share-cropping peasants had to give half their harvest to the owners of the land; the demand of the tebhaga (sharing by thirds) movement was to reduce the share to one-third. His first protest song was Bheschhe baaner Jale, when he was only 21.

Sabita

Salil joined the IPTA of the Party as a flute player. The song, Kono ek gayer Bodhu he composed when he was 27 became very popular. It infused a new wave to Bengali music. In the mid-sixties, he drifted away from the movement disliked the infighting in the party, the petty jealousies over his success and the Party's attempts to control the artistic content of his work.

One more incident shook his life: he fell out with the singer, Hemant Kumar.

Manna Dey with Sulochana

It was just after the split in the Party that he got the call from Kerala. Chemmen released on 19 August 1965 won the national award for best feature film and Marcus Bartley won the gold for Cinematography at the Cannes Festival. Salil Da introduced Manna Dey to Malayalam, though Manna Dey had married Sulochana of Kannur in Kerala, in 1953. Sulochana rehearsed him for several days to get the pronunciation right. Her father Kumaran had a business in Mumbai. She sang the duet, Ami Tomaro Shongey Bendeehi amaro pran with Manna Dey at a Rabindra Sangeeth recital organized by the Indian Cultural League in May 1948. Manna Dey was teaching Rabindra Sangeeth in Mumbai. Love blossomed."I can claim without the slightest hint of embarrassment that all the love songs I ever sang following our marriage are dedicated exclusively to her," he wrote in his autobiography.

SONG 1: MANASA MAINE VARU/FILM:CHEMMEEN/MANNA DEY

 

Now, let us listen to the Bengali version by Yesudas and Sabita in the 1979 movie, Srikanter Will. Several people are curious why Salil didn't retain, Manna Dey. This is the only song people don't dare to attempt in Kerala-where is the initial humming of Manna Dey when Yesudas attempted?

SONG:NAAM SOKUNTALA TAAR/FILM:SRIKANTER TAAR/YESUDAS,SABITA

Here is the one by Hariharan, for the dubbed version of Chemmeen in Hindi, Chemmeen Lehren(1980). The movie was dubbed into English as The Anger of the Sea.

SONG: PYASA HAI MAN KYA KARU/FILM:CHEMMEEN LEHREN/HARIHARAN

The original of Puthanvalakkare is, Bagh Mein Kali Khili in the 1965 Hindi movie, Chand aur Suraj.

SONG: BAGH MEIN KALI/FILM: CHAND AUR SURAJ/ASHA BHOSLE

Kadalinakkare was based on the Bengali folk song,Hay,Hay,Herilam by Nirmalendu Chowdhury.Salil da wanted Lata Mangeshkar to sing Kadalinakkare; She had a fever, so, Yesudas lent the voice!

SONG: HAY HAY HERILAM/NIRMALENDU CHOWDHURY

   

Salil Da composed music for 70 Hindi,41 Bengali and 27 Malayalam movies and one Malayalam album.111 songs in Malayalam. Out of 27, four were background scores: Abhayam(1970), Dweep(1977), Vellam(1984)and Vasthuhara(1991). After Chemmeen, the next in Malayalam was Ezhu Rathrikal(1968), directed again by Ramu Kariat. It had the Bengali, Kamal Bose, as a Cameraman. Lyrics again by Vayalar Rama Varma. The song, Kaadaru Masam by KJ Yesudas is still fresh.

SONG 2:KAADARU MASAM/FILM:EZHURATHRIKAL/YESUDAS

 

But the rendering of a five-line poem, evoking the depth of night, by PB Sreenivas is haunting. It has no percussion, only the piano chords to seize the mysteries of the night. The only song PB Sreenivas did for Salil is my favourite. The lyric is unique.

SONG3:RAATHRI,RAATHRI/FILM:EZHU RATHRIKAL/PB SREENIVAS

I remember  Kakkakarumbikale sung by Yesudas, Anto, KP Udayabhanu and Latha Raju too. The song, Makkathu Poyvarum was composed by Latha's mother, Santha P Nair in Salil's absence. Salil scored background music for the 1970 movie, Abhayam directed by Ramu Kariat. The music was by Dakshina Moorthy. It had 13 songs/poems.

For the first time, ONV Kurup teamed up with Salil Da for Swapnam (1973) directed by Babu Nanthancode. Madhu and Nanditha Bose were the leading pairs. All five songs are still remembered: 1. Mane Mane 2.Kanakuyile 3. Nee Varu Kavyadevathe 4. Sarike, En Sarike 5. Sourayudathil. Babu the director, later left movies and became a priest, with the name, Brother Thoma. His last movie had this name on the credit card. He was an Adayar Film Institute product. He studied Cinematography, and was a tutor in the Institute for a brief period, under T Vaiyadurai, his guru and dept Head. He worked there for two years there as a production manager. Cameraman Nivas and actor Sudheer were his friends. Nivas had been the cameraman for Bharathiraja, and through him, Babu knew Bharatiraja.

His first movie was Dhakam (1972), in Tamil, and it was a flop. He was assisted in the script by Vaiyadurai and K K Raman; Vaiyadurai wielded the camera. The cast included  Muthuraman, Nandita Bose, Sundarrajan, Pandharibai, Rajakokila, Renuka Parvathi, and Jayaseelam. One of the lyricists on the credit card is Bharati- Bharathiraja?

After becoming Brother Thoma, he gave up chappals. He was seen walking barefoot on the Merina beach, in the scorching son. He didn't join any Church and was a self-styled evangelist. He used to deliver public sermons in Nagercoil towards the end. Former minister B Wellington and owner of Madras Cafe, Narayanan decided to launch a movie project with Baby. When they boarded the train from Cochin to meet him in Chennai, he took a train to Kerala, to avoid them. Thus he left filmdom.

SONG4:NEE VARU KAVYADEVATHE/FILM:SWAPNAM/YESUDAS

Original of Mane, Mane was,the 1971 Tarun Banerji Song, Aarderi nei Aschi.

SONG:AARDERI NEI AAMI ASCHI/TARUN BANERJI

It was recycled into Hindi by Salil, using Yesudas, in 1978, for an unreleased film.The song was,Gaa Mann mere gaao Tarane.

  

  

In those days, novels were adapted into movies. Chemmeen by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Abhayam by Perumbadavam Sreedharan and Swapnam by P Kesava Dev. The next film of Ramu Karyat was adapted from Nellu by P Valsala(1974). It was the debut movie of Cinematographer Balumahendra and actor Mohan Sharma. Prem Nazir and Jayabharathi were in lead roles. Jayabharathi was brought in because Saradha refused the role of a tribal woman. Ramu asked K G George, SL Puram Sadanandan and Valsala to write the script. He took portions from the three and re-wrote. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was the Editor again.
There were four songs penned by Vayalar. Though people think that Manna Dey sang only one song, Manasa Maine, he sang, Chemba, Chemba with Jayachandran in Nellu.

SONG5: CHEMBA CHEMBA/FILM:NELLU/MANNA DEY, JAYACHANDRAN

Lata Mangeshkar sang her only song in Malayalam,Kadali,Chenkadali.Yesudas and Madhuri sang,Neelaponmane and Kadu Kuliranu by P Suseela. 

Original of Chemba Chemba was O bhai re bhai from the Bengali movie, Marjina Abdullah(1973).

SONG:O BHAI RE BHAI/FILM:MARJINA ABDULLAH/MANNA DEY

Kadali,Chenkadali was adapted from Sandhya Mukherjee's song, Sajani, Go Sajani.

SONG:SAJANI GO SAJANI/GEETHASREE SANDHYA MUKHERJEE

See the original of Neelaponmane.

SONG:O NEEL NEEL PAKSHI/ GEETHASREE SANDHYA MUKHERJEE(1973)

  
Director N Sankaran Nair used Salil Da's talents for five of his films Leela (1975), Thulavarsham (1976), Madanolsavam (1978), Ee Ganam Marakumo (1978) and Chuvanna Chirakukal(1979). All the songs in Madanolsavam are evergreen hits. ONV once again teamed up with the Kamal Haasan movie, Rasa Leela. Four songs in the movie have stood the test of time;1.Manaykale Thathe 2.Neeyum Vidhavayo 3. Nisasurabhikal 4. Ayilyam padathe penne.

SONG 6:MANAYKALE THATHE/FILM:RASA LEELA/YESUDAS

                                          


But my favourite is Neeyum Vidhavayo by P Suseela because of the lyrical quality. The widow played by Jayasudha asks the full moon, You too a widow?

SONG 7:NEEYUM VIDHAVAYO/FILM:RASA LEELA/P SUSEELA
                                       

  

 It was during the research for this post that I  discovered, one song in Thulavarsham, Swapnadanam  Njan, was written by my former colleague, Chovallur Krishnan Kutty. Vayalar wrote,Keli nalinam andYamune Nee Ozhuku .These three were composed by Salil Da. Dakshina Murthy was the other composer. Hema Chowdhury was the heroine.

SONG 8:SWAPNADANAM NJAN/FILM:THULAVARSHAM/S JANAKI

Madanolsavam took Salil da to new heights, with ONV. All six songs were instant hits:1.Madaprave Va 2.Sandhye 3.Mele Poomala 4.Ee Malar Kanyakal 5.Nee Mayum Nilavo 6.Sagarame Santhamaka Nee...Nee Mayum Nilavo is ethereal, and my second favorite of Salil. A rare gem.

SONG 9:SAGARAME/FILM:MADANOLSAVAM/YESUDAS

SONG 10:NEE MAYUM NILAVO/FILM:MADANOLSAVAM/YESUDAS

Mele Poomala was sung by Salil's second wife, Sabita (Banerjee) Chowdhury with Yesudas. Salil had three daughters with his first wife, Jyoti (the marriage was on July 14,1952): Aloka, Tulika and Lipika. In Sabita, two daughters: Antara the singer, and Sanchari and the sons, Sanjoy and Bobby.

Aurina Chatterji, granddaughter of Jyoti, and daughter of Lipika, who lives in Mumbai/Toronto, Says that the Jyoti family used to refer to him as Bapi dadu. He was an infrequent visitor at,16, Hi Krest, Perry Cross Road, Bandra, Jyoti's house. Salil, according to Aurina, was a benevolent ghost. The walls of the house were plastered with his photographs. Salil was a tutor to Jyoti in Philosophy. Malayalees have an answer here, in why he gave only copies to Malayalam. It was definitely an aberration. Vayalar Rama Varma's wife's younger sister, Bharathi, became Vayalar's wife. I have seen the first wife as a domestic servant in my place, Tripunithura. N Mohanan, writer, and son of Lalithambika Antharjanam, who was with the Sahitya Akademi called me once to say that the Akademi has sanctioned a pension to Vayalar's wife. But they found he had another wife.

Aurina Chatterji

Now, we have another revelation in Malayalam by Saraswathi, daughter of Karoor Neelakanta Pillai, writer. She says, there was a proposal from Vayalar. As far as I know, Vayalar loved only one woman, the actress, Ragini, who was married to Madhavan Thampi. I was sitting in the actress, Padmini's home in Chennai, in 1987, talking to her. The children in the colony were playing cricket outside. Suddenly, two girls appeared in the room. One girl, I knew-Amala, is now the wife of Telugu superstar, Nagarjuna. The other girl was dark. Padmini, the one-time heroine of Rajkapur, introduced her as Lakshmi; the daughter of Ragini. The Travancore sisters, Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, danced and were in the limelight for long. Ragini enjoyed her drinks. A genius may have other relationships. To be frank, the Jyoti branch is better. Aloka was a Professor, liked by her students.


Now I quote Aurina, verbatim:
One day, in our Bapi-bedecked hall, my older cousin told me in conspiratorial tones that Bapi had another wife and he had other children and that is why he lived in Calcutta, and that is why we rarely saw him.

Ramu Kariat

Aurina says then that she was a happily stupid child. She continues: I didn't think of my mother's devastation, nor the stigma of my grandmother in the 1960s in India....he once accompanied Charlie Chaplin on Piano...But for all his generosity, when it comes to the outside world, like so many luminaries before and after him, Bapi was less than exemplary in his personal life. He had abandoned a devoted wife, a wife he had fallen for while he tutored her in Philosophy, a wife he had secretly married much to the chagrin of her Brahmin father, a wife who selflessly clothed and fed and mothered many of the Film and Cinema aspirants who followed Bapi from small town Bengal. He abandoned his three little ones, the musically named Aloka, Tulika and Lipika, who to my shock and eternal admiration, harbour no regret against their deeply loving but absent father. He always disappeared behind the fragrance of his tobacco pipe...

Young Salil

Finally, Aurina asks some questions about him if he were alive now: What was it like to hide in toilet holes to escape the British? Did you really think Stalin was a good man? How about Brezhnev? Can you teach me how to create harmonies? What are your thoughts on Putin? What do you think of the CPI(m) now?
(Salil died when Aurina was 12)

Salil with pipe

 
SONG11:MELE POOMALA/FILM:MADANOLSAVAM/YESUDAS,SABITA

Sankaran Nair's Ee Ganam Marakumo saw the ONV-Salil combine again hitting the charts. The four songs in the movie are still known 1. Ee kaikalil 2.Kalakalam 3.Onapoove,Omal Poove 4.Rakuyile Urangoo...

Salil again tried Sabita with Yesudas.Rakuyile Urangoo had its original in Raat kuheli in the Bengali film,Rai Bahadur.Its Hindi version is  Chaand Kabhi in Sapan Suhane.

SONG 12: RAKUYILE /FILM:EE GANAM MARAKUMO/YESUDAS, SABITA

 For Salil,1975 was successful. Three commercial directors, Kunchako, Bhim Singh and P A Thomas commissioned him, proving  Salil a huge success in mainstream Malayalam Cinema. Kunchako invited him for Neelaponman,  Bhim Singh for Ragam and PA Thomas for Thomasleeha. It is also amazing to note that Kunchako used Marcus Bartley as the Cameraman for Neelaponman.A Cannes winner for Kunchako!The three songs out of five, penned by Vayalar are still hits:1.Kaadu Karutha Kadu 2.Kilu kilum 3.Theyyam Theyyam Thare.Theyyam Theyyam was based on his Bengali classic, Dhitang dhitang bole sung by Hemant Mukherjee(1954). Lata Mangeshkar's version followed in Aawaz (1956).

SONG:DHITANG DHITANG/HEMANT KUMAR

Salil met Hemant Kumar for the first time, in the house of Debabrata Biswas, in the early 40s. After joining the Communist Party in 1946, Salil spent most of his time in Jashoda Bhavan, where he took part in political discussions. In one such discussion, Krishno Bandopadhyay suggested to Salil to request Hemant to sing his songs. Salil met Hemant at his Indra Roy Road residence 1n 1948. The party had become illegal after the Calcutta Thesis. Hemant asked Salil to come up with something new since it was a difficult time. Salil went back and finished the half-written song.Kono ek Gayer Bodhu was born.Salil went underground; Hemant himself recorded it as a Puja number was a sensation.

SONG:KONO EK GAYER BODHU/HEMANT KUMAR

Its tune was copied in the 1979 film, Devadasi by Salil himself.

SONG 13: ORU NAL VISANNERE/FILM: DEVADASI/YESUDAS

Sharmila Tagore was there in Chuvanna Chirakukal.Among the four songs by ONV, people remember two. Neeyoromal was based on the 1973 Bengali song, Nayone tari from, Pasher Bari, sung by Dhananjaya Bhattacharya.Parannu poi nee came from, Mone pode Sei, in Antarghat.Hindi version is Kishore Kumar's Man kare Yaad in Aakhiri Badlaa.

SONG 14: NEEYOROMAL KAVYA/FILM:CHUVANNA CHIRAKUKAL/YESUDAS

 
Don't you think, this is a copy of Neelaponmane? Copying a Malayalam song himself!

SONG: NAYANE TARI/FILM:PASHER BARI/DHANANJAYA BHATTACHARYA