In the 1950s, many jalshas were held in different parts of Bengal. At that time legendary singers Manobendra Mukherjee and Shyamal Mitra used to perform together in many jalshas. It had also happened that when Manobendra Mukherjee left, Shyamal Mitra entered.
Shyamal Mitra composed few modern songs for Manobendra Mukherjee. One of the hit songs included “se amar patralekha”. Ananda Mukherjee wrote the lyrics of the song. Shyamal Mitra composed the music of the song. Eminent music composer Dr Nochiketa Ghosh composed the song “putul nebe go putul, amar ei chotto jhuri ete ram raban ache” in Bhanu Banerjee’s film Bhanu
Pelo Lottery. The song had two versions. One version was sung by Shyamal Mitra and the other version was sung by Manobendra Mukherjee. Both the versions were very melodious.
In the film Deya Neya released in 1963, the song “dole dodul dole jhulona” stormed Bengali films. Shyamal Mitra and Manobendra Mukherjee sang the song together. Manobendra Mukherjee sang the song for Tarun Kumar and Shyamal Mitra sang the song for Uttam Kumar. Shyamal Mitra composed music of the film.
While Manobendra Mukherjee’s basic discs in the 1950s stormed Bengali audience with super hit songs like “ami eto je tomay bhalobesechi”, “emni kore porbe mone baki jibon dhore”, “ei nil nil jal sagaare”, “tomar pother prante moner monideep jele rekhechi”, “ o amar chondro mallika”, “bare bare ke jeno dake” to name a few, Shyamal Mitra’s basic discs were equally popular including “emono din aaste pare”, “ei shundor prithibi chere mono kete nahi chae”, “Jodi dako opar theke ei ami aar phirbe na”, “eto alo aar eto hashi gaan”
to name a few.
While Manobendra Mukherjee’s compositions in Bengali films had classical touch and devotional andaz with kirtans, shyamasangeet, Shyamal Mitra’s compositions had both rural, folk and urbanized andaz.
Manobendra Mukherjee composed beautiful music in films like Uttam Kumar’s Chapadangar Bou, Mayamrigo, Sanjher Prodip, Jay Jayanti, Basanta Choudhury’s Bodhu, Koshti Pathor, Biswajeet’s Godhuli Belae, etc., Shyamal Mitra composed lovely music in films like Uttam Kumar’s Deya Neya, Bhranti Bilas, Bonpalashir Podaboli, Bhanu Banerjee’s Jomaloye Jibonto Manush, to name a few
The duet songs of Shyamal Mitra both in Bengali modern songs and Bengali films enchanted the audience. Same thing happened with Manobendra Mukherjee. His song “surjo tomar prothom toron kholo” with Pratima Banerjee in the film Lalubhulu mesmerized the audience. The lyrics were written by Sailen Roy. The music was composed by Robin Chatterjee and the film ended by a bumper hit in 1958.
Both Manobendra Mukherjee and Shyamal Mitra ruled bengali film music and modern songs for more than 35 years along with other giants like Manna Dey, Dhananjoy Bhattacharya, Satinath Mukherjee, Hemanta Mukherjee and others. The songs and the films require restoration.
