Wanted to sing in memory of his wife before his death: Manna Dey started crying when Raj Kapoor offered the song ‘Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi’

On 8 June 2013, Manna Dey was admitted to the ICU of a hospital in Bengaluru due to a chest infection. His health gradually improved and after about a month, doctors removed him from ventilator support. Later, he was discharged from the hospital.

Only a few months were left in Manna Dey’s life but one of his wishes was yet to be fulfilled. His dream was to record a love song in the memory of his late wife Sulochana.

One of his close friends had told that Manna Dey wanted to sing till his last breath. Despite ill health, he was eager to sing again after a long time. He wanted to dedicate the last song of his life to his wife.

However, the last wish of this rare diamond of the music world remained unfulfilled. Manna Dey was again hospitalized in the first week of October 2013, and died of cardiac arrest on 24 October at the age of 94.

Manna Dey was the one who added a new chapter of music to Indian cinema. Today is the 10th death anniversary of Manna Da, who was awarded Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Manna Dey saw many ups and downs in his career spanning 5 decades, but even today in the world of music, there is no artist as experienced as Manna Dey.

Let us know what Manna Dey’s struggle was like in pursuit of becoming a top class singer.

Manna Dey with Lata Mangeshkar in a frame.

Manna Dey’s uncle was his first guru.
Manna Dey was born on 1 May 1919 in Calcutta in a Bengali family. Since childhood, Manna Dey was more inspired by his uncle Sangeetcharya Krishna Chandra Dey than by his parents. His uncle was proficient in classical music and that is why Manna Dey was also inclined towards music since childhood.

Manna Dey’s father’s dream was to become a lawyer because there were doctors and engineers in the house. But here Manna Dey was already completely engrossed in music. Since college days, Manna Dey used to sit on the bench at the back of the class with his friends. Then they used to sing with great rhythm on the bench.

When the college principal came to know about this, instead of scolding them, he supported them a lot. All the music maestros used to come to Manna Dey’s Kolkata house. His uncle used to call him. Music used to be played all night long. Ustad Saheb used to come to the same room. This is the reason why Manna Dey was fond of music since childhood.

Manna Dey made his debut as a solo singer in the only film which Gandhiji saw.
Manna Dey took music lessons from his uncle and Ustad Dabir Khan. After completing his studies in 1942, Manna Dey came to Mumbai with his uncle. Due to his good understanding of music, he started working as an assistant music director in films. Manna Dey’s biggest break as a singer was from the film Tamanna, released in 1942. The song of this film was sung by Manna Dey along with Suraiya. The lyrics of the song were- Jaago Aayi Usha Ponchi Bole Jaago. This song was a big hit of that time. After this, Manna Dey’s musical career took off. In 1943, the film Ram Rajya was released, in which Manna Dey lent his voice to a song as a solo singer. Interestingly, Ram Rajya was the only film that Mahatma Gandhi saw.

Manna Dey was awarded the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke.

Victim of typecast, being a specialist proved to be a curse rather than a boon.
Manna Dey was very fond of singing. Music was reverence for him. This is the reason why whenever any filmmaker wanted to sing classical music in the film, he would approach only Manna Dey. But it has always been a topic of discussion that despite such excellent singing, Manna Dey could never become an A-lister singer.

There was a time when Manna Dey was the first choice of legendary singers like Rafi, Kishore and Mukesh. Not only this, Rafi Saheb had once said that the whole world listens to my songs and I get solace only from Manna Dey’s songs.

Manna Dey used to sing even the most difficult songs with such ease that it did not seem as if he had taken any extra effort. Due to his proficiency in classical music, Manna Dey also became a victim of typecast and his singing also remained limited to classical music. For this reason, he was stopped considering for light songs. Whereas the song ‘Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo’ sung by him was also a bumper hit.

Raj Kapoor had recommended Manna Dey for the song Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi
Manna Dey was not only a victim of type cast but there was also a time when his singing was also insulted. The story is of the song ‘Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi’ from the film Chori Chori. Filmmaker A.V. Meiyappan Chettiar wanted Mukesh’s voice along with Lata. He came to Mumbai from Madras especially for the recording of this song.

The composer Shankar Jaikishan duo wanted to sing this song with Lata from Manna Dey, so after not finding Mukesh in the recording room, producer Mayapan immediately went to Shankar and asked where Mukesh was? Shankar said that Manna Dey was perfect for this song, but he did not agree, then Raj Kapoor explained to the producer and said that only Manna would record this song. The song was recorded and after listening to the song, Meyyapan also said that he would be proud if this song would be associated with his film.

Manna Dey had revealed this in an interview, when Raj Kapoor chose me for this song, I started crying with joy. He could have recorded this song in the voice of any other singer, but for this he chose only me.

When Manna Dey refused to sing with Kishore Kumar
This is the time when the film Padosan was released. A song from this 1968 film Ek Chatur Naar became very famous. The voice of this song was given by Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar and Mehmood. Initially Manna Dey had refused to do this song. The reason was that this song was filmed on Kishore Kumar and Mehmood. Also, some funny words were inserted in this song, which had to be said in the middle of the song.

Manna Dey with Kishore Kumar in a frame.

When this was told to Manna Dey, he did not agree to this, whereas Kishore Kumar agreed to the funny wording. Manna Dey said that he cannot joke with music. In such a situation, his opinion was accepted and the recording of the song started. In the beginning of the song, everything happened according to Manna Dey, but later when Kishore Kumar started singing the song in a funny style, Manna Dey became silent. He asked which raga is this. On this, Mehmood explained to him that this had to be done for the scene in the film, hence Kishore Da has sung the song in this manner. Manna Dey still did not agree and somehow sang his part but did not use the words which he did not like.

When wife showed the way, Manna Dey did Jugalbandi with Pandit Bhimsen.
Once Manna Dey got a chance to sing with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. On hearing his name, he became so nervous that he refused to sing with Pandit Bhimsen. Actually, the song which he had to sing with Pandit Bhimsen, he had to defeat Manna Dey. As soon as he came to know about this, he flatly refused to sing.

When he went home that night and told his wife that he had got a chance to sing with Pandit Bhimsen but he refused. His wife was surprised by this and asked how can you lose such a big opportunity. He said how can I sing with a master like Pandit Bhimsen. After this his wife said that you are also good in classical music and can sing with her. Shankar Jaikishan also explained a lot for this song, after which Manna Dey agreed to sing.

The next day when he reached the recording studio, he started trembling as soon as he saw Pandit Bhimsen. Eventually somehow the recording of the song was completed and Pandit Bhimsen praised it and said, ‘Hey brother, Harana has to be done only in the film, not in reality. You have become a competitor.

The pairing of Manna Dey and Rajesh Khanna was unmatched.
How is life, Paheli hi. Manna Da himself gave his voice to this song. This song from the film Anand was initially supposed to be played in the background of the film, but when superstar Rajesh Khanna heard this song, he was mesmerized as soon as he heard it. After this, Rajesh Khanna asked the producer that this song should be picturized on him and not in the background. The producer agreed to this and later this song was shot on him.

Here Manna Dey was also crazy about Rajesh Khanna’s acting. He used to say that when Rajesh Khanna lip syncs my songs, it seems as if he himself is singing. Anand film gave new heights in the career of Manna Dey as well as Rajesh Khanna.

When Manna Dey escaped from going to jail
This is the story of Lucknow, the city of Nawabs. A music festival was to be organized at Charbagh station of the city. In which celebrities like Manna Dey, Tuntun were going to participate. Tickets for this show were also sold in large numbers. On one hand, when the time came for the event to begin, on the other hand, the organizers were in a dilemma. When people came to know about this, they became very angry about this and lodged a complaint against Manna Dey. Also a demand was made to send him to jail. However, after some time the runaway workers were caught and Manna Dey got relief.

Said goodbye to music in the 90s
In his singing career, Manna Dey has sung unmatched songs in many languages. But in the 90s, he completely distanced himself from the music industry. He last lent his voice to the song ‘Hamari Mutthi Mein’ from the 1991 film Prahar.