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Modest and respectful Manna-da passes away, leaving a void

With the passing away of Manna De in Bangalore, Bollywood has lost the last of the most popular quartet of playback singers who ruled the film industry from early 1950s to the late 1970s.

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“He had an amazing breath control. There are very few who can match the length for which he’d hold on to a note. Yet that breath has been snatched away, leaving us to mourn the passing away of one of the most-loved voices of that golden era,” lamented septuagenarian composer Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma, of the legendary composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal fame, with whom Manna-da had sung for nearly 50 films.

“Despite his immense popularity and standing, he never had any pride about himself. In fact, he would often go out of his way to make everyone from co-singers to musicians comfortable and treat everyone with a lot of respect,” remembered Pyarelal about Prabodh Chandra De, better known by the fond moniker Manna-da.

The 94-year-old legend died of a heart attack at Bangalore’s Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital early on Thursday. Manna-da had been admitted to the hospital five months ago due to severe respiratory complications. Daughter Shuroma Deb  and son-in-law Jnanarajan Deb  were with him in his last moments. Doctors said the singer breathed his last around 3.50 am after battling for his life since Wednesday afternoon when his condition turned critical.

Manna-da had moved in with his elder daughter in Bangalore after his wife Sulochana succumbed to cancer last January. His younger daughter Sumita lives in Los Angeles, the US.

The legend’s body has been kept at Bangalore’s Ravindra Kala Kshetra for his fans to offer their last respect to the man who along with Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar formed the quartet of male playback singers who dominated the Hindi music industry from the early 50s to the late 70s.

His failing health had seen West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee visit Manna-da at his Kalyani Nagar residence in April this year when she conferred upon him the prestigious Vishesh Maha-Sangeet Sammaan.

Bharat Ratna nightingale Lata Mangeshkar said, “It’s painful to even think that he is no more. What makes me sadder is that despite his formidable talent and repertoire, he never got enough recognition.” She recounted memories with the legend: “Singing for Anil Biswas was always challenging. Though they sounded simple, his compositions were quite tough. His exacting standards made most of us anxious as we stood in front of the mike. I remember being all worked up for a four-raga-malika where the raga changed every stanza. This duet with Manna-da was my first song with him. He just made me feel so easy.”

This 1947 recording led to an association which saw the duo sing in the Bengali version of V Shantaram’s Marathi film Amar Bhopali. “Though we were mostly offered songs with a classical base, I thoroughly enjoyed the folksy fun songs like Bichua by Salilda (Salil Chowdhary) for Madhumati and Chunri sambhal gori by Pancham (RD Burman) for Baharon Ke Sapne. Even today the freshness of his versatile voice makes these songs stand out. It was my pleasure to give him an award named after my father. But he clearly deserved more... a lot more than what he got,” said the songstress, her voice trailing.

Asha Bhosale, who has sung nearly 160 songs with Manna-da, too remembered how he would tell her never to lose heart. “You see one day you will rise to become the greatest singer, mark my words’, he would tell me. I have lost an elder brother and guide in his passing away,” she said.

Mewati maestro Pandit Jasraj too was moved to tears. “This is the extinguishing of one of the brightest lights in the world of film music,” he told dna and added, “See how effortlessly he took such sharp and clear taans. Despite most of his songs not being picturised on the main hero, each of them is unforgettable. I’ve met him at many functions and he has always been so modest and respectful.”

But modesty was always the hallmark of this Kolkata-born singer, who began regaling listeners from his school days. By college he was already well-known. His training under his music director-composer uncle Krishna Chandra De brought him to Bollywood as his assistant in 1942.

After a year of being music director he debuted as a singer with Tamanna (1943), even while continuing to train in Hindustani classical music under stalwarts like Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.

The illustrious career

Manna-da sang in many Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Kannada and Bhojpuri.

Manna-da would often credit Shankar-Jaikishen for his achievement. “I’m indebted to Shanker-ji, without whose patronage, I’d certainly not have attained the success I enjoyed,” he would unfailingly say in his live concerts.

As he began to sing less frequently for films because he found “cinema was losing its soul”, these concerts became regular. He was honoured with the Padmashri in 1971 and, 34 years later, with the Padma Bhushan. After the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007, he was given the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

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