Salil Chowdhury was unsure as to whom he should direct to give voice for the song, Guzar Jaye Din, from Annadata in 1972. He refused to compromise and later decided that Kishore Kumar was the only singer who could deliver 90 per cent of perfection to the song. A delighted Kumar sat at Chowdhury’s feet, beside him and also stood while rehearsing the song 18 times. The erratic genius, Kumar, rendered it melodiously in just two takes.
So fond was Kumar of Guzar Jaye Din that he promised to himself never to sing it in public functions just as he did not sing Dene Wala Jab Bhi tuned by S.D. Burman for him in Funtoosh, 1956. The song gave the crooner a new dimension and proved Chowdhury’s master touch in composing and arranging songs.
Chowdhury rose to fame in Bengal with his progressive songs of the people penned by legendary Sukanta Bhattacharya and sang by Hemanta Mukherjee. After the illustrious period of K.C. Dey, Pankaj Mullick and S.D. Burman, Chowdhury introduced a new trend in Bengali songs which were all written by him. His Chowdhury’s sense of morality with a Leftist trend yet human made his lyrics rich.
The best Bengali numbers sang by Lata Mangeshkar were penned and tuned by the maestro. He also experimented well with Sandhya Mukherjee, wife Sabita Chowdhury and Madhuri Chattopadhyay. Besides Hemanta Mukherjee, who was christened the voice of Chowdhury, several others, including Dwijen Mukherjee, Pintu Bhattacharya and Manna Dey, rendered super hit numbers for the grand composer.
Chowdhury was keen to utilise the inimitable nasal yet bold singing of S.D. Burman for the Bengali number, Nayano Pakhi. However, S.D. Burman suggested a female voice would do more justice to the number. On his request, Chowdhury opted for Mangeshkar to sing and created musical history.
Along with Bimal Ray and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Chowdhury shifted to Mumbai in the early '50s. The story of Do Bigha Zamin was by him and he did full justice to the music of this classic born from the essence of the soil of Bengal’s working class. Manna Dey’s immortal number from the film, Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke, was inspired by the theme music of the famous Red Revolution.
Chowdhury scored for many other Bimal Ray films and established a solid foothold in Hindi with Madhumati, Parakh and Maya. Raj Kapoor understood Salil Chowdhury’s genius and opted for him to score the music for his all time memorable Jaagte Raho. Raj Kapoor’s request to Chowdhury was to use popatiya music for the Punjabi folk number, Wahu Wahu, which he did well with Manna Dey.
However, the Bhairavi raga based Jago Mohan Pyare by Mangeshkar from Jaagte Raho was the musical soul of the film and she was in tears after recording the number. Chowdhury, like Anil Biswas, was initially reluctant to record songs with Mohd. Rafi as he felt the latter's voice was rough. His mistake was shattered by noticing how brilliantly S.D. Burman used Rafi. So coming out of his inhibition, he scored the excellent Toote Hue Khwabo Ne, Koi Sone Ke Dilwala and Zindagi Hai Kya with Rafi.
Manna Dey was astonished as to how Chowdhury made him play with his voice in low key and yet deliver a different dimension to the Kabuliwala bumper hit number, Aye Mere Pyare Watan. Similarly, Mukesh himself confessed that no other singer could extract from him a pathos which was so objective yet melodious in the number Nain Hamare in Annadata.
From the late '60s, Chowdhury understood that he was not fit for the gross commercial Mumbai music world. He obliged composer Hemanta Mukhopadhyay by arranging the music for Kumar’s big hit Who Sham from Khamoshi. Chowdhury’s use of sitar counters in the number O Sajna was criticised by Pandit Ravi Shankar. However, Chowdhury stood his ground, explaining the inevitable use of the sitar and was supported by S.D. Burman and Madan Mohan.
In the '70s, Chowdhury made a glorious comeback to Hindi films with Anand, Mere Apne, Annadata and Choti Si Baat. In the early '70s, S.D. Burman wrote a personal letter to Chowdhury to rectify the musical style of son R.D. Burman. The father felt his son was going haywire by imitating western beats. Chowdhury intelligently intervened and reminded R.D. Burman to maintain his own musical identity and also obey his father.
By the '80s, Chowdhury was disillusioned greatly due to the degradation in modern and film music. A Leftist card holder, he also noticed a degeneration of values in Bengal's ruling Left Front. So by the early '90s, he again shifted to Mumbai. Alas, his Midas touch was no more and even the background score of the serial Kurukshetra by him was a poor copy of his earlier Bengali super hit Pathe Ebar Namo Saathi.
Chowdhury was not a versatile master like Shankar Jaikishan. He did not experiment with as many singers as S.D. Burman did uniquely. Chowdhury’s assets were his understanding of Indian folk music, western philharmonic orchestras and soft heart touching musical counters, which he used in his simple melodies which still remain untouched. On his centenary, Chowdhury will be remembered as a musical rebel with a cause.
