Begopara village in West Bengal’s Nadia district stands out in the region. The houses, many of them with gardens, indicate that the residents are wealthy. This oasis in the Ranaghat area owes its affluence to remittances from the Middle East.
However, one woman was an exception. She had no one in the Gulf; her first husband died and she was deserted by her second husband and her four children. So, the woman, who is in her early fifties, lived alone in a shabby house. Then, her luck changed. Overnight, Ranu Mandal became an internet sensation.
Her rendition of Lata Mangeshkar’s Ek pyar ka nagma hai… took the internet by storm. Soon, Mandal left Begopara for Bollywood. Money was flowing in and she was booked to perform countrywide and also abroad. But, even her fairy-tale story was not immune to Covid-19. Half-a-dozen stage shows—in Kerala, Hyderabad, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and two in West Bengal—were cancelled. Mandal, now back in Begopara, is confined to her old house. Perhaps unwittingly, she had not used her newfound wealth to improve her living situation. She was off chasing bigger dreams.
The house was surrounded by bushes and the interior does not reflect what is expected of the quarters of a singer who had moved millions with her voice. Her only hope now, she says, is Jesus Christ, whose image hangs on her wall.
“Christ has given me whatever I have received in my life,” says Mandal. “What is happening today is also perhaps because [I] deviated from his path of truth. He will not deprive me in the future, as I am [back] on the right path.” Her wealth has eroded considerably. Fearing rash decisions by her, the local cultural club has taken over her finances.
“I do not have money to purchase anything,” says Mandal. “Whatever I need, I ask the club head Tapan [Das] and he brings it.” Das says: “The money is safe in our account. We give her everything she needs. The money is not being misused.” Das refused to disclose how much money she has, but said, the amount was “good”. “We will not waste the money and will not give it to the relatives who deserted her,” he says.
Mandal was a professional singer when she was young and used to do shows with her first husband, Babu. Their children, a son and a daughter, are now married. After Babu’s death, Mandal married his cousin. He abandoned her after a few years. She has two children with him, too; both are well-settled in Mumbai. Her second husband, whose name she did not want to share, is a cook in Mumbai.
None of her children were in touch with her. Her daughter from her first marriage, Elizabeth Sathi Roy, who stays in Birbhum, West Bengal, came to see her after recognising her in the video. Elizabeth alleges that the club has “destroyed” her mother’s wealth. “They have duped her and are not looking after her,” she says.
“Ranu di’s daughter knew her mother was having a difficult life before her song went viral,” says Das. “Why did she not look after her mother all these years? Her mother used to beg at the railway station. Does she not know that?” Mandal prefers not to talk about her daughter’s allegations against the club and Das’s tough questions. “Please do not ask me these,” she says. “I have no idea about it.”
The man who ‘discovered’ Mandal, Atindra Chakraborty, says she could be mentally unstable. Chakraborty, an electronics engineer from Ranaghat, heard her sing at the town’s railway station. “You would not believe how she looked,” he says. “Just watch my first video on the internet. She used to sit on the railway platform with a jute bag. People used to offer her food or money. In return, she sang some of Lata Mangeshkar’s all-time hits.”
One day Chakraborty shot a video on his phone and uploaded it on social media. “I never thought it would go viral,” he says. The video reached Sony TV, who invited her to their music reality show. Chakraborty and Das took Mandal to Mumbai. Music director Himesh Reshammiya and lyricist Javed Akhtar were impressed with her. Reshammiya gave her a chance to sing in his project, Happy Hardy and Heer. “The song, Teri meri kahani, was shared 200 million times on social media,” says Chakraborty.
He says that Reshammiya also arranged foreign tours. As Chakraborty did not have a passport, Das, who had been a cook in the gulf, accompanied Mandal to Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. Her voice caught the attention of the Indian community abroad and her rags-to-riches story was celebrated in the media.
Mandal rented a flat in Mumbai; there was speculation that it was a gift from super star Salman Khan, who had met her at another reality show. But, this is not true. The sudden celebrity status was too much for Mandal to handle, says Chakraborty. He says she was rude to fans who tried to take selfies with her. “I tried to make her understand that she would have to accept it and take it in her stride as fans are everything in the lives of celebrities,” he says. “But, she refused to learn.” Chakraborty says she misbehaved with him, too, and though he understood her “mental condition”, it was too much to accept at times.
“I think she was not at all mentally prepared for such a big leap in life,” he says. Her behaviour, like her songs, went viral on social media and was widely reported. Mandal’s image took a hit. Once she became unpopular, opportunities in Bollywood dried up. Chakraborty says that he suspects she may have misbehaved with Reshammiya and others in Bollywood, too. “Perhaps that is why they turned their backs on her,” he says.
Chakraborty said he is also staying away from her. “I am not famous, but I was worried that her behaviour would impact me and people would see me differently,” he says. “I go to meet her at her home, albeit rarely, but I do not take part in crucial decisions in her life.”
Das said it would be unkind to call her mentally challenged. “She was neglected for years,” he says. “It is natural for her to react that way. We must understand that she could never be normal again. Her soul as a singer died long back and she does not have any aspirations. But what was not lost is her talent.”
Perhaps surprisingly, no attempt was made to upload a fresh video of her singing during all the time she was confined to home. Das and Mandal felt that uploading more videos online would get them nowhere.
Many residents of Begopara continue to visit Mandal. She often gets irritated when conversations with them remind her about her brief stint in tinsel town. “She asked me to visit her with things like biscuits and cake,” says Raju Banerjee, a businessman in Ranaghat. She would not sing for visitors unless they make her happy, he adds with a smile.
Das says that once normalcy resumes Mandal will make a comeback. “And this time, things will be different,” he says. What does Mandal have to say about it? She smiles and says: “How can I know what will happen? Am I God? Only Lord Jesus knows what will happen in the future.”