Birthday gift for Manna Dey
Satarupa Sanyal's documentary on Manna Dey was released on the singer's 89th birthday on May 2 at Nandan, a day after his actual birthday on May 1. His wife Sulochana Dey was present at the function.
The 72-minute film, Jiboner Jalshaghore, is based on Dey's autobiography of the same name. Sanyal shot the film over four months interviewing Dey as he shuttled between Kolkata and Bangalore and Mumbai.
"Sometimes, I was overawed thinking how a man could sing for so many years. But it has happened in my life itself. In 1943, I recorded my first song for Tamanna in Mumbai with a pretty little girl called Suraiya," reminisced Dey.
He added that his repertoire of music includes songs sung in Gujarati, Marathi and even Bhojpuri. The film has been funded by Manna Dey Sangeet Academy that has taken up the responsibility of archiving his recordings.
The same day also saw Saregama releasing a four-CD album of 74 Bengali songs of Manna Dey. The CDs are divided into categories like Rabindra Sangeet, film songs, modern songs, and other Bengali music genres such as Atulprasad, Rajanikanta and Nazrulgeeti to demonstrate the versatility of this great singer. The songs range from Koto dure niye jaabo (1953) to Coffee Houser shei adda-ta aaj aaj aar nei (1984) and so on available off the shelf at a pocket pinch of Rs. 500.
