When I did a post on Kamal Barot it was natural that I should do one on Subir Sen as well. One connection between the two was that among the most famous Kamal Barot songs is a duet with Subir Sen Dil le ke jate ho kahan. Another similarity would be that he was also not among the top singers. But there was a vital difference between the two. While Kamal Barot had a distinct voice which you could recognise miles away, Subir Sen’s was indistinguishable from Hemant Kumar. Not much biographical detail is available about him except that he was also like Hemant Kumar a popular and prolific singer in Bengali. Many of his Hindi film songs are quite well known, but unless you know that he was the singer, you might attribute them to Hemant Kumar.
Not that he was making any conscious effort to copy Hemant Kumar like some top singers who, at least at the beginning of their careers, consciously imitated the style of whoever was their idol at the time. Subir Sen was what I would call an involuntary Hemant Kumar clone. You could tell apart CH Atma from KL Saigal, Suman Kalyanpur from Lata Mangeshkar, but it was almost impossible to distinguish Subir Sen from Hemant Kumar. So one reason for doing this post was also to remember his best songs, which are obviously very melodious, so that we give the credit to him in case we were mistakenly attributing them to Hemant Kumar. And here are my favourite songs.
1. Aa ja re nain dware by Subir Sen from Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1961), music Shankar Jaikishan
This song has been a most amazing discovery I made very recently, and I instantly fell in love with it. From this film I was aware of Talat Mahmood – Lata Mangeshkar duet Tum to dil ke taar chhed kar. But if you stumble upon an undiscovered gem it has a special fascination. And that perhaps explains why I put it at the top of my list. This is a background devotional song when you see a group of pilgrims on a boat swaying to its rhythm, then you come across a huge religious congregation at the bank of a river – has to be either Kumbh or a holy Ganga Darshan day such as Kartik Purnima. Even if you are not particularly religious you would appreciate the way the song is able to capture the faith of millions of Indians towards India’s holy places and rivers. It seems this song has multiple versions – apart from the Subir Sen version, there are also a solo by Asha Bhosle and a duet by Asha Bhosle and Subir Sen. Seeing so many riches I can not help wondering why this song remained hidden for so long.
2. Gori tere natkhat naina waar kare chhup jaye by Subir Sen and Geeta Dutt in Hum Bhi Insaan Hain (1959), music Hemant Kumar
It was typical of those times for singer composers to promote budding singers without any sense of jealousy or potential threat of competition to themselves. The most celebrated case of such generosity was of the actor-singer-composer Pankaj Mallik who played a big role in promoting KL Saigal.
3. Dil le ke jate ho kahan by Subir Sen and Kamal Barot in O Tera Kya Kahna (1959) by Kalyanji Virji Shah
This is one of the earliest films of Kalyanji Virji Shah when he started solo till he joined soon after with his brother to form the famed duo Kalyanji Anandji. He shows his great flair for melody notwithstanding the fact that it was a B-grade movie with Mehmood and Chitra as the lead actors.
4. Dil mera ek aas ka panchhi by Subir Sen in Aas Ka Panchhi (1961), music Shankar Jaikishan.
This is perhaps the best known song of Subir Sen. Rajendra Kumar releases a bird free and, as it soars in the sky, he wistfully looks at it. He then leads his group of NCC cadets on cycles singing this song of everyone’s desire to soar in the sky like a bird. This song transports you back to your NCC days.
5. Dheere chalao zara by Subir sen and Lata Mangeshkar in Aas Ka Panchhi (1961)
This is the second song from Aas Ka Panchhi figuring in my list. This is one of the joyous love duets in which the hero Rajendra Kumar is giving Vaijayantimala a ride in his car, perhaps driving a bit too fast out of bravado, prompting her to plead with him to drive slowly. The remarkable thing about this song was that I always thought the male singer to be Mukesh. Even after listening very carefully I find very strong resemblance to Mukesh style in some parts. Incidentally Mukesh-Lata had a duet Tum roothi raho main manata rahuun in adaaon par aur pyar aata hai in this film.
6. Main rangeela pyar ka raahi by Subir Sen and Lata Mangeshkar in Chhoti Bahan, (1959 ) music Shankar Jaikishan.
You again have a joyous duet between lovers, now in a horse carriage. The actors may not be mainstream stars. So what. Even with Mahmood and Shobha Khote as stars you could have great songs.
7. Humein un rahon par chalna hai by Subir Sen in Masoom (1960), music Robin Banerji.
This must have been the inspiration for Insaf ki dagar par bachcho dikhao chal kar composed by Naushad, sung by Hemant Kumar in Ganga Jamuna (1961)
8. Manzil wohi hai pyar ke rahi badal gaye from Kathputli (1957), music Shankar Jaikishan
SJ seemed to have a special liking for Subir Sen – they account for his most well known songs. In this song Balraj Sahni sings this melodious song on the piano, which makes Vaijayantimala break into a dance, but from the plaintive wording of the song and the actors’ glances and emotions it is difficult to figure out the state of their relationship – was there some setback, but they were still in love?
9. Gar tum bura na maano main tumse pyar kar loon by Subir Sen and Asha Bhosle in Mahlon Ke Khwab (1960), music S Mohinder
This picture was produced by Madhubala who also played the lead role against Pradeep Kumar.
10 Dekho na jao ae jane man from Boyfriend (1961), music Shankar Jaikishan
You had a Subir Sen song in Mukesh style in Aas Ka Panchhi . Now SJ make him sing in Mohammad Rafi style on Shammi Kapur, this is the typical Shammi Kapur naughty teasing style which SJ and OP Nayyar patented with songs by Rafi. Now while I am quite clear he did not imitate Hemant Kumar – he was born with a voice like him, I can not help feeling that there was conscious effort in imitating Mukesh and Rafi.
11. Pyar mein milna sanam hota hai taqdeer se by Subir Sen and Lata Mangeshkar from Ardhangini (1959), music Vasant Desai
Though Raj Kumar and Meena Kumari came together in several films, it is difficult to see Raj Kumar as a typical romantic lover. So you have this couple singing a somewhat unusual romantic duet on the screen, which must be one of their earliest pairings. Needless to say it is Subir Sen’s likeness to Hemant Kumar that makes this duet especially appealing.
This is a very good song to conclude this post with, but in case you want to end with fast paced numbers you could hear Subir Sen –Geeta Dutt duet Kya kaha zara phir kaho composed by Kalyanji Anandji, lyric by Qamar Zalalabadi in the B-grade movie Gangu (1962) starring Chandrashekhar and Naaz in lead roles; and another नोंक झोंक song Sun le dastaan yun na sata by Subir Sen from film Passport (1961) music by Kalyanji Anandji. Laxmikant Pyarelal who were assistants to KA must have learnt their melody and lilting style from them. The fast paced song is picturised on the wonder non-actor Pradeep Kumar and the ever alluring Madhubala rebuffing his advances as she did with many other heroes in several movies.
Even with this recapitulation the key questions remains – if you hear these songs a year hence would you be able to tell confidently that they are Subir Sen’s and not Hemant Kumar’s?
{ 123 comments… read them below or add one }
Lovely post! And you’re so right about Subir Sen sounding a lot like Hemant – even though Hemant was the first singer I learnt to identify when I was a child, I always find it very difficult, even now, to tell whether a song has been sung by Hemant or by Subir Sen. (Right now, I’m listening to Humein un raahon par chalna hai, which I thought, till now, was a Hemant song). Thanks for introducing me to so many Subir Sen songs – the only ones I’ve known till now had been the ones from Aas ka Panchhi and Kathputli, and Main rangeela pyaar ka raahi.
(By the way, to answer your question: in the song from Kathputli, there is actually no romantic relationship between the two characters – he is a theatre manager and director, she is an actress. The very romantic overtones of the song had puzzled me too until I saw the film).
@dutedoff
Thanks for your compliments, and also for enlightening me about the Kathputli situation. They do manage to create ambiguity about their relationship.
The likeness with Hemant Kumar is so strong that many of Subir Sen’s songs I erroneously attributed to him. And as I have rhetorically asked at the end, if I hear these songs a year hence, I am not sure I would be able to correctly identify them.
nice article!enjoyed!!but,then who sang ‘AE DIL KAHAN TERI MANZIL ‘ ,a salil chowdhuri composition, for devanand in MAYA.hemanta kumar?subir sen?or……check on you tube for urself.
@arvind
Thanks. Grateful for your teaser. I had heard of Dwijen Mukherji’s resemblance to Hemant Kumar, but for the first time became aware of it, even though I had heard the song, mentally attributing it to Hemant Kumar. Now in a competition of who was more like Hemant Kumar, Dwijen Mukherji should win over Subir Sen.
Dwijen Mukherji sings Ae dil kahan teri manzil
Another gain from your teaser was that I dscovered it had a Lata Mangeshkar version too, so this is another addition to my Twin songs. It further consolidates my premise that in twin songs the male version is far superior to the female version.
Lata Mangeshkar sings Ae dil kahan teri manzil
there is yet another twin song.’AE MALIK TERE BANDE HAM’ in’ 2 aankhen 12 haath’.
@arvind
The male version is a chorus in which there is no identifiable dominant voice. I doubt if it could be called a pure twin song. But yes the point remains, there are large number of such songs and you keep on discovering them. I have recently updated my Twin songs to include several more through comments or otherwise. I guess I have to stop doing that anymore.
Thank you AK for locating so many gems of my favourite singer. Subir Sen and Jagjit Kaur are two artists who have been heard very rarely, but all their songs are true gems.
Subir had a guest appearance in the movie Anubhav starring Sanjiv Kumar and Tanuja. He appeared as himself in a party scene to sing Tagore’s famous bengali song ‘She din dujone’. This song from Rabindra Sangeet was earlier adapted by SD Burman for Suraiyya’s ‘Nain diwane’ in the 1950 film Afsar. I have failed to find an audio or video of Subir’s version on the net.
@Subodh Agrawal
Thanks Subodh for this wonderful information – you have now given me a task to locate She din dujone.
You ARE a genius! Done a great service to music lovers. You may like to include Aroti Mukhopadhya as one of your researches. I feel she was better than Lata, may be not in technicalities but sweetness of voice. Bollywood somehow rejected her, or was it politics?
@pkbasu
You are very lavish in your praise. Thanks. As you could see my blog is a journey more स्वांतः सुखाय. If some friends and readers join me on the way to share my joy it is an added bonus.
Aarti Mukheji has sung very few songs in Hindi, it would be difficult to find enough songs for a blog exclusively on her. I know she is big in Bengalee. There are a number of such singers from regional languages who came fleetingly in Hindi. From South there was PV Srinivas in early 1960s. On the other hand there are others who became big such as Yesudas, SP Balasubramaniam.
Whether politics stopped Aarti’s, or other female singers’ of the generation, advance is a big minefield I would like to avoid. There is a lot of anecdotal stuff about the two faces of Lata Mangeshkar – public image of divine, private of a ruthless person. I see her as a divine singer.
Just located this one on Youtube while looking for something else.
Koi mera ho gaya by Subir Sen from Midnight
AK ji,
Some more info about SUBIR SEN.
1. It was Guru dutt who called him to Bombay for singing and Salil da helped him.
2. he had made a guest appearance in the film ANUBHAV,as a Rabindra sangeet singer.
3. He has done more that 4oo songs in Bengali and Hindi together.
4. He completed 75 years of age in 2009 and there was a big function in Eden Garden,Kolkata.He is leading a peaceful contented life in Kolkata these days.
5. He had composed music for a film ‘MIDNIGHT’,produced and released in England in 1970,in which Rafi,Asha,Geeta and Subir sen himself sang songs.
6. Dwijen Mukherjee,Hemant kumar and Subir sen were called TRIDEV in Bengal-3 bodies,one voice.
-AD
@Arunkumar Deshmukh
Thanks a lot for this wonderful information. Subodh Agrawal had mentioned in his comment about his guest appearance in Anubhav. I have not been able to locate its video.
@AK,
Here is the video of Subir Sen in Anubhav:
She din dujone
Ajay,
This is fabulous. Many SoY readers would be thrilled to see this. Thanks.
Ironically, Subhir Sen couldn’t make much headway in bolywood owing to his resemblance with all time great Hemant’s voice.Yet much excited to know thru this mode about singer failed to get his due and remained in oblivion for most of time.
Subir’s voice does sound like that of Hemant Kumar, but Hemant’s voice had a deeper tone giving it more depth and more richness. These two things were the distinguishing features.
I happened to watch the Basu Bhattacharya classic, Anubhav, recently and was struck by the wondrous Tagore song, Se Din Doojone, sung, as I discovered only today, by Subir Sen, which led me to this nice blog. I can’t seem to find the song anywhere on the net, and would be happy for anyone to give me a link.
Mr Subramanian,
You are lucky. Comment #14 gives the video link of the song with Subir Sen himself singing in the movie.
Thanks so much, and more power to you.
I have very recently chanced upon this wonderful site and now cannot pass a single day without accessing one of the many wonderful articles / comments. While listening to song No. 3 ” Dil leke jaateho kana” from the film “O tera kya kehna” I get the feeling that Laxmikant Pyarelal may have assisted the Late Kalyanji Shah in composing this song, and then used the basic notes to come out with a similar sounding ” Main Shayar to Nahin” in “Bobby”. Am sure some of our friends could throw some light.
Harishchandra Salian,
Welcome to the SoY family. LP were indeed assistants of Kalyanji Virji Shah in O Tera Kya Kahna. Therefore, your hunch might be correct.
AKji,
Thank you for welcoming me to the SoY family. While I admit, that I do not possess much knowledge as compared to the other contributors, I share their passion about old film songs and reading about those who created these gems.
Can u let me know if there is any site which provides information about MDs and the films where they played the role of Assistants or Arrangers in earlier films? . Your clarification at 22 has inspired me to seek out those songs composed by MDs which were “based on” / “similar to”/”inspired by” their own earlier compositions as Assistants /Arrangers.
Am sure some of our other members in this SoY family may already done some research on this and already have a such a list. Hope they could share it.
Festival greetings to all the SoYites.
H.M.Salian
Harishchandra Salian,
We all at the SoY are essentially amateur music lovers. So please feel free to contribute whatever comes to your mind. That is how we are learning from each other.
What you are looking for is second-order information, or analysis. I do not think any site would have information quite exactly like that. But http://myswar.com have very good basic information. Hindi Film Geet Kosh is, of course, the mother of all the basic information. My own experience is that most of us are getting wonderful information by browsing the internet, partly planned, but mostly serendipitously. Some of the good sites I have mentioned in ‘LINKS’ on the right side of the blog.
These are similar
1 ketki gulab juhi pankaj ban (basant bahar)
kahe chhedte ho mujhe (devdas) latest
2 dil jalta hai to nalne de (pehli nazar)
Raha gardisho me hardam (chaudvi ka Chand)
Compare these also
Badan pe sitare lapete huve
Tum jo mil gaye ho (hanste jakhm)
JP,
Among the songs you have mentioned, the closest similarity I found was between Dil jalta hai to jalne de and Raha gardishon main hardam, obviously they are based on the same Raga Darbari.
AK ji,
While reading about Dwijen Mukerji in Arvind’s comments, I recollected his 2 other songs for Salil Chowdhury :
1.duniya na dekhe, zamana naa jaane – with Lata – Honeymoon (1960)
2.naam mera Nimmo, mukkam Ludhiyana – with Lata & Manna Dey- Sapan Suhane (1961)
Wonderful singer so close to Hemant Kumar.
AK ji,
I feel one more Subir Sen song, a duet with Lata, needs a mention here:
– Gagan ke chanda na poochh humse – Apne Huye Paraaye / Shankar Jaikishan / 1964.
This could be his swan song in Hindi films as we did not hear him after 1964.
Also one more Dwijen Mukerji song :
– Nazar se mil gayi nazar aur pal mein dil tera hua
/with Sabita Bannerji / Salil Chowdhury / Sapan Suhane / 1961
AK Ji, Anil Ji,
Speaking of Dwijen Mukherjee,
One very melodic duet of him and Lata comes to my mind.
Phir Ek baar kaho, usi ada se kaho from Maya, music by Salil Chaudhary.
AK Ji,
I have a hunch that you are partial to Hemant Kumar.
If you have not heard this song before, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Anil Ji,
I deliberately did not ask you for listening to the above mentioned song because I have a feeling that you belong to my type of contributors, (in medical term, of ‘AB’ blood group, a universal donor).
I hope you will appreciate my observation.
Arvind ji,
You are right, Sir !
I am quite familiar with ‘ phir ek baar kaho ‘and in my opinion it is a nice song.
Anil Kane, Sharmaji,
Yes, I have a huge weakness for Hemant Kumar. Therefore, anything by Subir Sen or Dwijen Mukherjee would be very charming. All the five songs are very nice. But the most melodious to me was Duniya na dekhe zamana na jaane. It has the typical orchestration of Salil Chaudhary. Naam mera Nimmo, though somewhat atypical of Salil Chaudhary, is very infectious with Helen’s fast-paced dance, accompanied by Bhagwan and Chandrashekhar.
So between Subir Sen and Dwijen Mukherjee, can we say who is a closer clone of Hemant Kumar (no disrespect meant)? Since they were big names in Bengali songs, I am curious to now how the listeners distinguished them.
Subir Sen’s swan song. Shall we give this credit to Anubhav (1971), (comment #14), in which he sang She din dujone live?
AK ji,
I am coming back to this post after a gap as I found some other topics more fascinating.
But the rarity of Subir Sen songs was always there in my mind.
Here are two duets, sung by Subir Sen with Suman Kalyanpur ;
Baharien luta ke nazare dikha ke from ‘Anarbala’, music by Bulo C Rani,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgIqwx7NbEw
and
Chand tale jhoom jhoom, thirak rahi hain ghoonghar waliyan from ‘Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai’, music by Dattaram.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgIqwx7NbEw
The class of Bulo C Rani and melody of Dattaram do speak of themselves in these songs.
One more singer comes to my mind, when we speak about singers whose’ voices were close to Hemant Kumar.
Surendra Kohli, who played a second fiddle to Asha Bhonsle in the song from Gul e Bakavli, music by Hansraj Behl sounds singing in the Hemant mode to me.
Ye keh do tumhe hum se kya chahiye,
Hame dard e dil ki dawa chahiye.
Major part of the song has been sung by Asha, it seems that the MD was not fully confident of Surendra Kohli’s capability.
Another excellen song which is nearly forgotten.
Here is the clpping of the song from Gul e Bakavli, sung by Asha and Surendra Kohli, music Hansraj Behl.
Ye ke do tumse hum se kya chahiye,
Hame dard e dil Ki dawa chahiye
Sharmaji,
This is another one which I ‘knew’ for over three decades, and today I have come to know that I was wrong. I always thought the male voice was Mahendra Kapoor. It may be because of that memory that I still find it closer to him than Hemant Kumar. But thanks for sharing one of my early favourites.
You seem to be very right AK Ji. Surendra Kohli’s voice sounds like a mix of both.
Hemant Mukherjee was multitalented, his voice had no comparison, he was a legend. He was a music director par excellence and singer par excellence. His deep velvety sonorous honey dripping sweet voice was incomparable. If you are a big fan of Hemant Mukherjee you can definitely make out whether it was Hemanto da, Dwijen Mukherjee or Subir Sen. Hemanto da was born in 1920, Dwijen was born in 1927 and Subir in 1934. Hemanto da had made a mark for himslef long before the other two came into the scene. Subirs voice often sounds somewhat similar but his voice was neither so melodious or neither so deep. Dwijens voice was definitely deep and far more closer to Hemanto da than Subir’s was but then Hemanto da was the original, and the best and the most talented of them all. You have done a wonderful job in pointing out Subir Sen’s voice to so many people, otherwise they attributed it to Hemanto da and some even wondered in some songs why is this voice not sounding so rich and deep, Subir Sen was good, but definitely not great. Dwijen was far better than Subir, but can never be said to be at par with Hemanto da. Though I feel Dwijen should have got more songs in hindi. In Bengali industry too Hemanto da dominated and it was him and Manna Dey sahab who sang most of the songs for Uttam Kumar and Soumitra or for that matter for any other Hero. Dwijen and Subir were never preferred over Hemanto. Hemanto da also made Subir sing for him under his music direction, such was the legend of the man. He was a gentleman and so secure about himself and was always willing to help youngsters and new entrants.
I wish to add, Subir Sen’ voice in low range songs was far better than in high range songs and it is there that his voice sounded more familiar to Hemanto da.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f68GRUvyw2c.If u wish to hear Dwijen, go to this link, u will see his voice is very very similar to Hemanto da. While Dwijen did not get much chance in Bengali films bit since he was a very good singer with a good range he sang path breaking songs “shyamal boroni ogo kanya” and “klaanti naame go” for Salil. This album helped Dwijen tremendously. Its phenomenal success followed with other very successful Salil compositions such as “akdin phire jaabo chole”, “pallabini go sancharini” etc. One of his rare and beautiful records must be Salil’s brilliant composition of Michael Madhusudan Datta’s two poems – “rekhomaa daasere mone” and “aashaar chhalane bhooli”. Salil later invited him to Bombay to sing in a few Hindi films notably Madhumati, Maya, Honeymoon, Jawahar,and Sapan Suhaane.
Srimaanto Sen,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your vary informative detailed comments. While Subir Sen did get a decent chance in Hindii films, it is sad that Dwijen Mukherjee was almost completely ignored. Non-Bengalis were hardly familiar with his name. You have given us very good material to explore him further.
Yes, ur words are very true, it is sad indeed, his voice was so good, even in high range and low range it was like Hemanto da, there was only a very slight difference in the tone and in some pronunciations. We could all the more make out because Hemanto da’s songs r so so famous in Bengali, so we knew this was sung by Hemanto da and this was not, this was our advantage too. Dwijen babu is still alive and was felicitated by Mamata Bannnerjee when she became CM. He became a very famous Rabindra sangeet exponent and has sung many many rabidrasangeets.
Resemblance with Hemant Kumar’s voice is not the only reason for Subir Sen not getting enough opportunity to sing in Hindi films.Actually he was under contractual obligation with Shankar Jaikishan,who brought him to Bombay for singing in Hindi films. That is why most of his Hindi songs are SJ compositions. Other MD’s had to take permission from his mentors before signing him for recording a song, which generally MDs wanted to avoid. Once in a conversation with one of my friends Subir Sen actually blamed SJ for not keeping promises & also for not allowing him to approach other MDs directly.
There is another side of this story also. Shankar once in a print media interview said that Subir Sen was not very serious about his own career.He was easygoing & not a hardworking person.He avoided “Riyaz” & reluctant to work upon for improving his faulty Hindi diction. That is the reason for him not making much headway in the world of music.
Arati Mukherjee came to Bombay in late 50’s after winning a talent hunt contest but cold not make much headway & left for Calcutta after a year or two. She came back again to Bombayafter years & shot to fame with Geet Gata Chal.Everything was going fine for her then.Trouble actually started after she was called by RD to sing for Masoom. When she was rehersing, series of phonecalls were coming either to RD himself or to Sapan Chakravarty, which was disturbing to them both. Later she learnt that those phonecalls were in fact being made by a very established singer, who was showing her displeasure over her getting an opportunity to sing for RD. This was disclosed by Arati Mukherjee herself in an interview in an very old issue of Ananda Bazar Patrika,a very renowned Bengali daily.
Finally,pkbasuji, I must say that Arati Mukherji is a great singer but in any case she is not Lata Mangeshkar. Lataji will allways remain Lataji.
Regards,
Abhijit.
Abhijit,
Thanks a lot for this detailed information. One thing that surprises me is that Lata Mangehskar was so superior to competition, she did not need to resort to such tactics. In fact, this is cited in her defence suggesting that these stories may be overstated.
A few of years back I had the opportunity of meeting Subir Sen, he did mention about his contract with SJ. But he was also very scathing about the Bengali MDs, especially S D Burman.
Aarati Mukherjee is indeed a great and versatile singer. I would rather say she is the equivalent of Asha Bhosle in Bengali films. I will have the opportunity to meet heron 3rd January 2015. Let me see if can talk to her on her stint in Bombay.
I would love to hear from someone who would put up Dwijjen Mukherjee side of the story, as to why he could not make a mark for himself in films as a play back. Though he appeared on the scene much later than Hemanto da, and he was more or less considered to be a clone, as his voice sounded so similar, and as Hemanta da was after all a very well known and respected singer and music director in Bengal, infact the topmost singer and Uttam and Soumitra and all music directors preferred him, but what was the case in Mumbai. Yes Hemanto da was a very big name in Mumbai too, but Mumbai Industry was bigger than Bengal Industry, so I was just wondering if we could have Dwijjen’s side of the story too,as to why he could not make a mark for himself in Mumbai.
Srimaanto Sen,
Probably you are looking for someone who was an insider to Dwijen Mukherjee. Let me say something as a lay listener. He was 7 years younger to Hemant Kumar; that is also about the difference in his debut in Hindi films. But by that time Hemant Kumar had reached the pinnacle of his singing in Hindi films. There was hardly a room for another Hemant Kumar.
AK, yes, true, I agree, realise and know that. However the inquisitive side of me yearns for more information, if possible.
AKji,#44,
She named the lady. She was not Lataji. I cannot name her as this interview was published in an old issue of the daily and cannot be cited for that reason. I agree with you that sometimes for gaining publicity big names are dragged in. If I can find out the said newspaper I will definite let you know.
Regards,
Abhijit.
My personal observation tallies with AKji’s observation. Dwijen mukherjee’s voice is too close to Hemant Kumar’s voice. That may be the reason for his not making any mark in Bombay. My personal opinion is DM has slight edge over Hemant Kumar so far fluidity of voice is concerned. I Would suggest all respected bloggers to listen to the songs suggested by Srimanto Senji specially ” Rekho Ma Dasere mone” & ” Aashar Chalane Bhooli”. I hope that, that would automatically prove my point.
I believe that N.Venkatramanji has done the right guess work. There were few handful of singers who could command a MD of RD’s stature.
Regards,
Abhijit.
Abhijit ji,
Pls go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E0QX7qMc4A and listen to the bengali songs of Hemant Mukherjee. My personal opinion as proved by his success in Bengal too was that he was just too good, his voice has silken velvety fluidity. Pls listen to Hemanto da’s songs on this link. Pls also listen to his Duronto Ghurnir song, his dhitang dhitang bole, ranar chhuteche song, o akaash shona shona mati shobuj shobujh, tomar bhubone maago ato paap. There are many other songs too, I can go on and on naming them. Thereafter pls see whether you would like to change your opinion or not. You seem to be a true music lover, and therefore I thought you should indeed listen to Hemanto da’s bengali songs suggested above.
Srimanto Senji,
I think I was not able to drive to my points properly.Music is such an abstract proposition that opinions are are bound to differ. I am a great admirer of Hemant Kumar & Dwijen Mukherjee too. I have heard all the songs suggested by you pretty long back. Still I would prefer to stick to my point of view rather than changing my opinion.
Thanks & Regards,
Abhijit.
Dear Abhijit jee, You are right, each of us have our own definition of music, what appeals to us and what does not, that is what makes us different. For me music is enjoyment, bliss and entertainment of self, it gives me pleasure and joy, I listen to music and sing for my own joy and I am sure each true music lover has his own definition for music. You are definitely most entitled to have your own opinion Abhijit jee, I am no one, to take it away from you, and nor can anyone else do so. . I had suggested other new songs in Bengali by Hemanto da in my last msg but since they are so famous, you were probably bound to have heard them. You and me are going to enjoy music till the day our ears allow us to enjoy them, there is no bigger pleasure in immersing yourself in music, in howsoever way it appeals to you. There is unity in harmony, I too like Dwijjen a lot, and even wonder, why he was not able to have more opp in Mumbai, if not in Bengali and wish he had really got more chances in Mumbai.
AKji,Srimanto Senji & N.Venkatramanji,
Please go through an interview of Pt.Shivkumar Sharmaji (Part 4),taken by Moti Lalwaniji which is uploaded in You Tube. Sharmaji here clearly says that Subir Sen was denied audition by S.D.Burman as his voice resmbled Hemant Kumar’s voice.SD asked him to develop his own style of singing tather than copying style of somebody else & then only comeback for audition.
Regards,
Abhijit.
I find your headline “Subir Sen: The involuntary Hemant Kumar clone” in your journalistic attempt at understanding my father Subir Sen ridiculous!!!!
I will not attempt to argue with you.
If you knew my father and his musical talents and his philosophy behind his music, you would not surrender to the ‘usual and convenient’ journalistic critique of my very talented father, the great Subir Sen.
To relegate the great Subir Sen as a Clone of Hemant Kumar, is a reflection of your abject and profound lack of insight about the music world.
I knew Hemanta Mukherjee. My father Subir Sen , who was very much younger respected him.
Journalists, or commentators such as yourself took upon themselves to create a scenario that was unreal and unfounded.
I would suggest that you get your facts right, before you post such a ridiculous comment.
I will not defend my father, as he does not need defending.
My father is still alive and receiving accolades for his contributions to the music industry.
Thank you
Supriya Sen
Supriya Sen,
Welcome to SoY, and thanks a lot for your comments. It is an honour to have the family member of a great artiste visit SoY.
If Rafi has given us so many hit songs; I think Mohindra kapoor some how gave certain hit songs ; of course not in that numbers. That appplied to Hemanta da and Subir sen too. Here is one song of Hemanta da which sounds like second to Subir sen…….’ Aaja mere pyar aaja ‘ from Heeralal pannalal.
I am responding to the ridiculous article ” Subir Sen: The involuntary Hemant Kumar clone”
April 12, 2011
My father is an amazing artist/singer. He is nobody’s clone.
It is disrespectful and unnecessary to compare artists. I knew all the artists from my father’s generation/cohort…..Manebendra, Manna Dey (who I affectionately called Manna Dey Da), Hemanta Jethu, Dijen Mukhopadhya, Sagar Sen, Debabrata Biswas ( who nicknamed me ‘Surama’ {Subir and Roma}, Pintu Bhattachargee etc. etc. Aarati Mukherjee ( my baba launched her career) etc. etc.
I would appreciate if this article about me father with this denigrating heading be removed.
Please post an article about my Father and his accomplishments as an entity. Please do not compare him with anyone.
Thank you for understanding my perspective.
Cheers!
Supriya Sen
To Arunkumar Deshmukh
I really appreciate your attempt at clarifying my father’s status.
Yes, he does live peacefully in Kolkata at the current age of 80 years old.
My father is a legend. My father is a living legend in the music industry.
Thank you
Supriya Sen
After hearing ‘Manzil wohi hai pyar ki’ on radio just now, I was doing a random google search for Subir Sen and stumbled on this site. It’s really a find. And that song from ‘Anubhav’ is so beautiful. Thanks so much for all the songs and information.
Apart from Subir Sen and Dwijen Mukherjee there’s another singer who sounds somewhat like Hemant Kumar. Only somewhat though — he’s more like a blend of Hemant Kumar and Bhupinder Singh. I’m talking about Shivaji Sengupta who sang ‘Yeh safar…’ from ‘1942: A Love Story’.
It would be a good idea to launch ‘Songs of Yore’ as a Facebook page as well — thousands would find it more easily and be really happy to participate. Do consider the suggestion. Thanks again.
Radha,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Radha ji,
Songs of yore is already on Face book.
Please check up.
-AD
Oh, it is. Thanks, I’ll check.
Radha,
But the more seriously minded readers are used to interacting here.
Shivaji was a discipline of Hemanto da. Hemanto da loved him very much and gave him permission to sing his songs and record them again. However Shivaji’s voice does not have that sweetness and in high pitches his voice does not sound so good in high pitch. Hemanto da, was a great singer and a great music director. Bengali films of the golden era are full of songs of Hemanto da and Manna Dey, who had no parallel in classical play back singing and Rafi sahab was effusive in his praise and he was effusive in his praise of Rafi Sahab. Rafi sahab said, you are my fans, I am Manna Da’s fan, woh itni murkiyan le sakten hai, main nehi le sakta, while Manna da said woh unka badappan hai, unse bada singer aaj tak aya nehi na ayega.
I had seen Choti Bahen when I was a little girl and was fascinated by the song sung by Subir Sen. Thanks for the enlightening post. Today after so many decades, I got to know so much about this enchanting singer. He pulls the strings of your heart with every song. Sounds very close to Hemant Da who is another of my favourites.
Shamla,
Welcome to Songs of Yore and thanks for your appreciation. I am happy that you enjoyed it.
Subir Sen was a fantastic singer as was Dwijen Mukherjee. Subir Sen lacked range. Dwijenda had a good voice. But a reason Hemanta da apart is his picture perfect straight forward pronunciation. Especially in Bengali.
Ranbir,
Welcome to SoY. Dwijen Mukherjee had very few songs in Hindi, therefore, he is not as familiar to us as the other two. Thanks a lot for your comments.
As a music lover i always rejoice songs of Subir Sen ,and off course Hemant da is my favourite.I wished to know more about subir sen yet very limited is known about him.I know him only through his songs less is known about him.
Like others i have at times thought his songs sung by hemant da yet after the radio announcer mentions his name then i could notice that the this is his voice.Likewise one music director knownas Bhatkar first name i am forgetting right now .His compositions are also melodious but least known person.Wish to know more about his music and about him.
Sunil S Okhade
Sunil S Okhade
Welcome to SoY. Probably you mean Snehal Bhatkar. Very briefly he debuted in 1947 with Neelkamal. Because of some contractual difficulties, he changed his name to his daughter’s name. A very talented and melodious composer. More has to wait for a full post.
Was sad & so sorry to hear about sad demise of SUBIR SEN, I got this website and found full of valuable information concerning so many singers and so much of history.
Thanks.
Shanto Rahman,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
RIP Subir Sen.
One of Salil Chowdhary’s best.
Subir Sen’s Dharanir Pathe Pathe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkXU2ZAbEM4
Lata’s Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhWKARGLuPk
RIP Subir Sen.
Yes Ak i meant snehal Bhatkar i look for his composed songs list if available.
Perhaps many of his compositions, i might be familiar with but do not know that he composed.Thanks for some information that you posted about him.
Sunil S Okhade
From my childhood I became huge fan of Subir Sen first and then Hemanta Mukherjee .That was during late 60’s. Both of their voices are melodious of highest order but textures are different and hence distinguishable.
MK Sinha,
Welcome to SoY. You must be a great fan of both to be able to distinguish their voices.
the flavour of said TRIO are really wonderful & wonderful.. may have limitations. decorated by lyrics n melody voice cultured is still fresh n amazing..during my stay with da (hemant n SD) covered wonderfully compositions..some of these may not available to fans and to procure back is a difficult task
salute to them ..and off course MDs too
Arvinder Sharmaji,
Apropos your comment #34 above,the link provided by you does not open the talked about Dattaram song.Instead, it opens a Jagte Raho song.The right audio link is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYMro1Sa1Yw
Regards
Rakesh Ji,.
Many thanks for pointing out my unintended error, and it’s strange that nobody else has noticed it in last one and a half years. Upon closer scrutiny, i saw that the Anarbala duet also has the same link.
There is a problem with my posting of links, due to which I’m unable to post the link of the song.
Kindly do the needful and oblige
Thanks and regards
Arvinder ji
Anarbala song was known to me so I did not check on it.Chand Chale Jhoom Jhoom was unheard for me,so it received my attention.Here is a good audio link for Anarbala song-Baharen Luta Ke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnEfm6_OuuE
Regards
Dear Friends
My beloved father passed away on December 29th, 2015.
He was a legendary singer and an iconic figure in the music industry.
I am trying to create a scholarship fund in his memory. It is a process, nevertheless it will happen ( I have to follow rules and regulations according to Indian regulations); which I will.
Thank you for your condolences and appreciating his talent.
I am hoping I can reach out to all of you (when the time comes) to contribute to the scholarship fund that I am starting to set up. It will take a few years.
Thank you
Supriya Sen
Ms. Sen,
I will be very happy to make a contribution to Subir Sen memorial scholarship fund. I wish you good luck and success. Thanking you, I am,
Sincerely yours,
PD Gupta
MA, USA
Thank you PD Gupta, from MA, USA.
I deeply appreciate your support. I will let my beloved fathers fan’s/followers of his music know when the scholarship fund entity will be created.
If you wish to be in touch with me you can contact me personally at kismet1960@gmail.com
Sincerely
Supriya Sen
Can anyone guide me as to how I can post some pictures of me and my father?
I just want everyone to know that I am Subir Sen’s daughter. 🙂
Thanks
Supriya Sen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6p33N9syL4
Supriya Sen
Supriya,
I have sent you a mail apropos your comment #86.
Thank you AK.
I hope this site will discontinue to do a post mortem of my father’s music and STOP comparing him to Hemanta Mukherjee or anyone else , for that matter.
Please respect my father for who he was. Please refrain from commenting on him in a derogatory way or in a condescending way or trying to criticize my father and his music.
I will greatly appreciate “OBJECTIVE’ opinions and not subjective and personal opinions about my father.
I truly respect everyone who admire him. I am deeply grateful.
Sincerely
Supriya Sen
Supriya,
Has anything happened after our last exchange to cause you offence? I have sent you a mail again.
Dear AK
I have responded to you in a private mail.
I find the term ‘clone’ deplorable, disrespectful and unacceptable.
My father is NOT a ‘clone’ of anybody.
He is a stature unto his own.
I hope this site can recognise my father for who he was.
I would really appreciate it if your site continues to acknowledge my now deceased father with respect and change your site’s headline.
As I said to you in my private email, the definition of a ‘clone’ ( an organism or cell, or group of organisms or cells, produced asexually from one ancestor or stock , to which they are genetically identical’)
My father, Subir Sen is neither a organism or is not genetically related to Hemanta Mukherjee.
My father respected Hemanta Mukherjee and all other musicians for that matter.
I grew up with knowing Hemanta Mukherjee. He was very much part of my family as was Manna Dey, Dijen Mukerjee, etc, etc. …………,,,
Please be respectful of my father!!
Supriya Sen
I have looked at all the comments over a period of time.
Srimaanto Sen seems to allude to all singers as ‘Dada’
I want to ask him if he knew any of the singers personally?
He seems to have a lot of subjective opinions of my father.
Can you substantiate any of your opinions of my father Srimaanto Sen?
Thank you
Supriya Sen
I will never post anything about my father, like an article suggested by AK as long as this site refers to “Subir Sen: The involuntary Hemant Kumar clone” .
As far as I am concerned , this title is disrespectful to my beloved father.
Sincerely
Supriya Sen
Supriya Sen
Referring to my father Subir Sen as ” involuntary Hemant Kumar clone” is ‘defamatory statement ‘. My father is deceased, but I am still alive. It injures me, it hurts me.
I would love to hear from Srimaanto Sen. He seems to have a lot of opinions of my father
What is it based on? He refers to the singers on a personal basis. I know/knew a lot of the singers. To this day,I spoke with Dijen Mukherjee ( when my father passed away).
This kind of subjective opinions shrouded by fallacies is what upsets me.
For all of the commentators, did anyone of you know the singers personally? I did. I knew everyone one of them!!!!!
I respect everyone one of them, as did my beloved. Father.
My father would never call anyone his ‘clone’, he was never that kind of human being. I would not refer to any singers as my father’s ‘clone’ !!!!
It is so defamatory and disrespectful!!!!
It’s disgusting for that matter.
Thank you
Supriya Sen
Dear Supriya Sen:
I think Mr. Srimaanto Sen is not present here anumore of for the time being. Needless to say, each & every singer has his/her own style of singing/presentation and own charisma. At times we do go beyond the limit to compare – that creates problem.
SUBIR SEN is very well remembered by listeners around the globe.
Supriya Sen,
I see that you are deeply hurt by most of us at SOY.
Barring for few knowledgeables most of us do not know anything about music, the only thing common between us is the passion for music and we like to discuss it whether we understand it or not.
What we say about the artist projects what we think about them and not what they are.
Not only your father Subir Sen but all the artist will be remembered for what they are and not what we think about them.
Please do not give us so much importance by hurting yourself so much.
Dear Supriya,
I wrote this article as a tribute to Subir Sen. As music lovers and fans we do not intend any disrespect to an artiste when we discuss him or her as per our understanding. Nevertheless, since some references have caused hurt to you, I sincerely apologise to you. I have already modified the title to “Best Hindi film songs of Subir Sen”.
Thank you AK for apologizing for the original title for this forum, that was disrespectful towards my father.
I truly appreciate your effort to correct what was wrong.
PEACE.
Here is a sample of my father achieved in the Bengali music scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai-X8jaycKk
Perhaps we can keep posting my father’s Bengali songs? There are MANY that are famous and legendary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqn4o0HaNzc
Pagol Hawa: Music by Salil Chowdhury; Sung by my beloved father
Thank you for listening 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfd64U6o7s&list=PLzRlXscARFTOaymHx91UaLdzFcwK5Mw9P
Eto Sur aar Eto Gaan: One of my fathers most famous Bengali songs, amongst many.
Ms.Sen the link to the song Pagol Hawa that your father sang has the note that it was remade by Subir Sen with different instrumentation. The instrumentation is Salilda since he used it again in Chotisi baat. It has that distinctive augmented chord usage that Salilda favoured. One of my favourites that your father sang is of course this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkXU2ZAbEM4
Ms Supriy Sen ;
We have enjoyed listening to your father’s songs composed by Shanker Jaikishan , Salil Da and other MDs . Now We would like to listen to songs which were composed by your father as music director . Was there any influence of these MDs on your father’s style of composition and orchestration of the songs ?
Dear KSBhatia
My father has many Bengali songs that were famous.
He arranged many songs with Abhijit Badhopadhya .
I am not sure of your question ” Was there any influence of these MDs on your father’s style of composition and orchestration of the songs ?” . What do you mean?
Sincerely
Supriya Sen
As far as I am concerned, I would like to post ALL my father’s Bengali songs on this forum.
Not sure how I can do that?
Thanks
Supriya Sen
Supriya,
All the sings which are on YouTube can be posted here as you have already done a few songs. More compact would be if they are in one playlist, you can copy paste the URL of the playlist.
Ms Supriy Sen ;
In other words my question was wheather your father ever worked as music director / composer of hindi films ; and if so what was his style ? Was he influenced by SJ or Salil da style of music …..since he gave maximum numbers of hindi songs under them .
Dear KSBhatia
I appreciate your request.
My father did work as a music director on many of his Bengali songs.
I am not aware of my father working as music director under Shankar Jaikishen. It was before my time. I was very young when my father sang Hindi songs.
Are you interested in hearing about his Bengali music career?
Thanks
Supriya Sen
Dear KSBhatia
My father did compose some Bengali songs.
As far as Shankar Jaikishen , I am not aware. I was a child when my father was famous in Hindi Films. I do have many photographs of my father with Lata Mangheshkar and SJ and others!
I have memories of me spending time with Hemant Kumar in Bombay as a child. .
I have memories of my father trying to promote Aarati Mukkherjee in Bombay.
Supriya Sen
This is w.r.t. comments #108 and #109.
In Sudhir Kapoor’s post ‘Aah Dil Mein Hai Nayan Mein Neer Hai’ , which appears in trackback links at the end of the present post, he writes :
“He also composed music for a Hindi film ‘Midnight’ that apparently was released only in England, in 1970 or thereabout. The film had songs sung by Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, besides himself.”
Ashok M Vaishnav ;
Yes, I was aware of Subir sen giving music for a hindi movie…. Midnight… made in 1972 which was released in England only . I was only making enquiry whether there were more hindi films which had Subir sen as MD.
I am a great fan of Subir sen from the day one . His voice reflected the younger generation of the 60s . Gar tum bura na mano….is one of his best duet with Asha ji . Look how his voice matches that of actor Pradeep.
Here are some songs from the movie …Midnight…with Subir Sen as MD .
1. Koi mera ho gaya……..Subir sen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awpjx_msvkM
2.London ki ek mill mein……..Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCTBzqBj9tE
3.Zindagi ka hai yeh fasana……Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsDH2_tIo8
4.Teri yaad mein sajan o sajan……Geeta dutt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpxtNPoCW8
5.Tumsa meet mila…….Talat , Geeta dutt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMJZrdFRYLg
There are one or two more songs from Midnight which I have to look for on Y T .
Now the duet song I like the most……Gar tum bura na mano….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWDtiMzdmOI
Indeed Subir sain sang very few songs in hindi especially under Shankar Jaikishan and all his songs were gems.The one song he sang for Vasant Desai Pyaar mein from Ardhangini (1959) shows his caliber.
I think “Pyar Milna Hota Hai Sanam Taqdeer Se” from Ardhangini 1959 is Subhir Sen’s top hindi song. I came to know about SS from this song only. Dashing Raaj Kumar and beautiful and sensuous Meena Kumari looks loveable on screen.
DR Kusekar,
Welcome to SoY. Pyar mein milna sanam is indeed an outstanding song. It is difficult to designate a particular song as the best from so many equally good songs.
Sir, this song was sung by Dwijen Mukherjee
Satish Pendekar,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for this informatio.
I am a great admirer of Late Subir Sen’s voice and love all his songs. It’s sad he did not sing many Hindi songs, but I understand it was more than made up through Bengali songs.
Was it Subir Sen singing the old Hindi song with Lata Mangeshkar “Preet ki dori, duniya se nahi chori ? or was it Hemant da ?
Thanks in advance for your clarification.
Ramesh,
Welcome to SOY. Sorry, I have not heard this song, nor do I know it’s Co-ordinates. If you can give some more info, such as the film, it would help in the search. Are you sure this is the mukhada of the song?
Ramesh @ 119 AK @ 120
Male singer in Preet ki dori, duniya se nahi chori is Talat Mahmood
hay koi dekh lega,koyi kya dekh lega..Talat_Lata_Shailendra_Salil Chaudhry
https://youtu.be/BNBU0rVWOAs
Mumbaikar8,
Thanks, I am highly impressed.
AK,
Even in her dormant state, she can excavate things lying deep down. Searcher in her is eternal.
लाये ये निकाल के खबर पाताल की