The legendary Indian music composer Salil Chowdhury 'completes' 100 shortly. ‘Salilda’, as he is fondly known, was born in a village in West Bengal on 19 November 1925; he left on 5th November, 1995. On his passing away at 69, Lata Mangeskar grieved thus: “I could not do more for Salil Chowdhury”, highlighting respect she had for Salilda! Salilda-Latadidi combination of “na jeona” (Bengali) or “o sajana” (Hindi) from the film Parakh remains amongst my all time favourites.

Salilda was deeply influenced by Tagore; on Tagore’s death on 7 August, 1941, Salilda cried! Salilda said: “that was the first time in my life that I consciously felt the loss of someone close to me! I went into mourning….I used to come to College barefoot…I did not eat fish or meat.”

Salil Chowdhury was known for his socially conscious music addressing social justice. This aligned with world saint Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy of addressing societal issues. So, Tagore’s and Swamiji’s influence on Salil Chowdhury is evident.

Fusion of Western and Indian music

Salilda’s unique contribution is fusion of Western and Indian music. This made him a world music composer. When I sang “old Hindi film melodies” in August 2010 in Kathmandu on the invitation of my friend Rakesh Sood, then India’s High Commissioner in Nepal, the moment I started  “Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haye” the 1000-strong audience in the packed Army Auditorium clapped in unison. In the SAARCLAW conference in Dhaka in December 1996, barely a year after Salilda left, I noticed huge respect for Salilda; same in Karachi in the SAARCLAW conference that I attended in February 2004. Salida has left an indelible mark on South Asian culture.

So, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Salil Chowdhury  constitute world saint, world poet and world music composer respectively, India’s contribution to soft power.

Salil Chowdhury spent his childhood in the tea gardens of Assam. His father, Dr.Gyanendra Chowdhury, was a medical officer in a tea estate. Though Salilda’s mother was not a musician, she greatly encouraged her child. So did Salilda’s father who had a collection of westerns classical songs of singers like Bach (1685-1750) from Germany, Mozart (1756-1791) from Austria, Beethoven (1770-1827) from Germany, and even Chopin (1810-1849) from Poland. Exposure to Western classical music greatly influenced Salil Chowdhury. He used to listen to western orchestral music in gramophone of Dr.Maloni, an Irish national, who was the chief medical officer of the tea estate.  

World War II (1.9.1939-2.9.1945) and the Bengal famine (1943) devastated Salilda. He was still in his late teens then, having joined Bangabasi College, Sealdah in Kolkata. The British diverted food supplies from Bengal. Salilda witnessed millions dying on the streets of Kolkata during famine. He protested. And became a member of IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association), an association of artists, to bring cultural awakening in India. Some of the prominent initial members of IPTA were Prithviraj Kapoor (1906-1972), Balraj Sahni (1913-1973), Pandit Ravi Shankar (1920-2012), Ritwik Ghatak (1925-1976) and Salil Chowdhury (1925-1995).  Even Shailendra (1923-1966), the legendary lyricist, joined ITPA;  IPTA gave a fillip to the Quit India movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942.

Bollywood break and path-breaking film

After India’s independence, Salilda continued with his musical passion in greater vigour. His best friend, filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee (1922-2006), brought Salilda and film director Bimal Roy (1909-1966) together. Bimal Roy gave Salilda the biggest break of his life. Salilda entered Bollywood in the film “Do Beegha Zameen”, released on 16 January, 1953.

The film portrayed peasant exploitation in West Bengal. Salilda’s role in the film was not only as a music composer, but also as the script writer of a short story “Rickshawala”; Roy enmeshed Salilda’s “Rickshawala” and Tagore’s “Dui Bigha Jomi” to convert them into a path-breaking film. The film remains a trendsetter. It became the first film to win the Filmfare Best Movie award, and the first Indian film to win an international award. It took Salil Chowdhury’s career to new heights.     

A musical genius and guru

Salilda was 27 when he achieved this break in 1952-53. Till his last day he never looked back. He composed music in 143 films, 75 of them in Hindi, 41 in Bengali and 27 in Malayalam. Besides, he composed music in 13 languages. He was adept at playing flute, piano, esraj and harmonium.  

Both Rahul Dev Burman (1939-1994) and Hriday Nath Mangeshkar considered Salilda as their musical guru. When in creative or personal distress, R.D.Burman often turned to Salil Chowdhury for guidance, despite being the son of the legendary S.D.Burman.

From my boyhood in Calcutta from 1961 onwards I used to hear “Anurodher Asor” every Sunday afternoon. I used to give marks to each song; I must say that two songs made me weep everytime I heard them. They are both Salida and Latadidi combinations: first: “O Bansi keno gaye amare kandaye” and second: “Jare Jare Ude Jare Pakhi”! As I write, droplets fall from my eyes. Salilda is immortal!

(The writer is Senior Advocate, Supreme Court Of India, former Additional Solicitor General Of India and a hobby singer of timeless classics. Views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at bbhatta@gmail.com )