{"id":2456,"date":"2015-12-05T21:32:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=2456"},"modified":"2025-09-08T18:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T12:43:08","slug":"bengal-music-influence-in-hindi-film-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/bengal-music-influence-in-hindi-film-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengal’s Music and Its Influence in Hindi Film Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover\"<\/p>\n

Music lives in the air of Bengal. From farmers singing in the fields to kids learning classical music in schools, from boatmen and fishermen to the Rabindra Sangeet, from Vaishnavi kirtans to Baul songs\u2026 Bengalis love their music. Well, so does the rest of India. Every state has its own genres, forms and styles of music \u2013 both folk and rustic music as well as elite and urbane. We love the thumris and the ghazals, we jig to the bhangra and the lavani. We hum along with the folk of UP and Bihar.<\/p>\n

\"Green

And the moment you enter Bengal it is remarkably green. The rice fields filled with water run along the train tracks.
(Pic: Amitava Nag)<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u00a0travel by train from Delhi to Calcutta, you can almost\u00a0identify each state you\u00a0pass through with the colour of its soil. Uttar Pradesh would be brown mostly, wide fields and clutches of trees here and there and then as you enter\u00a0Bihar you notice the\u00a0distinctly red soil. And the moment you\u00a0enter Bengal it is remarkably green –\u00a0 a few small houses, canopied under a cluster of khajoor trees and a little pond in front. This was the typical landscape which gave a green and serene feel.<\/p>\n

The music of each state accordingly has its own colour. The influence of Bengal with its typical softness and serenity is thus as distinct in Hindi film music as is the influence of Punjab or Gujarat for that matter. We\u00a0will take you through a few glimpses of these influences that started right from the inception of the talkies and continue till today.<\/p>\n

\"NT\"<\/p>\n

Who hasn\u2019t heard of the iconic New Theatres? Of the supremely melodious Kanan Devi, K L Saigal and SD Burman? The common thread binding all these luminaries was Pankaj Mullick.<\/p>\n

Along with the doyen of the New Theatres Sir Nitin Bose, Pankaj Mullick unleashed a slew of innovations and path-breaking trends in film music, and not surprisingly, the melodies of Bengal started spreading west. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay\u2019s Vande Mataram<\/em> was simultaneously fueling the patriotic fervor.<\/p>\n

If you list the firsts by these maestros, it is an amazing record.<\/p>\n

First use of Playback technique<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The year 1935 saw the biggest revolution in the journey of the Hindi film song. Nitin Bose along with his brother Mukul Bose and music directors RC Boral and Pankaj Mullick introduced the pre-recorded song in the Bengali film\u00a0Bhagya Chakra <\/em>and its Hindi version\u00a0Dhoop Chaaon<\/em>. The singers were K C Dey, Parul Ghosh and Suprabha Sarkar.<\/p>\n

Man ki aankhein khol<\/strong><\/em> (Dhoop Chhaon<\/em>, 1935) – R C Boral and Pankaj Mullick \/ Pt. Sudarshan \/ KC Dey. Director Nitin Bose was the first to introduce playback singing in Indian cinema.<\/span><\/p>\n