Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Bengali pronunciation: [hemont̪o mukʰopad̪ʱːae̯]; 16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemanta Mukherjee and Hemant Kumar, was an Indian music director and a playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, along with several other Indian languages, including Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Tamil, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Konkani, Sanskrit and Urdu. He was an artist in Bengali and Hindi film music, Rabindra Sangeet, and various other genres. He was the recipient of two National Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and was popularly known as the "Voice of God".
Hemanta was born in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, at the residence of his maternal grandfather, who served as a physician. His paternal family originated from Jaynagar Majilpur and had migrated to Kolkata in the early 1900s. Growing up in Kolkata, he received his early education at Nasiruddin School before transferring to Mitra Institution School in Bhowanipore. During his school years, he formed lasting friendships with Subhash Mukhopadhyay, who would later become a celebrated poet, and writer Santosh Kumar Ghosh.
Hemanta enrolled in the Bengal Technical Institute at Jadavpur (now Jadavpur University) to pursue an engineering diploma. However, he left academics due to health issues and to pursue a career in music, despite his father's disapproval. He briefly experimented with literature and published a short story in the Bengali magazine Desh, but by the late 1930s, he had decided to dedicate himself entirely to music.
Hemanta's debut as a playback singer came in 1940 with the Bengali film Rajkumarer Nirbbasan, where he sang under the musical direction of S.D. Burman. This was followed by Nimai Sanyas (1941), scored by Hariprasanna Das. In 1943, he composed his first original songs, "Katha Kayonako Shudhu Shono" and "Amar Biraha Akashe Priya", with lyrics by Amiya Bagchi. His entry into Hindi cinema occurred in 1942 with the film Meenakshi, followed by Irada (1944), under composer Amar Nath's direction.
Hemanta established himself as a prominent exponent of Rabindra Sangeet with his first recorded piece in the genre appearing in the Bengali film Priya Bandhabi (1944). The song "Pather Sesh Kothaye" marked the beginning of his journey with Tagore's compositions. That same year, he recorded his first non-film Rabindra Sangeet album under the Columbia label, featuring "Aamar Aar Habe Na Deri" and "Keno Pantha E Chanchalata". An earlier recording of "Aamaar mallikabone" for All India Radio/Akashvani has been lost to time.
His directorial debut as a music director came with the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947. During this period, he worked alongside contemporary male vocalists including Jaganmay Mitra, Robin Majumdar, Satya Chowdhury, Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Sudhirlal Chakraborty, Bechu Dutta and Talat Mahmood. While his early recordings garnered critical acclaim, major commercial success eluded him until 1947.
Emergence as a national artist
In the mid-1940s, Hemanta became actively involved with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), where he formed a significant collaboration with fellow member and composer Salil Chowdhury. The devastating Bengal famine of 1943 and the inaction of both British authorities and wealthy Indians had been instrumental in IPTA's formation.
His 1947 recording of "Gayer Badhu" ("The rural bride"), composed and written by Salil Chowdhury, marked a turning point in his career. This unconventional six-minute composition, recorded on both sides of a 78 rpm disc, departed from traditional Bengali song structure and romantic themes. Instead, it portrayed the tragic transformation of an idyllic rural life devastated by famine and poverty. The song's unprecedented success established Hemanta as a leading voice in eastern India, elevating him above his male contemporaries. This successful partnership with Salil Chowdhury continued through numerous popular collaborations in subsequent years.
During this period, Hemanta received increasing opportunities as a music composer for Bengali films, notably working with director Hemen Gupta. When Gupta relocated to Mumbai, he invited Hemanta to compose for his Hindi directorial debut Anandmath under the Filmistan banner. This led to Hemanta's migration to Mumbai in 1951, where he joined Filmistan Studios. He named his Mumbai residence in Khar after Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. Anand Math (1952) achieved moderate success, with its standout contribution being Lata Mangeshkar's rendition of 'Vande mataram', which Hemanta set to a stirring martial tune.
Following Anandamath, Hemanta composed for several Filmistan productions, including Shart, gaining modest popularity. Simultaneously, he established himself as a prominent playback singer in Mumbai. His collaborations with S. D. Burman for Bollywood actors produced numerous hits, like Dev Anand for (Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahan from Jaal, Chup Hai Dharti and Teri Duniya Mein Jeene Se from House No. 44, Hai Apna Dil To Awara from Solva Saal, and Na Tum Humen Jano from Baat Ek Raat Ki). Pradeep Kumar for (Nagin, Detective), Sunil Dutt for (Savle Salone Aaye Din from Ek Hi Rasta, O Neend Na Mujhko from Post Box 999, Ghumsum Sa Yeh Jahan from Duniya Jhukti Hain) and Biswajeet for (Bekarar Karke Hume from Bees Saal Baad, Ek Baar Zara Phir from Bin Badal Barsaat, Ye Nayan Dare Dare from Kohra) and Dharmendra for Anupama. He also served as the music composer for these films.
By the mid-1950s, Hemanta had consolidated his position as a prominent singer and composer. In Bengal, he was one of the foremost exponents of Rabindra Sangeet and perhaps the most sought-after male singer. In a ceremony organized by Hemanta Mukherjee to honor Debabrata Biswas (1911–1980), the legendary Rabindra Sangeet exponent, in Calcutta in March 1980, Debabrata Biswas unhesitatingly mentioned Hemanta as "the second hero" to popularise Rabindra Sangeet, the first being the legendary Pankaj Kumar Mullick. In Mumbai, along with playback singing, Hemanta carved a niche as a composer. He composed music for a Hindi film called Nagin (1954) which became a major success owing largely to its music. Songs of Nagin remained chart-toppers continuously for two years and culminated in Hemanta receiving the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1955. The very same year, he scored music for a Bengali movie Shap Mochan in which he played back four songs for the Bengali actor Uttam Kumar. This started a long partnership between Hemanta and Uttam as a playback singer-actor pair. They were the most popular singer-actor duo in Bengali cinema over the next decade.
In the latter part of the 1950s, Hemanta composed music and sang for several Bengali and Hindi films and recorded several Rabindra Sangeet and Bengali non-film songs. Almost all of these, especially his Bengali songs, became very popular. This period can be seen as the zenith of his career and lasted for almost a decade. Salil Chowdhury and Lata Mangeshkar stated Hemanta as the Voice Of God. He sang songs composed by the major music directors in Bengal such as Nachiketa Ghosh, Robin Chatterjee and Salil Chowdhury. Some of the notable films Hemanta himself composed music for during this period include Harano Sur, Marutirtha Hinglaj, Neel Akasher Neechey, Lukochuri, Swaralipi, Deep Jwele Jaai, Shesh Parjanta, Kuhak, Dui Bhai, and Saptapadi in Bengali, and Jagriti and Ek Hi Raasta in Hindi.
In the late 1950s, Hemanta ventured into movie production under his own banner: Hemanta-Bela Productions. The first movie under this banner was a Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen, titled Neel Akasher Neechey (1959). The story was based on the travails of a Chinese street hawker in
Calcutta in the backdrop of India's freedom struggle. The movie went on to win the President's Gold Medal — the highest honour for a movie from the Government of India. In the next decade, Hemanta's production company was renamed Geetanjali productions and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohraa, Biwi Aur Makaan, Faraar, Rahgir and Khamoshi all of which had music by Hemanta. Only Bees Saal Baad and Khamoshi were major commercial successes.