‘Genius Hemant-da Kumar’s songs and tunes are immortal’,’veteran actor Biswajeet revisits his maestro-mentor’s legacy on his 100th birth anniv.

Chaitanya  Padukone 

 Veteran  former matinee-idol  Biswajeet owes his Bollywood career launch as a lead-hero to legendary singer-composer Hemant Kumar,  whose birth centenary (  Sau Saal) day would be observed on June 16th by all retro-music lovers.  Jogging into a flash-back, Biswajeet recalls,  “ Actually, it was trend-setter  Mejhda  (that’s what he fondly called Hemant-da) who brought me  from Kolkata to Mumbai and cast me in his movie ‘Bees Saal Baad’ (1962),  with the established beautiful star-actress Waheeda Rehman as my heroine. Followed by was  ‘Kohraa’, and ‘Bin Baadal Barsaat’.

The rest as they say, is glorious history, as  it was an elevating stardom phase ahead for me,” smiles the ‘April Fool’ lead actor who was ‘as good as a family-member of Hemant-da’.  Biswajeet explains his proximity with the singer’s family., “ Hemant-da’s youngest brother talented. composer Amol Mukherjee was my very close friend and I even sang Bengali songs tuned by him. Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to record a Bengali single song composed by Hemant-da. But I consider myself truly blessed to have his haunting, bass-octave baritone haunting voice as my screen playback voice.. Even today when I sing ‘Bekaarar Karke Humey’  and ‘Yeh Nayan Darey Darey’ ‘live’ at stage concerts I always get fans screaming   ‘once more’ and the audiences seem so thrilled.” 

Elaborates Biswajeet, “All  Hemant-da sung playback songs picturised on me or even those on other great actors like Dharmendra ( Yaa Dil Ki Suno), or on Guru Dutt ( Jaane Woh Kaise Logon Ne )  or even the peppy track which goes Hai Apna Dil Toh Aawara (on Dev Anand) are immortal hits.  With a strong drama-sense, he  was also a staunch Rabindra Sangeet exponent. Hemant-da incorporated mesmerizing counter-melodies in all his songs which again are evergreen. Surely everyone has heard the snake-charmer ‘been’ (sapera-pungi)  instrumental theme-tune of the timeless song ‘Man Dole Mera Tan Dole’ (Nagin-1954) composed by Hemant-da .

This haunting tune has been reprised-remixed  in several contemporary  filmy songs including the Twist track in Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal and its recent sequel,” he shrugs . Melody-queen Asha Bhosle,  at a recent live musical concert titled ‘Tigers of Bengal’ revealed that she had then named her new-born son ‘Hemant’, after the musical-icon Hemant-da Kumar, which in turn speaks for itself.  Confides Biswajeet, “A grand ten-day film-festival, concerts, etc  all dedicated to Hemant’s centenary in Kolkata and partially in Mumbai had to be cancelled, due to the Covid-19 health-scare-public-phobia of  sitting in auditoriums. But I will arrange for my personal ‘on-line’ digital-zone tributes  on Tuesday (16th) and also include inputs from senior-celebs like eminent film-maker Devi Dutt-jee,” he signs off