Golden Era of Bollywood: Remembering Salil Chowdhury on his Birth Anniversary

Saturday 19 November 2016

Remembering Salil Chowdhury on his Birth Anniversary

Salil Chowdhury(19 November 1923 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music composer, who mainly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He was an accomplished composer and arranger who was proficient in several musical instruments, including flute, the piano, and the esraj.
Popularly known as Salil Da made his debut in the Hindi Film Industry in 1953 as the Music Director for Do Bigha Zamin.The story of that film was written by him,it became the first film to win the Filmfare Best Movie Award and won the international Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Song from Do Bigha Zameen 1958

Salil's music was a blending of Eastern and the Western music traditions. His compositions often used folk melodies or melodies based on Indian classical ragas but the orchestration was very much western in its construction. He developed a style which was immediately identifiable.He was given Filmfare Best Music Director Award for Madhumati in 1958.
He was one of the leading composers of Golden Era of Bollywood.He went on to compose for over 75 Hindi films, over 40 Bengali films, around 27 Malayalam films, and a few Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Oriya and Assamesefilms.
The flawless harmony with which Salil da used an array of musical instruments suggests a unique understanding of instruments. Raj Kapoor once described him as a genius who could play everything from tabla to sarod and piano to piccolo.He gave music in Raj Kapoor's Jagte Raho

Song from Jagte Raho 1956

His songs for "Biraj Bahu", "Naukri", "Amaanat", "Taangewaali", "Awaaz", "Parivaar", "Jaagte Raho", "Apradhi Kaun" and "Ek Gaon Ki Kahaani" are still popular. Then came "Madhumati" in 1958. Its 12 songs, including Ajaa re pardesi, Suhana safar and Dil tadap, continue to be wildly popular.

Song from Madhumati 1958

The songs of "Parakh", "Usne Kaha Tha", "Chhaya", "Maya", "Kabuliwala", "Anand", "Mere Apne", "Rajnigandha", "Choti si baat", "Jeevan jyothi", "Mrigaya", "Annadata", "Anand Mahal" followed but with an intolerable gap between each. "Swami Vivekananada" in 1994 was his last Hindi film.

Music lovers in Tamil Nadu too recognise Salil Chowdhury's music from Malayalam films like "Chemmeen". Kadalinakkare ponore is a song that held Tamil Nadu too in a spell for over 40 years.

Though his contribution to Tamil films appears to be little it is not an exaggeration to say that Salil da was a trendsetter on the scene. Both Ilayaraja and A.R. Rahman followed the path charted by him. Ilayaraja was introduced to the film industry as guitarist and combo organ player in Salil da's recordings and his influence on Ilayaraja is evident. R.K. Sekhar, Rahman's father, worked with Salil da as an assistant. Rahman himself testifies that attending Salil da's recording sessions at a young age left an indelible impression on him.

Salil Chowdhury's contribution to modern Indian music is not as well known as it deserves. The composer's 94th birth anniversary fell on November 19. A tribute.with his Milestone Songs