Mumbai: On the occasion of the 102nd birth anniversary of the National Award winning singer-music director Hemanta Mukherjee alias Hemant Kumar, a square in Khar dedicated to him was inaugurated, here on Thursday.
The square is near a street where the music legend’s family resides, with a large number of his clan and several dignitaries present on the occasion, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashish Shelar.
“Hemant Kumar lived in Khar for many years. The square on Dhurandhar Marg and Ahimsa Marg has henceforth been renamed as ‘Hemant Kumar Chowk’ in memory of the great music legend,” said Shelar.
Some of the personalities present were the son and grand-daughter of Hemant Kumar, Jayant Mukherjee and Megha Mukherjee respectively, actor Deb Mukherjee, actress Moushumi Chatterjee, singer Nitin Mukesh, director Madhur Bhandarkar, et al.
Born on this day (June 16) in 1920 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Hemant Kumar was a versatile and multi-lingual singer and music director — specialising in Hindi music and Rabindra Sangeet styles — who started his career in 1940, singing a Bengali song composed by the veteran music director S.D. Burman.
Over the years, he sang hundreds of songs and also composed music for over 200 Bengali and Hindi films besides one controversial English film, Siddhartha (1972, starring Simi Garewal and Shashi Kapoor).
Some of his memorable compositions in Bollywood include the ever-haunting and crawly tunes in “Bees Saal Baad” (1962) and “Kohraa” (1964) and for both films he composed the music and also sang some of the evergreen songs.
There were other gems like: “Nagin” (1954), “Miss Mary” (1957), “Do Mastaane” (1958), “Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam” (1962), “Do Dil” (1965), “Anupama” (1966), “Majhli Didi” (1967), “Khamoshi” (1969), “Do Ladke Dono Kadke” (1977), “Love In Canada” (1979), among many more.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi laureate died in Mumbai following a massive cardiac arrest on September 26, 1989, aged 69.
–IANS