Being Manna Dey: The modest musical maestro

A NEW DEY: Manna Dey says the other singers of his time were better than him.

            

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He is a musical genius whose mellifluous and unique voice was never stereotyped or associated with any one actor. It was both a boon and a bane for Manna Dey, who has enthralled generations with his timeless renditions of varied compositions such as Sur Na Saje, Kya Gaaoon Main, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Mud Mud Ke Naa Dekh, Naa Toh Kaarvan Ki Talaash Hai and Aao Twist Karein. Here’s Manna Dey, reminiscing about the era bygone, in a conversation with Anuradha SenGupta.

Anuradha SenGupta: In his autobiography Manna Dey says and I quote, “the multifaceted personality of music, my beloved, held me enthralled. I dedicated myself to the delineation of its many moods and manifestations by falling back on those seven notes in the scale and their myriad variations. And I ended up triumphant.” If I were to go through your Hindi film songs and say that which song best sums up this emotion, would it be Sur Na Saje, Kya Gaaoon Main from Basant Bahar or Mera Sab Kuch Mere Geet re from Zindagi Zindagi?

Manna Dey: It’s very hard to say but then I had been very honest with my work. Wherever I have sung a song, I have given my very best. I am perhaps the only sung who insisted on going for rehearsals before recordings. I am very particular about the text of the song – whatever I am supposed to sing. Being a Bengali and to sing in Hindustani or in Urdu was quite a challenge. Whenever a song is sung, it’s only the expression of words. Whatever the lyricist wrote, I had to depict by singing. I chose carefully. Of course I am talking of my private songs not the film songs. I sang whatever film songs they wanted me to. I sang umpteen number of songs for Mehmood. So I sang whatever they asked me to.

Anuradha SenGupta: Some bhains something…

Manna Dey: Meri Bhains Ko Danda Kyun Maara was the one I sang for Shammi (Kapoor).

Anuradha SenGupta: I don’t think most people know that Manna Dey – when he was a young man – contemplated becoming a wrestler!

Manna Dey: Yes. I had a friend in school and college. He was a son of the great wrestler Jatinder Charan Goho and Manik was his name. He was my pal. He was instrumental in getting me to the akhada (wrestling ring). I was a footballer and played well. But I put behind everything when I took up singing and became a very ardent and a sincere student of good music.

Giving Manna Dey a good grounding in music was his paternal uncle K C Dey. Thanks to this self-taught singer, actor and composer, the otherwise conventional Dey household in Kolkata became the setting for magnificent jalsas. Some of the most famous singers and musicians of the time dropped in regularly. Though he didn’t know it then, Manna Dey imbibed it all.

Manna Dey: My uncle was like father to me. He brought us up and he was friend, philosopher and guide to us. I would definitely say he was a pioneer in the field of music. He taught people how to sing. Burman saab and Pankaj Malik used to learn from him. He (uncle) became blind at the age of 13 and at the age of 18, he became a full-fledged singer in Bengal. What a genius he was! You see, I have seen my uncle singing kirtan and people wiping their tears. I felt why I could not have this kind of involvement in singing.

In 1942, Manna Dey moved to Mumbai as K C Dey’s second assistant. His job was to get rehearsals going and to train singers before a recording. His first break as a playback singer came by chance with one of his uncle’s films. But it was a log time before he got his next chance. Even then he was called mainly to sing for mythological and religious films.

Manna Dey: The other singers who were in the running were better than me, definitely. Oh yes, they were better singers than me. Even at the height of my career I would say Mohammad Rafi was a better singer than me. He was such a great singer and I used to listen to him, awestruck. His rendering of certain things – I could never do it.

Anuradha SenGupta: I never thought you would be a modest man. I don’t know why.

Manna Dey: It’s not modesty, you see. It’s bare facts I am talking about. Whenever I sang a song with Lata (Mangeshkar) in her heydays, I used to forget my lines. I used to marvel at her expertise. How could she sing like that! Asha (Bhonsle) – what a versatile singer, what a great singer she is! I have the greatest regard for my compatriots of yesteryears. Even Kishore (Kumar) – what a great artist he is.