From Hemanta to Hemant Kumar
 the Bombay experience

It was 1948. A man by the name of Hemanta Mukherjee sang in a film called Zameen Aasmaan. Back then, little did people know that the young dhoti-clad man would go on to become one of the all time greats of Indian film music. That number from Zameen Aasmaan, however, had not made any significant contribution to Hemanta’s career, and Hemanta had come back to Calcutta.

But three years later, he returned to Bombay. It was Hiren Gupta who was instrumental in taking him to Bollywood this time for the film Anandamath.

Unfortunately, this film also did not bring him the success or fame he deserved. He was yet to have a firm footing in Bombay. Then, in 1952, Hemanta produced his first Hindi hit, Yeh raat yeh chandni (from the film Jaal), sung under the stewardship of another maestro, Sachin Dev Burman. With this number, Hemanta launched his flight to fame in Bollywood.

Hemanta Mukherjee settled down in Bombay and became Hemant Kumar. He brought his family over the Bombay and bought a new house which he named ‘Geetanjali’. In 1954 Nagin was released. The songs became an instant hit with the entire nation. Man doley mera tan doley in particular. Even today, snake-charmers play the tune of this song. Another interesting fact concerning Nagin is that the assistant to Hemanta in this film was Kalyanji, who later teamed up with Anandji to form one of the best music directio n teams of India.

Hemanta & Lata - 19k
Lata Mangeshkar and Hemanta Mukherjee on his completion of 50 years of singing.

Nagin brought Hemanta a lot of fame and money. Offers started pouring in and he started churning out one hit after another. The famous number from the film Pyaasa, Jaane woh kaise log they, deserves special mention. It was probably one of the best songs Hemanta had ever sung. Hai apna dil to awaara was another superhit.

Hemanta, however was never happy in Bombay, in spite of his success there. He missed Calcutta and went on working for Bengali films even while in Bombay. In 1960, Hemanta produced his first Hindi film, Bees Saal Baad, which sent cash registers at the box-office tinkling. Producing this film, he had taken the biggest risk of his career. “I would have been in big trouble had Bees Saal Baad flopped,” he commented. But Hemanta’s gamble paid off and the film ‘clicked’. Hemanta declared a huge profit and consequently had to pay taxes amounting to Rs. 4,00,000.

During this period, Hemanta produced a number of superhit tunes - Yeh nayan dare dare (based on the tune of the Bengali superhit Aei raat tomar aamar), Tum pukar lo and many others.

Following Bees Saal Baad, his film production took a turn for the worse. None of the films he produced since then was successful. He went on losing money. A time came when his loans went up to an astronomical Rs. 14 lakh. This brought Hemanta back to Calcutta, where he went on to become ‘the man with the golden voice’.

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