Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar has shared a video of late singer Manna Dey, marking his 101st birth anniversary on Friday. The video is a duet that Lata sang with Manna Da, as he was fondly called in Bollywood.
The song is Pritam Daras Dikhao from Chacha Zindabad (1959).
Sharing the video, Lata tweeted, “Aaj mahan gayak aur shastriya sangeet ke upaasak Manna Dey sahab ki 101vi jayanti hai. Main unki yaad ko vinamra abhivadan karti hun (Today is the 101st birth anniversary of legendary singer and scholar of music Manna Dey. I remember him and pay my humble respects).”
His first duet with the then upcoming singer Lata was Lapat Ke Pot Pahaney Bikral for the 1949 film Narsingh Avtar. He recorded around 103 Hindi songs with Lata - songs like Tere Bina Aag Yeh Chandni from Awara, Yeh Raat Bhigi Bhigi and Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein from Chori Chori, Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua from Shree 420, Woh Chand Muskaye from Akhri Dao (1958), Ritu Aye, Dil Ki Girah Khol Do from Raat Aur Din (1966), Aya Abdulla Aya from Juaari (1968), Soch Ke Ye Gagan Jhume from the flop film Jyoti (1969) and Main Buddho Lambo Lambo of Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) are still popular.
Manna is also given credit for popularising classical based solo and duet songs to the masses like Pritam Daras Dikhao.
Born as Prabodh Chandra Dey in 1919, he was an internationally acclaimed singer and music director. Manna Dey debuted in 1942 with Tamanna and went on to record more than 4,000 songs. He was also honoured with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.
Manna Dey sang in Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia, Konkani, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, and Nepali. However, most of his songs were crooned in Hindi and Bengali. .
He passed away on 24 October 2013.
(Source: Hindustan Times)