Abhijit Banerjee

Abhijit Banerjee (July 24, 1931 – February 21, 2022; ) was an Indian composer and lyricist, who primarily composed music for Bengali non-film songs (singles). He worked with musicians such as Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, Pratima Bandyopadhyay, Pulak Bandyopadhyay and others. He was a close associate of Salil Chowdhury and a music teacher at Bani Chakra school.

Banerjee was born in Kolkata in 1931 and took interest in Rabindra Sangeet. He was brought into music by his friend Prabir Mazumdar and first played xylophone while in class eight. He played near a railway station where meetings were held, and from there got to know Salil Chowdhury. His first composition was when his brother asked him to compose two poems. His second poem was acknowledged by Salil Chowdhury, who took the song to Saregama. It was sung by Shyamal Mitra. He inspired songs by Salil Chowdhury like "Dhitang Dhitang Bole" and "Ranar." Later, he worked with Pulak Bandyopadhyay and composed film songs with him like "O Pakhi Ure Aay" by Asha Bhosle and "Ekhono Sarengita Bajche" by Haimanti Shukla. He died in 2022 from health issues of old age. Mamata Banerjee, Shukla and others responded to his death.

Musical career Abhijit Banerjee was born into a Brahmin family in Kolkata and became interested in music from childhood. He became aware of the writer Rabindranath Tagore and learned Rabindra Sangeet. As a student, he used to sing "Premer Samadhitire" by S. D. Burman and "Kotha Koyonako" by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Mukherjee), and also songs from Rabindra Sangeet.

He and his elder brother Arindam did many things together, ranging from playing kirtan at home to trying to imitate the Nagar kirtan performed by Brahmins in their home, going to play or to listen to music. His school friend Prabir Mazumdar helped him in writing musicals. He once broke his neck when in class eight and played xylophone in a dance group, one of his first instruments. Two years later, he returned to playing normal music under the requisition of Prabir Mazumdar. Mazumdar took him to the Gananatya Sangha, later known as Indian People's Theater Association (IPTA), which was an organization of Indian theater artists. From the recording of this composed song, Banerjee became a close associate of Salil Chowdhury. This tune composed by him was used by Salil Chowdhury in his songs "Palki Chole", "Gayer Bodhu" and "Ranar". Banerjee also found a role in Saregama (His Master's Voice or HMV). Chowdhury played the organ in Shyamal Mitra's song "Hongshopakha Diye",

He worked on composing the songs "Meghla Dine Neel Akashe Swopno Choray" written by Ananda Mukhopadhyay, "Tumi Meghla Diner" sung by Satinath Mukhopadhya, "Jodi Amake Dekho" by Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, "Ki Jeno Aaj" by Ilya Basu, "Dur Bonopothe" by Gayetri Basu and written by Pulak Bandyopadhyay, "Chondroduti Ratri" by Arundhati Holme Chowdhury, etc. Abhijit Banerjee worked extensively with Pulak Bandyopadhyay. While he himself sometimes worked as a lyricist and wrote for film songs, most of the film songs he composed were written by Pulak Bandyopadhyay. His film songs "Tung Tang Pianoy Sarati Dupur" and "Jhonnon Tonnon" in the film Haraye Khuji were sung by Aarti Mukherjee, with lyrics by Banerjee and "Phule Phule Bodhu" by Anup Ghoshal. In the hit film Tilottama directed by Dinesh Gupta, he composed "Rong Sudhu Diyei Gele" and "Amay Tomar Moto Pashan Kore Goro", which became some of his superhit songs. Pulak Bandyopadhyay wrote the song "Lomba Daari Chowkidar Bolche Heke Khobbodar" in Dushtu Misti film, with music by Banerjee, and the artist as Haimanti Shukla. Pulak Bandyopadhyay's last film he worked on was Rinmukti, in which he composed songs by working equally with Abhijit Bandyopadhyay, released after Pulak Bandyopadhyay had died. Aarti Mukherjee won the BFJA award for best female singer for singing the song "Tung Tang Pianoy Sarati Dupur" jointly written by Pulak Banerjee and Abhijit Banerjee. Lata Mangeshkar, who Banerjee worked with, also died in February 2022, a few days before him. Mamata Banerjee wrote on his death: Rupankar Bagchi posted on social media announcing about his death. He remarked that Banerjee had been suffering from health issues of old age for some time, and was admitted to a hospital sometimes. He wrote that Banerjee had returned home after being in the hospital for a few days. Bagchi expressed his sorrow by getting the news of his death on Monday morning.

Arundhati Holme Chowdhury commented "Our time seems to be running out quickly." She described that lyricists, artists and composers of the 20th century were passing away one by one. Chowdhury remarked that Abhijit Banerjee was the music composer of many of her film songs.

Selected albums discography