Subir Sen

Subir Sen (24 July 1934 – 29 December 2015) was an Indian playback singer who sang modern songs in Bengali and Hindi. He was also one of the artists of Rabindra Sangeet.

Personal life Sen was born in Dibrugarh, Assam to Sailesh Chandra Sen and Lily Sen. Sailesh was a doctor. They also had a pharmacy in Guwahati. His siblings were Prithwish Sen, Gauri Sen, Sunil Sen and Arun Sen. He passed the Matric Examination from Guwahati and came to Kolkata in pursuit of music.

Career in Music Music interested Subir Sen from a young age. During his schooling, he attended a classical vocal music competition at Morris College, Lucknow. He secured first place and received his award from Pandit Shrikrishna Ratanjankar. In 1951, he came to Kolkata and was admitted to Ashutosh College. While in Kolkata, he started taking music lessons from Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri, who sent Sen to Shri Usha Ranjan Mukherjee to learn thumri.

While he was studying in Ashutosh College he took part in the KEREJU Music Competition conducted by His Master's Voice, and he was selected as first among around fourteen hundred competitors. Subir Sen described this event in his own words in "আমি তো গেয়েছি সেই গান" (Aami to geyechi sei gaan), where he sang a song composed by his mentor Sri Anupam Ghatak: "সারা রাত জ্বলে সন্ধ্যাপ্রদীপ" (Saara raat jale sandhyaprodip).

Sen's first record was released by Columbia records in February 1954 and contained two Bengali modern songs whose music was composed by Sri Chitto Roy and lyrics written by Sri Shyamal Gupta: "জীবন-বাতি নিভিয়ে যেদিন" (Jibon-bati niviye jedin) and "আর কত জানাব তোমায়" (Aar koto janabo tomay).

এত সুর আর এত গান যদি কোনদিন থেমে যায় সেইদিন তুমিও তো ওগো জানি ভুলে যাবে যে আমায়।

কতদিন আর এ জীবন কত আর এ মধু লগন... তবুও তো পেয়েছি তোমায় জানি ভুলে যাবে যে আমায়।

আমি তো গেয়েছি সেই গান যে গানে দিয়েছিলে প্রাণ...। ক্ষতি নেই আজ কিছু আর ভুলেছি যত কিছু তার...

এ জীবনে সবই যে হারায় জানি ভুলে যাবে যে আমায়।. He was associated with Salil Chowdhury, Sudhin Dasgupta, Abhijit Bandopadhyay, Anal Chatterjee, Amiyo Dasgupta and many other noted music composers of Calcutta (Kolkata) and Bombay (Mumbai).

In 1967, Subir Sen debuted as a music director when composing music for Bengali film মিস প্রিয়ম্বদা (Miss Priyambada). In 1972, he was music director for the Hindi film "Midnight." The film, directed by Raju, was released in England in 1972. Playback songs were: Koi mera ho gaya (Subir Sen), London ke mele mein & Zindagi ka hai yeh fasana (Md. Rafi), Tumsa meet mila (Geeta Dutt and Talat Mahmood), and Tere yaad mein sajan (Geeta Dutt).

Subir Sen acted in several movies in Bengali and Hindi. He was an actor-singer in Bengali movies Momer Alo (1964) (with Uttam Kumar) and Anubhav (1971) (with Sanjeev Kumar). He was offered the lead role in the Hindi movie Abhimaan by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and when Subir Sen declined, it was given to Amitabh Bachchan.

Subir Sen's literary contributions are rare and difficult to retrieve, but his writings' spontaneity may be observed in a chapter of a book titled Shyamal Mitra – a compilation of essays, a memoir of Shyamal Mitra.

Death and legacy Survived by his daughter (Supriya Sen, presently a professor in occupational therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University), he died of lung cancer in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, at 8 a.m. on 29 December 2015. Subir Sen had a deep, dreamy, romantic and appealing voice. His renditions of Rabindra Sangeet, Hindi film songs, and Bangla modern songs were popular and represented a genre of its own kind. Sen was fond of Western music, particularly of Jim Reeves and Nat King Cole. According to Abhijit Bandopadhyay, he created an international style of his own.

Discography Film and Non-film songs of Subir Sen + Subir Sen DiscographyYearSongFilm/DirectorLanguageMusic ComposerLyricsStarring 1962 Aa ja re nayan dware solo Roop Ki Rani Choro Ka Raja Dir: H S Rawail Hindi Shankar – Jaikishen Shailendra Dev Anand & Waheeda Rehman 1962 Aa ja re nayan dware with Asha Bhonsle Roop Ki Rani Choro Ka Raja H S Rawail Hindi Shankar – Jaikishen Shailendra Dev Anand & Waheeda Rehman - Aagneogiri ke jwolte dekhe - Bengali - - - 1968 Aah dil mein hain nayan mein neer hain Rani Chandrawati Hindi S N Tripathi Lalita Pawar - Aaha piano amar prothom prem mon rangano - Bengali Kalyan Sen Barat Shibdas Bandyopadhyay - 1956 Aaja re aaja with Geeta Dutt C I D Chhoo Mantar Hindi Shankar – Jaikishen - Aakash jekhane golpo bole - Bengali - - 1981 Aamar jibon tarani - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury - 1973 Aami je tomar tumi je aamar with Asha Bhonsle Kayaheener KahiniDir: Ajay Kar Bengali Mukul Roy - Uttam Kumar, Aparna Sen 1973 Aami pore nilam Album titled Mousumi mon Bengali - - 1954 Aar kato janabo tomay - Bengali Chitta Roy Shyamal Gupta Columbia Records (GE24715) 1981 Aar kichhu smorone nei - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury - 1981 Adhikar ke kake dey - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury CMRS-107 - Aranyer jhor - Bengali Subir Sen Kumar Bishwarup - - Asto akash jemon kore - Bengali Sailen Mukherjee Indrajit - 1961 Baharen Luta Ke Nazare Dikha Ke with Suman Kalyanpur Anarbala Hindi Bulo C Rani Ramesh Chandra Pandey Daljeet, Krishna Kumari - Bandhu tomake jeno - Bengali Swapan Roy Gopinath Mukhopadhyay - 1965 Bujh gaya dil ka diya Jadui AnguthiDir: A M Khan Hindi Suresh Kumar Zafar Rahi Chitra, Manher Desai, Krishna Kumari 1963 Chand tale jhoom jhoom, thirak rahi hain ghoonghar with Suman Kalyanpur Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai Kedar Kapoor Hindi Dattaram Pradeep Kumar, Geeta Bali, Shammi Kapoor - Chand tumi eto alo kotha hote pele - Bengali Abhijit Banerjee Bankim Ghosh - - Chondon anka chhotto kopal - Bengali - - 1961 Dekho Na Jao Jane Man Boy Friend Dir: Naresh Saigal Hindi Shankar – Jaikishen Shammi Kapoor, Madhubala & Dharmendra 1959 Gori tere natkhat naina with Geeta Dutt Hum Bhi Insaan Hain Hindi Hemanta Mukherjee Shailendra - - Haajar golap ghirechhilo more - Bengali Subir Sen Anup Chatterjee - - Haate sob Haat-Ghori bandha - Bengali Subir Sen - 1968 Hoyto tomar anek khoti korechhi Album "Eto Sur Ar Eto Gaan" Bengali Abhijit Banerjee Abhijit Banerjee - 1960 Humein yun rahon par chalna hai with Aratu Mukherjee Masoom Dir: Satyen Bose Hindi Rabin Banerjee Raja Mehdi Ali Khan Sarosh Irani, Aziz, Honey Irani 1981 Jaanina jaanina kon sagorer dheu - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury - - Jaar alo nive gechhe - Bengali Prabir Mazumder Prabir Mazumder - - Jakhan haat baralei akash - Bengali Abhijit Banerjee Babu Guhathakurata - 1969 Jayse pani chhupa ghata mein with Lata Mangeskar BandhanDir: Narendra Bedi Hindi Kalyanji–Anandji Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz, Jeevan - Je buke tomar byatha chhilo - Bengali Subir Sen Kumar Bishwarup - 1954 Jiban baati niviye - Bengali Chitta Roy Shyamal Gupta Columbia Records (GE24715) - Kalo meghe dambaru - Bengali Bhupen Hazarika Pulak Bandyopadhyay - 1962 Kasam na lijiye with Purnima Sett Jadu Mahal Dir: Akkoo Hindi Bulo C Rani - Helen, Ajit, Azad, Hiralal 1965 Ki bhalo laglo chokhe - Bengali Sudhin Dasgupta Sunil Baran 1981 Kichhudin pore ar - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury - - Kichhu phul diye aaj - Bengali Anal Chatterjee Shyamal Gupta 1972 Koi mera ho gaya Midnight Dir: Raju Hindi Subir Sen Tajdar Taj 1981 Kono bhalo kobitar duti ponkti dao - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury - 1989 Konodin tumi aar gaibe na - Bengali - - In memory of Hemanta Mukherjee after his death 1962 Kya kaha jara phir kaho with Geeta Dutt Gangu Hindi Kalyanji – Anandji Qamar Zalalabadi or Prem Dhawan Chandrashekhar and Naaz - Lal dopati o phul tomar - Bengali - - - 1959 Main rangeela pyar ki rahi with Lata Mangeskar & Ameen Sayani Chhoti Bahen Hindi Shankar – Jaikishen Hasrat Jaipuri Balraj Sahni, Nanda, Shyama 1957 Manzil wohi hai pyar ki Kathputli Hindi Shankar – Jaikishen Shailendra Vyjayanthimala and Balraj Sahni - Siri uthe gechhe dhaape dhaape - Bengali - - - - Sudhu sei gaane aaji - Bengali - - - 1981 Sukher bandhan jei na chukalam - Bengali Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury - 1961 Sun le dastaan yun na sata Passport Dir: Pramode Chakravorty Hindi Kalyanji – Anandji - Pradeep Kumar, Madhubala - Sundar kichhu dekhle pore - Bengali - - - - Swarna jhora surya ronge - Bengali Sudhin Dasgupta Sudhin Dasgupta - 1962 Thaam mujhe gir na jaaoon Raaz Ki BaatDir: Bolton Ci Nagi Hindi Rabin Banerjee Hairat Sitapuri Agha, Abhi Bhattacharya, Mohan Choti 1957 Tomar haasi lukiye haase - Bengali Sudhin Dasgupta Anal Chatterjee - 1957 Tomar shishir bheja - Bengali Anal Chattopadhyay Samir Deb - - Tomare peyechhi bole - Bengali - - - - Tomay peyechhi aami - Bengali Sailen Mukherjee Indrajit - 1966 Tomra amar gaan shune aaj - Bengali Abhijit Banerjee Gauriprasanna Mazumder - - Tumi amar prem - Bengali Abhijit Banerjee Miltu Ghosh - 1964 Tumi bolechhile - Bengali Abhijit Banerjee Shibdas Bandopadhyay / or/ Amiyo Dasgupta - 1968 Yeh pukar kiske liye geet banke with Suman Kalyanpur Rani Chandrawati Hindi S N Tripathi Lalita Pawar Rabindra Sangeet by Subir Sen + Subir Sen DiscographySongCo-singerAlbum Asa Jaoar Pother Dhare Purabi Mukhopadhyay Nabin Megher Sur by SAREGAMA O dekhbi re bhai ay re chhute - - Sedin dujone dulechhinu bone - Anubhav (1971)