Kumar or Hemanta Mukhopadhyay was born. Although he was born at his
maternal uncle's house in Varanasi, he was brought up in Kolkata. Poet
Subhas Mukhopadhyay was his friend. Hemanta was very fond of music
since childhood and intended to be a singer. But he feared to
approach. His friend sent him forcefully to attend the audition of
Kolkata Radio Station. His idol Pankaj Mullick was in the audition and
he pleased to hear Hemanta. But advised him to sing in his own style,
asked not to imitate him. That was the begining. Hemanta's first
record published at the age of 16 and only two songs were there on
both sides of the record. "Janite jodi go tumi" was his first recorded
song. He used to struggle to get a chance in Mumbai film industry. And
after lot of struggle, his film 'Nagin' seen the face of success. The
songs of Nagin became very popular. After that, he never looked back.
He sang thousands of songs in almost every languages of the country.
But above all, he is of us - he is of Bengal, he is of Kolkata.
--
A. B.
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