Remembering Salil Chowdhury: A true genius who bridged that fine line between writing and composing music

In the interim fissures of time and musical history, many chords have been played - few have been played just right. The masters have captured the intricate gradations and played the quivering notes of freedom, emotion and theme. The true air of music comes from the inimitable discernment of usage of its contrivances. There have been just a handful of maestros who achieved a select unification of style, symphony and classicism. Bengal always has felt the pangs of a vacuum post-Tagore. And few have filled the void. One such started as a mere prawn in that ocean of literati and went on to become prize catch. He had taken to the seas and the seas took him. All the way to God’s own country. He was their son. Their prawn. “Edaa, volume onnu kootiki, adhu nyanglde chemeen aanu!”

Salil Chowdhury was a world musician in many viewpoints. Proficient with musical and non-musical themes, such as Indian Nationalism, Soviet folk songs, North Indian classical music, Western Classical music and Communist Bengali songs, Chowdhury developed a longstanding attraction to compositions for throngs of Indian audiences. Compilations of Salil Chowdhury’s work such as ‘Prantarer Gaan’ and ‘Salil Chowdhury Gaan’ have become foundations for musical composition.

Salil-Da — A Life in retrospect

The son of Doctor Gyanendra Chowdhury, Salil Chowdhury was born on 19th November 1923 in Sonarpur, Parganas. His musical origins were familial, as his father, although a doctor, consciously practiced his penchant for music. Salil Chowdhury was also exposed to the tea-pickers’ nocturnal songs in Assam, where his father was employed. It was in his elder brother, Nikhil Chowdhury, that Salil Chowdhury found the first opportunity of expression.

Nikhil Chowdhury was the director of an orchestra called Milan Parishad, which gave Salil Chowdhury the exposure to instrument, composition and the finer aspects of the orchestral opus. He caught on to the bamboo flute and was trained on the violin and piano, which formed the core of his rudimentary work. Studying in Calcutta, Salil experienced firsthand the tenets of Indian nationalism and the stirring of the masses against British rule. It was during this time that he penned his first compositions - ‘Bicharpati Tomar Bichar’ in 1943, and ‘Dheu Uthchhe Kara Tutchhe’ in 1944. These songs, intended to aid the Quit India Movement were both immediately banned.

Salil Chowdhury was a writer, a poet, and a composer. Most often, he would write the lyrics to the song at the back of an envelope, while composing its music. Salil became reputed for his anti-colonial songs depicting the misery and apathy of poor and oppressed landless peasants. They dealt with themes of independence, oppression and social injustice, as against idealism and romanticism, which were flowering themes in Bengali musical compositions of the day. In fact, Salil Chowdhury’s poetry and songs gained recognition as a subject for postgraduate Bengali students in the Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta.

Salil Chowdhury became a founding member of the Gana Natya Sangh, or Indian Peoples Theater Association (IPTA). At this juncture, he composed a host of songs under the title, ‘Ghum Bhangar Gaan’. Salil worked on rendering music to Sukanta Bhattacharya’s poems, Abak Prithibi and Runner. His most notable output from this period includes ‘Hei Samalo’ written for the Tebagha Andolan in 1948, and ‘Amaar Pratibader Bhasha’. Along with Ruma Guha Thakurta, Salil Chowdhury founded the Calcutta Youth Choir, which traversed villages in Bengal with the IPTA, singing Chowdhury’s compositions.

During his twenties and thirties, Chowdhury had established new stylistic conventions and developed an original modus operandi, combining Western influences into his music, to generate intricate structured patterns of East and West. It is to Salil that we owe the adhunik style of popular music in Calcutta. Logically, Salil Chowdhury graduated to writing playback, and these years mark some of the greatest compositions not only in his life, but in the variegated past of Indian music.

Salil turned out to be the leading playback songwriter in Tollygunj, writing scores for Bengali films. Discovered by Munshi Premkumar, he made his advent to Bombay and the world of Bollywood filmdom. For twenty years, he contributed music to noted films such as Jagte Raho/Ek Din Ratre, Madhumati, and Kabuliwala.

On his return to Calcutta, Salil’s compositions were marked with a new maturity, combining conceptual ideas of a revival movement, with catchy songs such as ‘Surer Jharna’ and ‘Teler Shishi’. His symbolic style caught on to Bengali theater as well, and Salil became one of the most popular composers for a popular Bengali theater form called Jatra.

Chemmeen (1965)

It was probably never imagined that when director Ramu Kariat made a film about a traditional Kerala fishing community, it would go on to become a milestone achievement of film-making and cinematic music. Based on a story penned by Thakazhy Shivashankar Pillai, and edited by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Chemmeen’s music was placed in the hands of Salil Chowdhury. It was a singularly odd combination, and a definite play against the odds. Uncannily, this click clicked and Chemmeen and Salil became buzzwords in Malayalam cinema. The pivotal film received the Presidents Award in 1965, and was dubbed in Hindi as Chemmeen Lahren.

The song ‘Pennale Pennale’ became a groundbreaking representation of what it meant to be a playback composer. It became a domestic essential in every Kerala household’s radio box. Like tamarind… To the fishermen, it was their kallu. Quite a potent mix considering the combination. Manna Dey’s rendition of ‘Manasa Mynae Varu’ for Chemmeen, was another notch in the belt for Salil Chowdhury, who was responsible for setting it to music. Manna Dey once recalled, “Even if there is one Malayali in the audience, he will insist that I sing that song!”

Salil Chowdhury attained his slice of the pie in terms of recognition in South India, and went on to compose music for more than 25 Malayalam films, apart from a host of Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films. Based on the acclaim that Chemmeen received, Salil Chowdhury worked with Ramu Kariat again on Ezhu Raathrikal and Karumbu.

The Written Word

“If Salil became a full time writer, we would lose him as a composer and lose his wonderful songs, but we hope that Salil doesn’t stop writing.”

- Narayan Gangopadhaay, Bengali writer

Salil was also a writer of much acclaim. His first Bengali short story, titled Dressing Table, was a runaway hit, and prompted a furor of stories and plays. The thematic exploration in works such as Sunya Puron, dealing with a midget’s fight to overcome the shortcomings of his height, became an integral part of his writing. Chowdhury’s first play to be staged was ChaalChore, and he went on to write scripts such as Janaantik and Sanket. A significant literary triumph for Salil was translating the renowned Irish play, At the Rising of the Moon into Bengali as Orunodoyer Pathey. Another momentous work was Aapni key? Aapni Ki karen? Apni Ki korte chaan? (Who are you? What do you do? What would you like to do?), directed by Shekhar Chattyopadhaay, and staged by the Theater Unit of Calcutta in 1972.

Salil’s advent into films was marked by his first film script Rikshawalaa, written in Bengali. When Bimal Roy saw the film, he invited Chowdhury to rewrite it in Hindi. This was none other than the critically applauded Do Bighaa Zameen, which established both Roy and Chowdhury as icons of the Indian screen. Pinjre Ki Panchhi, Parakh, and Minoo followed in their wake, and were punctuated by the Kannada film, Chinna Ninna Muddaduwe. Chowdhury also penned a Bengali film, Ei Ritur Ak Din, which he planned to direct himself, but it never came to life as a film.

Salil Chowdhury was one of those rare individuals gifted with the spirit of articulation. It came to life and manifested in a thousand different modes of expression – in the muses of writing, music, composition, theater, film and an overall heightened sense of creative fever. The art of the word is in the mind, and the art of music making is in the emotion. The art of bridging these two cross platform aptitudes is what defines the fine line between mere talent and otherworldly genius. Having to say it in words demeans the strength of the message. The only truth that can never fade away is the real truth – printed in black and white…Salil Chowdhury will always be the one background word, voice and soul of India.