Remember the famous cartoon character 'The Common Man' by R.K.Laxman? Now, imagine him singing. Who do you think would be his voice? It would without a doubt be: Manna Dey. He was that unknown voice behind some of the sweetest melodies. The present young generation has heard his name but it resides somewhere deep in the distant quarters of mind. We love his songs, we even sing his melodies but most of the time we are incapable of associating his name to the song. The reason is: we are able to picture Shammi Kapoor when we hear Mohd. Rafi, Dilip Kumar in Talat Mahmood's, Raj Kapoor in Mukesh's, Manoj Kumar in Mahendra Kapoor's and Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Amitabh in Kishore Kumar's voice but where do we find Manna Dey? We cannot picture anyone. That was the beauty of his singing. He was everywhere and in everyone yet lay in the shadows of anonymity.
How often has it happened that we hear a song and say, " Oh! how beautifully sung by Kishore da! When in fact the singer is Manna Dey. Do you think the classic song "Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haye" from ANAND was sung by Kishore Kumar? Do you think the best of the melodious duets from SHREE 420 and CHORI CHORI are sung by Mukesh-Lata? Do you think the Golden Era had only 3 great male singers? If your anwer to any of the questions is 'YES', then please accept that you have been fooled, like many others, by the wizard: Manna Dey. If Kishore -Rafi-Mukesh formed the triangle of Bollywood Music Industry, then Manna Dey was the centroid. He was there, yet invisible.
Mohd. Rafi once said in his interview," You listen to my songs, I listen to Manna Dey's songs." As Shankar-Jaikishan put it in their words," Manna Dey could sing anybody's song, but his songs were difficult to sing." Javed Akhtar said," He was the most complete singer of his time." Now you might ask yourself," What was his speciality? Did he sing sad songs or comic songs or pure classical songs?" The answer is : Everything. He has sung songs for every mood. You feel like listening to sad song? Try listening to "Poocho na kaise maine rain bitayi" without dropping a tear. Feeling a bit mischievous? Listen to "Ek chaturnaar" or "Dil ka haal sune dilwala". Are you feeling a bit philosophical? "Kasme, Vaade, Pyaar, Wafa Sab" is just for you. Is it raining? Are you under the influence of drug called 'love'? He has a gift for you in "Yeh raat bheegi-bheegi" and "Aaja sanam, madhur chandni me hum". You want to dedicate a song to your friend.How about "Yaari hai imaan mera, yaar meri zindagi" ? Oh, now you are feeling patriotic, keep your ears and mind open for "Ae mere pyaare watan". You want to scan him under the microscope of classical music? Listen to his duet with Pt. Bhimsen Joshi in "Ketaki, Gulab, Juhi" after which the classical guru himself applauded Manna Dey and asked him to sing more classical songs. You don't want to read any of this stuff, you are better off with your 60ml of whisky…wait a minute..maybe you would like a taste of 'Madhushala' for which Harivansh Rai himself chose Manna Dey.
Manna Dey was like Rahul Dravid of Bollywood Music Industry. He was there when directors needed him, yet away from all the glamour and credits. He quietly came, calmly played his own game amongst some of the greatest, kept his ground when the wickets at the other end were falling, artfully crafted his innings and left the field with only memories and melodies to cherish !!!!
Respect !!!!
