With profound grief and sorrow, the iconic playback singer, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay , who blessed us with a non-exhaustive list of melodies, left for her heavenly abode due to a cardiac arrest at the age of 90.
In the early hours of 15 February 2022, the legendary Bengali singer, Sandhya Mukherjee, passed away at a private hospital due to a cardiac arrest at the age of 90. A recipient of the Banga Bibhushan, Bharat Nirman Award, Best Female Playback Singer, and National Film Awards, to name a few, she was an iconic face in the Indian Music Industry.
With her career spanning over 70 years, she collaborated with other acclaimed and honored faces like Hemanta Mukherjee, Robin Chattopadhyay, and Nachiketa Ghosh to deliver some of her best works. Having recorded a vast number of songs, her contribution to the industry is boundless. Her exceptional benefaction to the industry gained her the title of ‘Geetashree’ (famous singer).
Daughter to Narendranath Mukherjee, a railway official, and Hemprova Devi, Sandhya recorded her first song back in 1945. Consequently, her first album of Durga Puja songs was released in 1948. This got her the first offer of playback singing in the Hindi film- ‘Sampika,’ which too was released in 1948.
One of her most notable works is the song- “Ei Path Jyodi na Sesh hoe,” which she sang along with Hemanta Mukherjee for the film- ‘Saptapadi.’ Awarded the Banga Bibhushan (the highest honor of the state of West Bengal) in 2011, she refused to accept the Padma Shri on 26 January 2022 on the pretense of disrespect and disregard. Nevertheless, she is also a recipient of the Doctor of Letters from Jadavpur University in Kolkata in 2009.
Came into the world on 4 October 1931, Sandhya sang in 17 Hindi films as a playback singer. She transformed the Bengali music industry. Traditionally, she was trained in classical music, but most of her work contained “adhunik gaan,” also known as the modern
Bengali songs. From Rabindra Sangeet and folk songs to playback songs or bhajans, her voice became the face of it, and soon these genres could not be imagined without her sound. In 1966, she got hitched to Shyamal Gupta, a Bengali poet. He became the writer of the lyrics of many of her songs moving forward.
As mentioned earlier, some of her best works are with Hemanta Mukhopadhyay. In most of their films, Hemanta and Sandhya became the voices of the renowned actors Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, respectively. Known for her fine voice, she had lent her voice to other acclaimed faces, including Madhubala.
The last rites of the singer were performed with full state honors on Wednesday, as announced by the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee. The latter stated that Sandhya was the Bharat Ratna to her, and losing her the Bengali music industry has lost its brightest star.
This melodious queen from Dhakuria motivated countless young voices to pursue singing. The echo of her voice shall remain music to our ears for eternity.
Edited by- Subbuthai Padma
Published by- Radhika N
