Once the legendary singer Mohammad Rafi commented that people listened to his songs but he listened to only Manna Dey’s songs. What else can define the greatness of Prabodh Chandra Dey aka Manna Dey.
Though termed as the ‘classical guru’, Manna Da could render songs from any genre: romantic, melancholic, patriotic, devotional, pacy, slow, folk and what not. His stint with the Bengali film industry remains a tale to be told. He was the voice behind the greatest Bengali numbers: ‘Ami taar thikana rakhini’, ‘Hoyto tomari jonno’, ‘Ami je jolsha ghore’ and the effervescent ‘Coffee Houser shei addata’. As for his umpteen melodious renditions in Hindi, here goes my list of favourites: -