God's own voice
The legendary artist Salil Chowdhury once said - 'If God could sing, he would have a voice like Hemant Kumar'. Hemant Kumar needs no introduction. His is the voice of devotion and it touches those depths inside your heart that perhaps you were never even aware of. Lovingly referred to as Hemant Da, he was not just an exceptional singer but also a highly gifted composer. While he was studying Engineering at Jadavpur University, he was always lost in music and quit midway to pursue his passion. He got his first break in 1940 with a Bangla song and in 1942 for a Hindi song. Musical success though continued to elude him until 1947 when his composition in Bengali film 'Purba Rang' got the attention of S.Mukherjee, owner of the very popular Filmistan Studios in Bombay (Mumbai). This association gave music lovers the gift of 'Anand Math' in 1952, the album that also has the rousing 'Vande Mataram'. The real fame came with the 1954 movie 'Nagin' and he ...