The title of this essay is meant to be an ironic pun. All Bengalis of my era have listened to, loved and sung songs written by him. Yet, we seldom mention his name or bestow lavish praise on him in social discussions or written tributes in the same way as we do about many singers and composers. I am talking about the famous lyricist, Gouri Prasanna Mazumdar (GPM). I knew his name from childhood, but started to appreciate his greatness much later.
My college friend Kamal mentioned one day that GPM was his uncle. I looked up the names of lyricists of all my favorite Bengali modern songs and surprisingly, almost all songs from Bengali movies that I was passionate about were written by GPM while my favorite Puja songs were written by Salil Chaudhuri (SC).
I started not only to listen to all those movie songs again, but also follow every word carefully. It gradually became clear why GPM’s songs made such profound impressions on millions of Bengalis. First, the lyrics were simple. No symbolism, no gimmick, no double-meaning. However, even a few words in his songs have a significant meaning which touches our heart. Secondly, an intimate connection with Bengali culture seems to be embedded in his songs. Thirdly, the appeal of his lyrics seems to be not only independent of the music director but enhances the music no matter who is directing it.
In the Bollywood music world a lyricist is typically associated with a specific one or two music directors. In Bengali music, SC wrote lyrics only for songs he composed. GPM has written for many music directors including Hemanta Mukherjee, Sachin Dev Burman (SDB), Nachiketa Ghosh, Ansuman Roy, Shyamal Mitra, Robin Chatterjee, Rahul Dev Burman (RDB) and more recent composers like Ajoy Das, covering a span of several decades. One can tell which songs have GPM’s lyrics because the lyrics become the dominant aspects.
His ability of working with almost any music director made him a sought-after lyricist, especially for Bengali movies. It seems that the turf of modern Bengali songs was unofficially divided between GPM for movie songs and SC for annual puja songs although GPM wrote many non-film songs as well, especially for SDB and RDB.
GPM attended Presidency College and his father was the superintendent of Hindu Hostel. He reportedly met SDB during his college days and wrote the song “Bodhu go madhumash” for him. SDB liked the song and sang it himself; this was GPM’s first recorded song. After that he never looked back.
My most favorite Bengali song is “Ei raat tomar amar” from the movie “Deep Jwele Jai”, directed and sung by Hemanta. Yes, those were GPM’s words. I have never heard a more romantic line than: “tumi achho ami achhi tai, anubhobe tomare je pai” (I exist because you exist. I can get you simply through my feelings!) The line brings tears of joy to my eyes.
Another one of my favorites is “Neer chhoto, khoti nei”. The message is one of optimism and freedom. If your nest is small there is no problem; just spread your wings and see the world. The sky is, after all, vast. The song “ei poth jodi na sesh hoi” from the movie “Saptapadi” sowed seeds of romantic dreams in my adolescent heart. In the title song from the movie “Neel Akasher Niche” there is a line I often think of in my time of despair: “Chhoto chhoto mausher chhoto chhoto asha, ke rakhe khobor tar”. As I am getting older, I cannot help but cry out the line “pather klanti bhule……” from the movie “Marutirtha Hinglaj”.
We often talk about the duo Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen when discussing the so-called “golden age” of Bengali cinema. Unfortunately, we do not talk with equal passion about the other duo that made this age golden: Hemanta and GPM. Just think of the movies “Harano Sur”, “Indrani”, “Sesh Parjanta”, “Looko Churi”, “Bipasha”, “Bandhu”, “Sathi Hara”, “Saptapadi”, “Deep Jele Jai”, “Neel Akasher Niche”, “Marutirtha Hinglaj”, “Deya Neya”, “Chaoa Paoa”, “Pathey holo deri”, “Jiban Trishna”, “Jautuk”, “Dui Bhai” and many others.
It is not just Hemanta, GPM’s lyrics resonated equally effectively through vocals of Manna De (“Anthony Fireengi”, “Sanyasi raja”), Shyamal Mitra (“Sagarika”, “Ban Palasher Padabali”), Geeta Dutt (“Swaralipi”) and others.
I love many of GPM’s later compositions with RDB such as “Jete dao amay deko na” and “jaboki jabona”. I liked the song “mohuae bosechhe aj mou go” because of its rhyming with the line “moneri moyur nacher chhou go”; such a wonderful way to express one’s immense heart-felt joy using elements from Bengali culture.
GPM wrote a song about “adda” in Coffee House – a song everyone who hung out in Coffee House during college days could identify with. The lyrics strike a chord especially in our effort to locate our old classmates and speculation about where they are and what they are doing. GPM was inspired by Sheikh Mujibar Rahman’s struggle for freedom of his country – Bangladesh – and wrote the song “shono ek Mujibarer..” which became the anthem of freedom struggle for the country. There are many stories of GPM writing a song in a matter of minutes, sometimes on the back of an envelope or other scratch paper. He was a living breathing embodiment of our melodic emotional expression.
GPM wrote about death in “Ei to jiban” (movie: “Amar Kantak”) but he probably immortalized himself by the words of the song “Amar ganer swaralipi lekha robe”. He wrote “Agami prithibi kan pete tumi shono..” in case he did not come back and even gave us clues of where we can find his “swaralipi” – in the tune of “rakhali banshi” in rural Bengal and in the middle of “jhora patar mormor dhwani”. Indeed, his lyrics have been permanently carved in our hearts. Any line from any Bengali modern song that has permanently remained in your head because of its powerful impact or beauty, is likely to be a GPM composition.
It is a crying shame that GPM was not even awarded with a Padmashri title, not to mention even higher recognition. One reason can be the fact that he was a stranger in Bollywood. Perhaps it is impossible to achieve fame simply being a lyricist. Names of lyricists are often not mentioned whether it is a song playing on the radio or a clip on Youtube.com.
Lack of appreciation for GPM is especially surprising in the Tagore-centric Bengali culture where everyone is ecstatic about Tagore’s lyrics. Many of GPM’s lyrics have left more of an impact on me than Tagore songs. As an example, take the GPM-written masterpiece “Aj dujonar duti poth ogo..” from the movie “Harano Sur”. It leaves me in a state of deep sadness and melancholy. A similarly themed Tagore song “Amar e path tomar pather …”, while a pleasant song, has less emotional impact.
GPM passed away in 1986 and did not come back to us. He did not have any children and could not pass his DNA along to the next generation. Let me offer my heart-felt tribute to a Bengali lyricist, perhaps second only to Rabindranath Tagore.
The writer is a physicist, who has worked in industry and academia. He is a Bengali settled in America. Views expressed are personal.