Manna Dey’s last wish was to record song for wife

KOLKATA: A prolific singer, Manna Dey’s last wish was to record an emotional love song in memory of his deceased wife Sulochana.

“He wanted to sing till his last breath. He was very keen to resume singing after a long hiatus despite his ill health. It was his last wish to record a song for his wife,” his close associate Suparna Kanti Ghosh told PTI.

Dey had decided to record four Rabindra Sangeet songs in his wife’s memory this year.

Ghosh said since the Dadasaheb Phalke awardee was a perfectionist, he was waiting for his health to improve so that he could record the songs.

But unfortunately the last wish went unfulfilled as the legend passed away due to prolonged illness in Bangalore.

“God should have let him fulfill his last wish at least. He only wanted to pay tribute to his departed wife as a lover,” lamented Ghosh, himself a music director and lyricist.

Dey’s last work was vocalist Sraboni Mondal’s Bengali music album ‘Kemon Acho Tumi Ekhon’ (How are you now) where he had composed two songs. It was released only two weeks ago.

Dey, who got married in 1953, lost his wife in January last year due to cancer. Since then he lived alone.

Any mention of her by visiting journalists and relatives in Bangalore would leave him in tears.

“Their bonding was very strong as they were married for sixty years. After her death he changed a lot and would cry like a baby,” his grand nephew Sandeep Dey said.

His wife Sulochana was known to be the inspiration behind a number of his evergreen love songs. He even treated her as his music critic. Whenever he wrote a new musical score, he would submit it to her for approval before presenting it to film producers.

Born in Kolkata, the multi-talented singer spent more than fifty years in Mumbai before moving on to Bangalore. -PTI