Deepan Chatterjee – Music composer and sound engineer who assisted R. D. Burman for 24 years

Deepan Chatterjee was a National award winning sound engineer and music composer who predominantly worked in Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali films. He was most active in the first decade of 2000s with many successful works to his credit before he passed away. As a music composer of Malayalam films, Mohanlal starrer Kaakkakuyil is one among his best works. This renowned sound engineer was an integral part of ‘Four Frames’. He worked as a recording assistant of legendary Bollywood composer R. D. Burman between 1970 and 1994, throughout his peak years till his death.

Popular dance sequence of ‘‘Paadaam Vanamaali‘ from Kakkakuyil

Deepan Chatterjee hailed from West Bengal. He began his career in year 1970 working as a recording assistant to R. D. Burman, who ruled Bollywood throughout 1970s and first half of 1980s. He stayed with the composer till his death in R. D. Burman, and worked with most of his projects released during this period. Later he embarked on a new journey, and earned a name of his own. He is known for his work in Malayalam industry as well, as a music composer. He composed songs for Wanted (2004) and Kakkakuyil (2001), both starring Mohanlal, which became popular in the mid-2000s.

Deepan Chatterjee – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He received National award for best sound designing and mixing (Audiography) for Kaalapani (Malayalam) and Halo (Hindi) in 1995.

2. As a sound engineer, he frequently worked with Priyadarshan, and their best works include – Hulchul, Garam Masala, Kilichundan Mampazham and Kanchivaram. He also composed music for Priyadarshan’s comedy cap, Kakkakuyil, marking his debut in Malayalam film industry.

3. Ace Sound Engineer and Sound Mixer of ‘Baahubali’ fame Justin Jose worked as his assistant in Mumbai for 5 years since 2003, and they together worked for many movies of different languages.

4. M. R. Rajakrishnan and Udaykumar are other prominent students (assistants) of Deepan, who established their careers later.

5. Apart from original Indian films, he worked as a sound engineer and mixer of Hollywood dubbed movies in the 2000s.

6. He assisted R. D. Burman throughout his peak years nearly for 25 years till his death in 1994.

7. He composed the item song, ‘Govinda Govinda’ featuring Swetha Menon and also ‘Paadaam Vanamaali‘ in Kakkakuyil, which became extremely popular at the time of release. Both were dance sequences.

N.B: I couldn’t find any authenticated image of Deepan Chatterjee on net. Hence I used the screenshot of his most popular film song as a music composer.