Pratima Bandopadhyay – Bengali playback singer of classic era

Bengali playback singer Pratima Bandopadhyay (1934 – 2004) was also popular for numerous Bengal modern songs in the post-independent era. A trained classical singer she recorded her first song in 1945 at the age of just 11. She recorded her first film song – “Totini ami, Tumi sudurer chand” for the movie, “Sunandar Biye” in 1951, and has been active in the industry till 1970s. She spent three decades in Bengali cinema and retired from singing following her husband’s death in 1986. She has recorded many hit songs for Bengali cinema in the golden era of 1950s-1970s. She was also known as Pratima Banerjee.

Pratima Bandopadhyay lived in Kolkata. Her family has roots in Dacca. Mani Bhusahn Chattopadhyay and Kamala Chattopadhyay were her parents. She was married to Amiyo Kumar Bandyopadhyay. She took formal training in music from Prakash Kali Ghoshal, and started public singing when she was only 11. She recorded her first film song at the age of 17, and the song, “Sunandar Biye” was composed by Pankaj Kumar Mallik. Some of her popular songs were composed by Hemant Kumar, Pankaj Kumar Mallik, Sukumar Mitra, Lakshmikant Pyarelal, Nirmalendu Chowdhury, Husnlal Bhagatram etc.

Pratima Bandopadhyay – Some interesting and unknown facts

1. She lost her father at the age of 1, and later she grew up in maternal home.

2. After her husband’s death in 1986, her health deteriorated rapidly and she took a break from singing. She lived 18 more years and died of heart attack.

3. She started her professional career at her childhood days.

4. It’s said that because of her soft nature, she was cheated by many in her real life and she faced financial problems during her last years. 

Pratima Bandopadhyay – Top 5 Bengali songs

Kaise Kate Rajani from Tapan Sinha’s 1960 National award winning movie – Kshudita Pashan is a lovely duet of Pratima Bandopadhyay with Ustad Amir Khan. ‘Tribeni Tirthapathe’ – a duet with Chinmoy Lahiri, the guru of Parveen Sultana in Bengali film ‘Sapmochon‘ would convince you of her classical prowess. ‘Bansh baganer mathar upor’ – a light modern song brings the best out of her in pathos. ‘Koi koi go koi amar bokul phool koi‘ – a nostalgia of one’s childhood was rendered beautifully by her. ’Andhar amar bhalo lagee’ is yet another superb song of this true musical genius. Above five songs are based on her awesome range and mastery of both classical and light modern.