Hemanta, Lata, Sandhya came alive on stage in Debojyoti Mishra’s musical theater on Salil Chowdhury in San Francisco
Salil Chowdhury had roamed in various arenas of music. Be it love songs, songs of association in life, songs of mass movement, his wandering in the arena of various subjects was his own talent. Today is teacher’s day. Salil Chowdhury passed away on September 5, 1995. Debojyoti Mishra has been his long-time assistant-musician as a companion on the maestro’s musical journey.
Salil Chowdhury’s birth centenary is coming in 2024. It can be considered that the celebration started at the Banga Mela in the Bay City of San Francisco.
A musical theater based on the life of Salil Chowdhury was recently presented in the city. Named Jibon Ujjiban. Debojyoti Mishra has written the entire screenplay and arranged the music. The 40-minute drama depicts his journey from Assam’s tea plantations to Mumbai. In the songs sometimes Do Bigha Zamin to Anand’s Zindagi Kaisi Peheli, sometimes Madhumati, Na Mono Lage Na, Ei Duniyay Bhai Sobi Hoy, Pothe Ebar Namo Sathi, Ahowan Shono Ahowan were performed. Salil Chowdhury, Lata Mangeshkar, Hemant Mukhopadhyay, Jharua, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, and others have appeared as characters on the stage. The drama was directed by Anindya Chakraborty. Shuben and his team were in charge of the songs. Dance direction by Chandreeyi Mukherjee, Shijhini Gupta, Dalia Sen. Sabyasachi Basu in the role of Salil Chowdhury, Jharuya – Sayini Roy, Lata Mangeshkar – Chandreeyi Mukherjee, Raj Kapoor and Chaplin – Pinaki Mukherjee, Chhobi Biswas – Anirban Maiti, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay – Aniruddha Banerjee, Bimal Roy – Soumen Ghosh mesmerized with their performance.
Debojyoti Mishra said, “Salil Chowdhury’s musical theater based on his life came to mind suddenly. Dalia Chatterjee Sen of San Francisco’s Bay Area came to know about this and thought of this production. And Anindya Chakraborty directed the play. The production has been planned up in Kolkata in a big way and in other cities too. Perhaps this is the first musical theater based on Salil Chowdhury’s life in this country.”
