The World of Salil Chowdhury

films

It's widely believed that Salil's first bengali film was 'Poribartan'. This is why I was quite surprised to find out recently that he first appeared as an assistant music director in the film 'Putul naacher itikatha' under Jotirindra Moitra. That was most probably in the late forties just before he was asked to compose for 'Poribartan'. Although Salil has composed for over 40 bengali films, several of them were never completed or the producer ran out of money or just died a death in the planning phase. ! Film# 35 to 40 for example. Here and there one finds a song or two, but the films either disappeared or never released. Strangely, the film 'Haraaner Naatjamaai' has a cassette and has the only Anuradha Paudwal's song she sang for Salil, but nobody has ever heard of the film. Similarly, films like 'Sei Samoy' - three wonderful songs but was never made. The story goes on.....

** The film 'Aashrita' - It was released in 1990 or 91, Music by Hridaynath Mangeskar. The lyrics are by Mukul Datta and Salil. Salil wrote the lyrics for two songs and composed the films background music. Originally the film was being made as 'Raanga Bhaanga Chaand' based on a book by Protibha Basu. Later the production stopped and restarted as 'Aashrita'. A 45 LP was released under the original film name. Songs were later added to the film which do not appear in the record.