KOLKATA: In the middle of last year, a Bengali song of Lata Mangeshkar composed by RD Burman was traced by a fan club. The song, ‘Ki kore banchbo bolo’, was never used in any film.
Abhijit Chatterjee of KK and RD Burman fans group had got wind of the fact that there could be an unreleased Pancham composition with a Kolkata family.
“Since we are always on the lookout for songs, we tried to tap all sources. Finally, our efforts led us to the Rakshit family. That’s where we got to know that this unreleased song was recorded for a film titled ‘Pushpanjali’. Prabir Kumar Rakshit of Shree Krishna Film Productions was present at the recording of this song. On listening to it, I felt it was made for a triangular love story,” Chatterjee said.
Snehasis Chatterjee, who has compiled 11 editions of ‘Lata Geetkosh’, said this song is among the two non-film and 19 film songs that Pancham had composed for her. It was lying with the Rakshit family for years. Biswajit Dutta of KK and RD Burman fans group describes this song as a “perfect example of a creation that is deeply-soaked in melody”. “Despite not being a Bengali, Lataji’s rendition of the Bengali lyrics is soulful. She has brought out the inner essence of the lyrics too well. Had this song been released, it would have been an instant hit. I feel fortunate to have heard this unreleased song,” Dutta said.
Prabir Kumar Rakshit’s son Rahul Rakshit was a toddler when this song was recorded in 1991.
“It was a family drama that was written by Sachin Bhowmick. Unfortunately, my father died soon after and the film never got made,” he said.
Prabir Kumar Rakshit’s wife Tapasi Raskhit remembers that this song was recorded in Mumbai.
“My husband had gone for the recording. Back then, songs were recorded much before the shooting of a film. Even the cast or the director of the film was not finalized when the recording happened. The playback for other songs in the film was done by Asha Bhonsle, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Kumar Sanu and Amit Kumar. We had family ties with Pancham. It is sad that legends like him and Lata Mangeshkar are no more,” she said.
