Pankaj Mullick

Pankaj Mullick aka Pankaj Kumar Mullick
Born	10 May 1905 Kolakta, West Bengal
Died	19 February 1978 Kolakta, West Bengal
Nationality	India
Occupation(s)	Music Director, Singer and Actor
Known for	Singing, Music Direction, Acting and as the First man of Rabindrasangeet

Pankaj Mullick a.k.a. Pankaj Kumar Mullick (Bangla: পঙ্কজ কুমার মল্লিক Pôngkoj Kumar Mollik) (10 May 1905 - 19 February 1978)

Training

• Sri Durgadas Bandopadhyay for classical & light classical music
• Sri Dinendranath Tagore (Rabindranath Tagore’s grand nephew) for Rabindrasangeet

Career Highlights

Radio

• Joined AIR, Kolkata (initially known as the Indian Broadcasting Corporation) in 1927, within a month of its inception. Note: Before TV came in, Radio was the country’s best loved medium of entertainment.
• He was an integral part of AIR for nearly 50 years
• At AIR he set music to the immortal “Mahishasuramardini”, a programme that has become a part of Bengali culture and is heard every Mahalaya morning even till today. Its 75th Anniversary was celebrated with great splendour across the country and specially in West Bengal in 2007.
• He conceptualized and started the immensely popular live-music class titled – “Sangeet Shikshar Ashar” which he did for a record 47 years on the trot
• He was part of innumerable Feature Programmes as music director & artiste during his lengthy tenure at AIR

Cinema

• Became a part of Indian cinema right from the silent era, since 1931
• Was a part of the star studded New Theatres team for nearly 25 years
• Luminaries like K L Saigal, S D Burman, Hemanta Mukherjee, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle sang under his music direction as did several other prominent artistes from Bengal and the rest of the country
• Was the first music director who introduced Rabindrasangeet successfully in films
• Introduced interlude & interlinking music for the first time in Indian film-songs
• At a time when movie-making was not as prolific as it is now, he sang in, composed music for and occasionally acted in close to 100 movies
• He was a part of Indian cinema from 1931 to 1969, a period of about 38 years
• The movies he was associated with were in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil
• He along with director Sri Nitin Bose was instrumental in the introduction of playback singing in Indian cinema

Salient Facts

• He cut his first record when he was only 18 years old
• He was the first person to popularise Rabindrasangeet by unleashing the magic of Tagore’s songs amongst the masses
• His music career spanned an awe-inspiring 50 years
• He officially composed over 5,000 songs in those 50 years
• Singers like K L Saigal, S D Burman, Hemant Kumar, Kanan Devi, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle amongst others sung his compositions
• His co-stars in films included K L Saigal, P C Barua and Kanan Devi amongst others
• He was appointed as the Honorary Advisor to the Folk Entertainment Section of the Government of West Bengal, from 1953 to 1968, by the Chief Minister of West Bengal
• He was regarded as one of the founding fathers of Bangla Adhunik Gaan, a sub-genre of Bengali songs
• He had several popular non-film songs in Hindi, Urdu and Bengali to his credit
• He was the first to introduce elements of Western Music to Indian cinematic & non-cinematic songs

Major Awards

• He won the National/President's Award for Best Music Direction in movies on quite a few occasions
• He received the BFJA award for his work as music director
• Life Time Achievement awards from AIR and HMV (now Saregama)

Prestigious Titles

• Title of “Surosagar” in 1931
• Title of “Sangeet Ratnakar” in 1962
• Padmashree in 1970
• DADASAHEB PHALKE PURASKAR in 1973 – the highest award presented by the Government of India in the field of Indian Cinema. He was the first music-director to be honoured so.
• Title of Rabindra Tattacharya in 1977

Rare Honours

• Rabindranath himself allowed him to set tune to a few of his poems, the most popular instance of which is “Diner sheshey ghumer deshey…”
• He was invited to sing the inaugural song during the launch of television (Doordarshan) in the country
• At the behest of Sri Sarat Bose, Netaji’s elder brother, he sang “Kadam kadam barhaye jaa…”, set to his version of the tune, with Prime Minister J L Nehru being present during the recording. Other members of Netaji’s family too lent their voices to this record
• On Prime Minister Nehru’s request he sang and recorded the Indian National Anthem – “Jana gana mana…” in a style that was deemed to set the parameters to be followed during the singing of the anthem by all Indians. The recording was also played nation-wide at almost every public place to familiarise every Indian citizen with the anthem of their newly formed independent country
• In the days when ‘globalisation’ was quite unheard of, he enjoyed great fame and popularity both nationally and internationally

Posthumous Honours

• The Government of West Bengal renamed Ritchie Road as PANKAJ MULLICK SARANI in his honour
• The Department of Information and Culture of the Government of West Bengal celebrated his birth centenary in 2005 with great pomp and splendour
• The Government of India, paid tribute to his memory by issuing a COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP in 2006
• The Kolkata Municipal Corporation declared his residence at Sebak Baidya Street a HERITAGE BUILDING in 2007
• The Kolkata Municipal Corporation in association with the Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation set up a STATUE of his in his honour at Maddox Square Park on Pankaj Mullick Sarani in 2010

Personal Life

Pankaj Mullick was born to Monimohan Mullick and Monomohini Mullick. His brother died young and he had a couple of sisters. He got married to Annapurna Mullick (1916 - 2007) and they had two daughters - Aparna and Arunlekha. Pankaj Mullick was a dedicated family man who was adored by his wife and daughters. Unfortunately, Aparna (1933 - 1937) died when she was a child. However, Arunlekha (Born - 1943) carried on the family legacy and got married to Arunendra Mohan Gupta and they had a son - Rajib Gupta. Rajib married Jhinuk and together they run the Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation (www.pankajmullick.org). At present Rajib Gupta and Jhinuk Gupta are not only looking after the Foundation but are also promoting and propagating the works of Pankaj Mullick.

Refer To

• Indian film music directors.

External Links

• Pankaj Mullick Official Website
• Internet Movie Database for Pankaj Kumar Mullick

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