Nostalgic Nuggets: It is 'Bees Saal Baad' producer's centenary year

Varanasi-born music director, playback singer and film producer Hemanta Mukherjee, popularly known as Hemant Kumar, born on June 16, 1920, is 100 years old today. He was a colossus in the Hindi film industry who had a phenomenal bi-lingual command over Bengali compositions and also Hindi, where his songs are hummed across the world. He won the Best Playback Singer National Award twice in his long career.

Quite interestingly, he tried his hand at literature before turning to music fulltime despite objections from his family. Fans would remember him for two of his classic films Bees Saal Baad and Khamoshi.

He refused the Padma Bhushan when the government wanted to bestow him within 1987 but accepted the felicitation of Lata Mangeshkar at Kolkata when he completed 50 years of his career. He composed music for nearly 150 Bengali films and 50+ Hindi films during his long tenure as a musician.