Dukh se bhara hua hai dil
Posted on: May 7, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
In Hindi film industry, there were many artists – actors, playback singers, lyricists and music directors who after starting their careers soon faded into oblivion as they could not get on a firm footing in the industry. But there were some who remained with the film industry for a long time even though success eluded them. One of such artists was Shankar Dasgupta, playback singer and music director.
Other than some hardcore old Hindi film music buffs, most lovers of Hindi film music may not be aware of the name of Shankar Dasgupta (1927-1992). That includes me also as I came to know about him only about a year back through this blog for the first time. I may have heard a couple of his songs without being aware that those were sung by him. Unfortunately very scanty and scattered information about him is available on the internet and that too in some discussion forums. But I am not sure how reliable even the scanty information is. At one place, it is mentioned that Shankar Dasgupta had two wives – one Bengali and another Maharashtrian. In another place, it is mentioned that he died in a rail accident on January 23, 1992 when he was trying to get down from the train as it slowed down.
As I normally do in case of such not so well known artists, first I searched for Shankar Dasgupta’s songs both as a playback singer and a music director on http://www.myswar.com. From this source, I came to know that he sang 54 songs in all for Hindi films between 1946 and 1968, most of which were under music directors Anil Biswas, D C Dutt and Bulo C Rani during 1946-1956. In addition, he composed music for 3 Hindi films during 1954-1956. The films were ‘Sadma’ (1954), ‘Sheeshe Ki Deewar’ (1954),and ‘Hotel’ (1956). In some other place, it was mentioned that he also composed music for ‘Pehli Mulaqaat’ (1957) but I did not find the name of the last film on http://www.myswar.com. His career graph as a playback singer seems to follow the career graph of his mentor Anil Biswas for whom he worked as his assistant for some time.
I have listened to almost all the audio/video clips of his songs available on the YT during the day when I sat for writing this article. What a lovely and mesmerising voice he had! His voice seems to be a blend of K L Saigal and C H Atma. Most of his songs are of ghazal type representing the genres of pathos and melancholy. They also give me an impression of non-filmy songs. It seems that his forte was ghazal singing. I came across two LPs of his non-filmy ghazals ‘Kuchh Yaadein’ and ‘Daaman’ issued sometime in the 80s. Since his type of singing style was on its way out from 60s onwards, he was not in the reckoning for playback singing assignments. The top music directors of that period like Shankar-Jaikishan, O P Nayyar, S D Burman had ignored him. I have no idea what he did after his playback singing career in Hindi films came to an end. I have seen one video clip showing him rendering a non-filmy ghazal. Probably he was into singing non-filmy ghazals in the public platforms.
I find that only four songs of Shankar Dasgupta have been covered in the blog and many of his gems waiting to be covered. To start with, I have chosen one of his songs ‘dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil’ from the film JAAN PAHCHAAN (1950). The song is written by Shakeel Badayuni. As per the credit title of the film, both Khemchand Prakash and Manna Dey have been accredited as music director for the film. During the making of this film, Khemchand Prakash died and Manna Dey who was working as his assistant for some time, completed the music direction. So I am not sure as to the division of the songs between both of them.
The background to this song is that Anil (Raj Kapoor) who is a sculptor, is in love with Asha (Nargis), a poor village girl. She is his dream girl for the sculpture. She agrees to pose for Anil to make a sculpture of her. Over a period of time, they become intimate. On a visit to see his seriously ill father, Anil is met with a car accident resulting in his face becoming disfigured. Now he does not wish to see Asha as he fears that she may not like his disfigured face. It is in this situation that he comes to see Asha’s sculpture made by him and sings this sad song cursing his fate.
We are so much used to watching or listening to the voices of Mukesh and Manna Dey or even Talat Mehmood and Mohammed Rafi on Raj Kapoor. With this background, watching him sing this song on the screen in the voice of Shankar Dasgupta looks odd. But the song is so beautifully rendered by him that one can easily forget this oddity.
This was the only film in which Shankar Dasgupta sang two songs for Raj Kapoor.
Audio
Video
Song-Dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil(Jaan Pehchaan)(1950) Singer-Shankar Dasgupta, Lyrics-Shakeel Badayuni, MD-Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil
jeene mein kuchh mazaa nahin
dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil
jeene mein kuchh mazaa nahin
toot gaye sab aasre ae
toot gaye sab aasre
ab koi aasraa nahin
dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil
dard se dil nidhaal hai
aaj ye apnaa haal hai
dard se dil nidhaal hai
aaj ye apnaa haal hai
roothi huyi hai zindagi ee
roothi huyi hai zindagi
maut kaa bhi pataa nahin
dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil
bigde huye naseeb ne
loot liyaa chaman meraa
chaman meraa
bigde huye naseeb ne
loot liyaa chaman meraa
chaman meraa
haay khizaan
haay khizaan
tu gham na kar
haay khizaan
tu gham na kar
teri koi khataa nahin
dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil
jeene mein kuchh mazaa nahin
dukh se bharaa huaa hai dil
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 7, 2013 at 10:51 am
Kamath ji,
SHANKAR DASGUPTA was born in Dhaka in 1927 and grew up in Bereily-UP. From childhood he learned classical mnusic and his mother encouraged him. In summer Holidays,he used to come to Bombay.
In one such visit,he participated in a music competition at Ruia College,Matunga and won it. The examiner was Anil Biswas and he offered him a song in Milan-1946.
He sang about 50 songs in about 31 films. As a MD he gave music to,
Sadma-54,Sheeshe ki deewar-54,Hotel-57 and pehli Mulaqat-57.
He had been asst to Anil Biswas and Jaidev. He also gave music to many News reels,like ‘This is India’ etc. He worked in Doordarshn.
He went to London to stay and started a music group ‘Coral’,with shows on BBC.
He used to come to India often. In one such visit,he was coming to Bombay on 23-1-1992,by Delhi-Bombay Rajdhani Express. When the train slowed down on Matunga station,he tried to alight,came under the wheels and died instantly.(LB 88-Mar92).
He had One wife and One son only.
-AD
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May 7, 2013 at 11:11 am
Thanks very much for the information.
It is now clear that other than the train accident, there was virtually no reliable information available on the internet.
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