Pratul Mukhopadhyay

(1942-2025)

Nityananda Ghosh

The singer of “AMI BANGLAY GAN GAI/AMI BANGLAR GAN GAI” [I sing in Bengali/I sing about Bengal] is no more. Pratul Mukhopadhyay, the mass singer, poet, composer and a beautiful performer who mixed political cause with artistic expression in his very own inimitable style passed away on February 15, 2025 at the SSKM hospital in Kolkata. He was 83. All his friends hoped that he would recover and return soon as he survived a similar medical ordeal in 2024. No, that didn’t happen. The WB chief minister who happens to be the health minister also arranged a medical board for his treatment. But this time all the efforts went in vain.

He was a life member of Frontier. Last time in the year 2024, this writer along with the editor of Frontier Timir Basu met him at his Kankurgachi residence and discussed a lot of things for hours. He told many untold stories regarding IPTA, Salil Chaudhury and shared his experiences. The hospitality of Sorbani-boudi will never be forgotten.

This writer was acquainted with Pratulda in the early eighties of the last century. There are so many sweet memories of taking part jointly in cultural functions, be it in the Paschim Banga Gana Silpi Parishad [ it became Paschim Banga Gana Sanskriti Parishad in the course of time], ‘Nabanna’ [organ of Paschim Banga Ganasanskriti Parishad] or ’Madhyana’- organised May Day programme. ‘Madhyana’, a Bengali little magazine, used to observe May Day in an exceptional way by breaking all traditions. Instead of May 1, Sailen Bose, editor of ‘Madhyana’, preferred May 31-the last day of May—to mark the international working class solidarity day while the inaugural song would be invariably an Indian classical one by the editor himself. And PratulMukhopadhyay would always be the chief attraction of the event.

In the late nineties, actor-writer Ramanuj Sengupta became seriously ill and PratulMukhopadhyay helped him by raising money through a concert organised by Nabannapatrika. He was popular for his solo performance without using any musical instrument. He transformed popular poems of Birendra Chattopadhyay, Arun Mitra, Cherabanda Raju and many others into songs and sang them in meetings after meetings.

Before joining the present ruling dispensation of Bengal, he was associated with political third stream i.e. naxalite politics. For some time, he was associated with a cultural wing of CPM, despite his political difference with the party.

Pratul Mukhopadhyay was born on 25th June, 1942, in Barisal of undivided Bengal. He later shifted to Chinsurah of Hooghly district of West Bengal along with his parents after independence. He served as the chief statistical officer at United Bank of India which is now Punjab National Bank. In the late ‘60s, he was actively involved in the Naxalite movement and became a popular mass singer. He took voluntary retirement and devoted most of his time to composing new songs to reach broader masses of society.

He had no formal musical training. The self-trained mass singer mesmerised Bengal audience for decades. He was the singer of toilers People used to sing his popular songs at factory gates, in the fields to motivate the oppressed.

He composed songs for some stage plays. Then Sankho Ghosh’s ‘BaborerPrathhna’, Sukumar Ray’s ‘AbolTabol, ‘Joy Jatayu’ on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of ‘Feluda’ were his remarkable creations. He lent his voice to a documentary on Bihari migrant labour of Posta bazar. This film was made by late Ashoktaru Chakraborty. The voice-over of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Gosai baganer Bhoot’ was also by Pratul Mukhopadhyay. Both political left and far left will remember him as one of the best mass singers of Bengal of present times.

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 37, March 9 - 15, 2025