Alpana Banerjee Biography 
Alpana Banerjee, also known as Alpana Mukherjee was a leading playback singer of Bengali cinema. She entered playback singing during late 1940’s and was most active from 1950’s onwards. Her most noted songs are 'Hatti Matim Tim', 'Mon Bolchhe Aaj Sandhyay', 'Chotto Pakhi Chandana' and 'Ami Alpana Enke Jai Aloy Chhayay'.Her child rhymes are equally popular as film songs. She transformed some simple rhymes to immortal classics, the effort for which her songs are still remembered most. 'Hattim Attim Tim' or 'Chhotto Pakhi Chandana' are the most noted rhymes of Alpana. Alpana Mukherjee was married to Sridhar Mukherjee. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2009, and she died the same year on 24 July 2009. Leading playback singer of yesterdays, Sandhya Mukherjee was her close friend.
Alpana was born on March 14, 1934 in Kolkata. Her singing talent was discovered by her father at the age of 13. It was encouraged by his close friends as well. They were music composers, Robin Chattopadhyay and Gouri Prasanna Majumdar. Her non-filmy song like "Samiran Phire Chao" was one of her earliest hits. Her first popular film song was "Matir Ghare Aaj Nemechhe Chand Re" for the Bengali film 'Vidyasagar' followed by "Hriday Amar Sundara Taba Paye" from the 1956 film 'Sagarika' composed by Robin Chattopadhay. She has worked under leading composers of different decades including Nachiketa Ghosh, Shyamal Mitra, Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Sailen Mukhopadhyay and Bhupen Hazarika. She has shared same space with leading singers like Utpala Sen, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Shyamal Mitra, Manabendra Mukhopadhyay and Hemant Kumar. She was most paired with Shyamal Mitra in those days.
Later she stayed away from films and music to bring up children. Yet she used to give public performances occasionally. She was often the guest of honour at Bengali music functions, TV programmes, and on AIR programmes.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 16, 2014
