Pankaj Mullick Biography 
Pankaj Mullick was a popular Bengali music director and Rabindra Sangeet exponent. He was a pioneer of film music in Bengali and Hindi cinema at the advent of playback singing. He received Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1972 for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1970 by Indian government.
Pankaj Mullick was born in Kolkatta on 10 May 1905 as the son of Monimohan Mullick and Monomohini. As Monimohan Mullick was deeply interested in Bengali classical music he encouraged the music talents of his son. He took formal training under Durgadas Bandopadhaya. He studied at the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta. His meeting with Dinendranath Tagore, great-nephew of Rabindranath Tagore took him very close to Rabindra Sangeet. Tagore's song, Nemecche Aaj Prothom Badal was his first recording. It happened in 1926 at the age of eighteen.
He started his career with the Indian Broadcasting Corporation in Calcutta in 1927, the first form of All India Radio. Along with composer R. C. Boral, he worked as a music director and artist for nearly fifty years. He started his career as a music composer in the year 1931 and has composed music for Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil language. S.D. Burman, K.L. Saigal, Hemanta Mukherjee and Geeta Dutt were the artists with whom he worked earliest. He has also appeared onscreen with leading actors like K L Saigal, P.C. Barua and Kanan Devi. The credit of introducing playback singing in India goes to Mullick and Nitin Bose equally.
When Doordarshan was launched long back in 1959, he along with Vyjayanthimala was the lead performer. A few of his selected Hindi movies as a music director include – Devdas, Maya, Raikamal, Manzil, Kashinath, Meri Bahen, Yatrik, Dikshul, Meenakshi, Badi didi, Doctor, Kapal Kundala, Zindagi, Chitrangada, Manzoor and Dushman.
Published: N/A
Updated: November 19, 2013
