Shyamal Mitra Biography 
Shyamal Mitra was a very popular singer, composer and producer of Bengali film industry. He along with Hemanta Mukherjee and Manna Dey completes the magical trio of golden era of Bengali music industry, mostly known as a musician. As a playback singer, he has rendered his voice for more than 100 movies including Bengali, Hindi, Assamese and Oriya. He has recorded a huge number of popular Bengali basic songs also. He has composed music for more than 50 films as well. He was an exponent of baritone style of singing.
Shyamal Mitra was born in Naihati, Kolkata on 14 January 1929. His father Sadhan Kumar Mitra was a physician and wanted his son to follow his footsteps. But his mother, a local singer Mrinal Kanti Ghosh influenced him a lot to choose music as his career. People associated with the I.P.T.A. movement used to visit his home and it was during this time when he came into contact with Salil Chowdhury. Mitra, along with his younger sister used to sing the song, "O Aalor Pathajatree" on streets for I.P.T.A. He met Satinath Mukhopadhyay during his graduation studies at Hoogly. Shyamal Mitra came to Kolkata and met Sudhirlal Chackraborty which proved to be the turning point of his career.
He struggled a lot in Kolkata to get a singing offer. "Sunandar Biye", with Supriti Ghosh happened to him in 1949, which marked his singing debut. He recorded his first basic songs from H.M.V. under the supervision of Sudhirlal Chackraborty. But with sudden demise of Sudhirlal, he had to search for another opportunity. In 1952, he recorded "Smriti Tumi Bedonar" which gave him instant stardom. As a music director, Joy Maa Kali Boarding, Jamalaye Jibonto Manush and Bhranti Bilash were his early hits. Mitra also had a long association with All India Radio.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 16, 2014
