In the fourth episode of our series on Hindustani musicians involved in Hindi cinema as film composers, we feature bansuri maestro Pannalal Ghosh, who worked in films not only as a performer in the ensembles but also as a composer. Known for his pioneering contribution in establishing the bansuri as a solo instrument on the Hindustani music concert stage, Pannalal Ghosh had a short career as a film composer.
We begin this episode with a few songs composed by him for the film Anjaan (1941). According to the accompanying text, the vocalists on this track are Ashok Kumar, Suresh and Rewa Shankar.
The second song based on the melodic movement of raag Bihag is also from the same film and is sung by the lead actors Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani.
According to the accompanying text for the next song, which has obvious nationalist overtones, the vocalists on the track are Ashok Kumar, Suresh and Rewa Shankar.
In 1942, Pannalal Ghosh was credited for composing music for the film Basant. However, according to Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen’s Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema, Ghosh’s brother-in-law and renowned composer Anil Biswas, composed music for this film and Ghosh played bansuri in the orchestra.
Andolan (1951) was a film marked by its nationalistic narrative, which was reflected in many of its songs. The next track features singers Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Shanti Sudha Ghosh and chorus.
The national song Vande Mataram has seen many musical versions. One of these versions based on the raag Mia ki Malhar was composed by Pannalal Ghosh for the film Andolan and was sung by Sudha Malhotra, Parul Ghosh, and Manna Dey.
We end this episode with a devotional song based on the raag Shree from the same film sung by Parul Ghosh, noted singer and the maestro’s wife.
One of India’s leading tabla players, Aneesh Pradhan is a widely recognised performer, teacher, composer and scholar of Hindustani music. Visit his website here.