Suman Kalyanpur

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Suman Kalyanpur, elder sister to Shyama Chittar born on January 28, 1937 is a female singer. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, at the time (British East India), she received her musical training in Mumbai.^[1]

In 1943 her family shifted to Mumbai. She received her musical training in Mumbai itself. Before marriage Ms. Suman was known as Suman Hemmady, and, after getting married to a Mumbai based businessman named Mr. Ramanand S. Kalyanpur, she was known as Mrs. Suman Kalyanpur, the name by which we all know her.

Once Talat Mahmood heard her voice in a musical concert. Getting highly impressed by her voice, he recommended her to his music recording company HMV. Suman got her first chance of giving playback in the film called 'Mangu', in 1954. She sang 'Koi Pukaare Dheere Se Tujhe.' under the baton of music director Mohammad Shafi. 'Mangu' had four other songs which were composed by O. P. Nayyar. She gained recognition in the film world. But she was unfortunate that people found her voice very close to Lata Mangeshkar and it was said that she copies Lata. Due to this disappointing fact, the senior film makers slunk away from her.

Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Shagun (1964), Dil Hi To Hai (1963), Jahaan Aara (1964), Sanjh Aur Savera (1964), Pakeezah (1971), Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962), Noor Jahan (1967) and Miyan Biwi Razi (1960) are some of the movies for which she gave her outstanding performance. Till the last decade Suman Kalyanpur thrilled her audiences with her stage performances and concerts. She also made many successful foreign tours and concerts.

Suman never got much attention from the film-makers as well us from the film-goers. She sang around 740 songs (approximately) and few non-film songs as well. In spite of being neglected by many film-makers, it was her talent that she sang with almost every noted music director and co-singer. Some of her most popopular songs are: 'Na Tum Hamen Jano..' (Baat Ek Raat Ki), 'Chhodo Chhodo Mori Baiyan..' (Miya Biwi Raazi), 'Dil Gham Se Jal Raha..' (Shama), 'Yun Hi Dil Ne Chaha Tha..' (Dil Hi To Hai), 'Bujha Diye Hain..' (Shagun), 'Mere Sang Gaa..' (Janwar), 'Mere Mehboob Na Ja..' (Noor Mahal), ' Tum Agar Aa Sako To..' (Ek Saal Pehle), 'Jo Hum Pe Gujarti Hai' (Mohabbat Isko Kehten Hain), 'Sharabi sharabi yeh saawan ka mausam' (Noor Jehan) etc.

Suman Kalyanpur has also recorded songs for several regional films in languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Bengali, Oriya and Punjabi. She has recorded devotional songs, ghazals and thumris. She has been thrice the recipient of the prestigious Sur Sringar Samsad award for the best classical song in a Hindi film. In Hindi, she has sang the most with Shankar Jaikishan and Roshan, though Madan Mohan, S D Burman, Hemant Kumar, Chitragupt, S N Tripathi and Ghulam Mohammed made good use of her voice. The one and only duet that she sang with Lata Mangeshkar was under the baton of Hemant Kumar. The song was "kabhi aaj kabhi kal kabhi parson". She has recorded lovely duets with Rafi, Manna Dey and Mukesh besides Talat Mahmood and Hemant Kumar. Some of her memorable duets with Rafi are "ajahuna aaye baalamaa", "tumne pukaara aur hum chale aaye", "baad muddat ke yeh ghadi aayee", "mujhhe yeh phool na, tujhhko dilbari ki kasam" and "chaand takta hai idhar". With Manna Dey, she sang the enchanting duet "na jaane kahaan hum the" for the music director Dattaram. Over and above this, Suman Kalyanpur has also recorded beautiful songs with a classical base, many of which became popular. To name just a few, "ajhanu aaye baalamaa", "manamohan man mein ho tumhi", "mere sang gaa gungunaa", and "gir gayi re more maathe ki bindiya".

In Marathi, she recorded for Sudhir Phadke, Dashrath Pujari, Ashok Patki and several others. Some of her well-known Marathi songs are 'rimjhhim zharati shraawan dhaara', 'shabda shabda zapoon thhev', 're kshanachya sangateene', 'jethe saagaraa dharanee miLate', 'bhaktichya phulaancha goad to suvaas' and 'ketakichyaa banee tethe naachalaa ga mor'.