A trick question for more than six decades has been to play a film song that sounds like a Lata Mangeshkar hit number, and ask if anyone can identify the singer. While everyone choruses “Lata!”, the singer is revealed to have been Suman Kalyanpur. Few could tell the voices apart.
To further complicate matters, both Lata and Suman were trained by the Bhendi Bazaar gharana musicians and had similarities in style. This led to many calling her a Prati Lata or a parallel Lata, and Raju Bharatan, a popular film music journalist, called her the poor man’s Lata. The film media was filled with gossipy items about how Lata didn’t want Suman to record songs, and like most gossip, this was untrue.
Suman Kalyanpur was born Suman Hemmady, the surname indicating her ancestral village near Udupi in South Kanara district, Karnataka. Unlike the Mangeshkar sisters, she was middle class and had a degree in arts from the famous JJ School of Art, Mumbai. She was blessed with a sweet voice, clear enunciation and an ability to sing high notes, but she regarded herself as a light classical singer at best and made no claims of great classical training.
She entered the film industry when Talat Mehmood spotted her talent at a college show. Her first song was a duet with him in ‘Mangu’ (1954). This was followed by stints in the chorus. In 1957, Hansraj Behl gave her a duet with Mohd Rafi in ‘Miss Bombay’. The song, ‘Din Ho Ya Raat Ho’, was a hit, and Behl went on to give Suman some famous Punjabi songs like ‘Lamian Te Kalian’ and ‘Mainu Tere Piche Sajna’.
Suman got her breaks when Lata decided she wouldn’t work with a particular lyricist or music director. Lata’s first target was Sahir Ludhianvi and this meant Suman got to sing for N Dutta, who was Sahir’s favourite composer. Another early target was Sardar Malik. In his biggest musical hit in 1960, ‘Saranga’, Suman sang a fan favourite solo, ‘Likh De Piya Ka Naam’.
In the early 1960s, Suman sang several songs for Roshan and Ravi, many of which are still popular, in particular the duet with Asha that featured with the credits of the blockbuster ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’, namely ‘Garjat Barsat Sawan Aayo Re’, Roshan’s reworking of an old bandish in Gaud Malhar.
But it was when Suman sang for SD Burman in ‘Baat Ek Raat Ki’ that the industry sat up and noticed her. Her duet with Hemant Kumar, ‘Na Tum Hamein Jaano’, became an instant classic. Music lovers fell in love with Suman’s singing — a long aah in a musical cadenza behind Hemant Kumar’s voice, before the female voice joins the duet. So when Lata decided to sing for ‘Guide’ after a long gap with SD Burman, there was gossip that it was Suman’s singing that had “forced Lata to patch up”!
Out of the 740-odd songs Suman recorded, 140 or so were duets with Rafi, almost 20 per cent. This high number is because of the famous Lata-Rafi quarrel when they didn’t sing together for years. Madan Mohan, a diehard Lata fan, gave her a lovely duet in ‘Ghazal’: ‘Mujhe Yeh Phool Na De’; Kalyanji-Anandji made her sing that old-time favourite ‘Na Na Karte Pyaar Tumhi Se Kar Baithe’; Naushad and Suman collaborated in ‘Saaz Aur Awaaz’ and ‘Palki’. But it were the Shankar-Jaikishan blockbusters ‘Janwar’ (‘Mere Sang Ga’), ‘Rajkumar’ (‘Tumne Pukara Aur Hum Chale Aaye’) and ‘Brahmchari’ (‘Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche’) that cemented her fame. In particular, the ‘Brahmchari’ song. As Shammi Kapoor had fallen in love with Mumtaz and had proposed marriage to her, the song seemed to offer a behind-the-scenes look!
Suman Kalyanpur always treasured her three Sur Shringar Samsad awards for the best classical-based film song of the year. These were for ‘Manmohan Man Mein Ho Tumhi’ (‘Kaise Kahoon’, 1964), ‘Ankhiyan Tarsan Lagi’ (‘Boond Jo Ban Gayi Moti’, 1967) and ‘Aayi Re Aayi Re’ (‘Sati Sulochana’, 1969). However, she never won a Filmfare Award. Despite that, her classical songs have remained a source of inspiration for singers as varied as Kavita Krishnamurthy and Sonu Nigam.
In fact, Sonu once sung ‘Baad Muddat Ke Yeh Ghadi Aayi’ (‘Jahan Ara’) on stage with her. The Central government honoured her with the Padma Bhushan in 2023.
While her Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali and Assamese songs remained radio favourites for decades, it was probably Maharashtra where she had the most die-hard fans. Apart from singing in Marathi films, Suman Kalyanpur sang numerous devotional songs and many poetic compositions called Bhav Geet. These became perennial favourites in morning radio shows. In view of the high respect in which she was held, the Maharashtra government gave her a state funeral when she passed away on May 31.
For music lovers, she represented the triumph of quality over quantity. Her evenness of tone was remarkable. And when she was asked to sing in a slow tempo, her sweetness of voice, combined with an ability to convey emotional pain, was unique.
Her fans adored songs like ‘Jo Humpe Guzarti Hai’ (‘Mohabbat Isko Kehte Hain’), where she brings out Nanda’s pain of separation in a melancholy Khayyam tune, or ‘Lo Gham Ka Mara’ (‘Maikhana’) with its mixture of dialogue and song.
Suman will remain an inspiration.
— The writer is former Director General, All India Radio
