Critics and musicologists say Manna Dey was probably the most underrated among his peer group. While he came to be identified with lassical/philosophical numbers, many of his songs were chartbusters too.
Chunari Sambhal Gori, Pyaar Hua Ikrar Hua, Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein Hum, Yeh Raat Bhigi Bhigi, Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo, and of course, the all time favourite, Ae Mere Zohara Jabi are but just a few examples. How many would know that among all the greats of Hindi playback singing of that ere including lata and Asha, Manna Dey had sung the most number of songs for Odia moviesIJ
Manna Dey was brought in by music director Santanu Mohapatra, who created a unique identity, even as the other three great composers of that era, Balakrushna Dash, Bhubaneswar Mishra and Akshaya Mohanty, often worked with each other and used mostly the same set of singers.
It is Santanu who brought in popular singers from Hindi cinema to sing for Odia movies. Manna Dey was introduced to Odia film audience by him for the film Suryamukhi. Manna Dey, true to his image in Bombay (now Mumbai), rendered a philosophical number, Bandhure…Duniya Re Samayara Naee Bahi Jae Re (Suryamukhi). lata Mangeshkar too debuted in Odia playback singing in the same movie, with her popular Sei Chuna Chuna Tara.
In fact, seven of his songs that Manna Dey has rendered for Odia movies were composed by six different composers! And that is a big number considering Odia movies did not have too many composers at that time.
In Odia, he was used for mostly songs with philosophical/classical undertones, with probably one exception, Dharichi Jebe Chaadibi Nahin in Samaya, incidentally composed by classical duo Pt Bhubaneswar Mishra and Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Asichhi mu Bagharaja in Arati composed by Basudeb Rath. Here is the list of song for which Mana Dey had rendered his voice.
Bandhure…Duniare samayara naee bahi jae (Suryamukhi, 1963, Santanu Mohapatra), Jali jae dahana dipali (Bhai Bahuja, 1967, Balakrushna Dash), Gela basarara dina sarigala (Ghara Sansara, 1973, Rakhal Mohanty/V Balsara), Dharichi jebe chaadibi nahin (Samaya, 1975, Bhuban Hari), Manini Jaa’na karana bahana (Sakhi Gopinath, 1978, Basudev Rath), Kichhi nuhe tora, kichhi nuhe mora (Pujarini, 1981, J Adeni), Asichhi mu Bagharaja (Arati, 1981, Basudev Rath).
