Salil Chowdhury was one of the best known music composers of Bollywood, said music critic Pankaj Rag. He was addressing a seminar at Bharat Bhavan on Wednesday.
The film fest Ekagra featuring melodious music in Bollywood movies by Salil Chowdhury had a grand opening with the discussion on personality of Salil Chowdhury on Wednesday.
Renowned music expert Pankaj Rag threw light on works and personality of Salil Chowdhury.
Salil Chowdhury was an Indian singer-songwriter, music director, lyricist, writer and singer, who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi, and Malayalam films. He went on to compose music for films in 13 languages. This includes over 75 Hindi films, 41 Bengali films, around 27 Malayalam films, and a few Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Oriya and Assamese films.
His musical ability was widely recognised and acknowledged in the Indian film industry.
He was an accomplished composer and arranger who was proficient in several musical instruments, including flute, the piano. He was also widely acclaimed and admired for his inspirational and original poetry in Bengali.
Informing about his works, Pankaj Rag said that the first Bengali film in which Salil Chowdhury composed music was Paribortan, released in 1949. Mahabharati, released in 1994, was the last of the 41 Bengali films where he rendered his music.
He is affectionately called Salilda by his admirers.