Satyajit Ray, Tagore and Lucknow ( as received)

Satyajit Ray, Tagore and Lucknow Remembering Atul Prasad Sen (A.P. Sen) and his songs In Lucknow, some of us remember A.P. Sen (Atul Prasad Sen) as a road, most of us pay homage to his legal luminescence and sense of charity. The National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Banglapedia) recalls A.P. Sen as, a ‘poet, lyricist and singer’ and the Digital District Repository of Kolkata, pays tribute to him under the heading,’ Atulprasad Sen’s Patriotic Songs’. Few in Lucknow associate him with his contribution to movies through his songs. Satyajit Ray visited first time Lucknow at A.P. Sen’s house during childhood. A P Sen was a close friend and closer relative of Sukumar Ray, father of Satyajit Ray. A.P. Sen was a part of Monday Club founded by Sukumar Ray and I am sharing a group picture, which looks like the Who’s Who of early 20th Century Indian intellectuals. Apart from Sen and Ray, it included P.C. Mahalanobis, Sunit Kumar Chatterjee, and Kalidas Nag, among others. Satyajit Ray’s early visit during his childhood to Lucknow is remembered in the book, ‘Childhood Days, A Memoir by Satyajit Ray’, “I have a few memories of a visit to Lucknow, where we stayed first with my mother's cousin, Atul Prasad Sen, and then with his sister, whom I called Chhutki Mashi. There was always music in Atul Mama's house, for he was a lyricist and composer. Often he would get my mother to learn his songs, then write the words down for her in her black notebook. Ravi Shankar's guru, Alauddin Khan, used to stay in Atul Mama's house at that time. I heard him play the piano occasionally. One day, the well-known singer of those times, Sri Krishan Ratanjankar, visited us and sang his famous song, Bhavani dayani, set in Bharavi. Atul Mama wrote a new song, Shuno, shey dakey aamarey (Listen, he's calling out to me), based on Bhavani dayani.” Tagore’s first visit to Lucknow is also associated with A.P. Sen, when he came to Lucknow in 1914, at the invitation of A.P.Sen. But before that, he invited Sen to visit his house at Ramgarh. An interesting anecdote has been narrated by A.P. Sen of his sojourn, “He invited me to stay with him at Ramgarh for some days. I came hurriedly from Lucknow to Ramgarh. One day there was heavy rain which continued late in the night. We had an assembly of the rainy season on that day. From afternoon till ten o'clock at night, the poet (Rabindranath) recited poems written by him one after another and sang many songs of the rainy season. I couldn't forget that day. At about eight in the night, our dinner was made ready. The daughter and daughter-in-law of the poet were waiting at the door, but neither the poet nor any of us could take notice of them. In that sitting, Rabindranath requested me, "Atul, will you please sing a Hindi song of your locality?". I sang, "Maharaja keoriya kholo, rasaki bund pare". It was a timely song, and everybody liked it. The poet accompanied me in the song” Tagore's second visit to Lucknow was from 5 to 10 March 1923, when he addressed the Convocation of Lucknow University. Atul Prasad arranged a musical durbar in his honour and invited famous Indian classical singers of Lucknow at his residence. A.P. Sen wrote more than 200 songs and the culture of Lucknow impacted his style. A good number of his songs featured in the movies, crooned by singers like Pankaj Mallick, Hemant Mukhopadhyay (more popularly in for Hindi Film lovers as Hemant Kumar) and Manna Dey. A.P. Sen passed away in 1934, and 80 years after that ‘ Ke Abar Bajay Banshi’ featured in a Bangla Film in 2014. His songs are known as Atulprasader Gan (songs of Atulprasad). Influence of Lucknow impacted him and he introduced Thumari in Bangla songs. When Sen visited Italy, the gondola rowers of Venice inspired him to write Utho Go Bharata Lakshmi—one of his most well-known songs—which evoked the spirit of India. His songs centered around three broad subjects, patriotism, love and devotion. In the pantheon of those who contributed to movies and have Lucknow connections, sometimes A.P. Sen is missed probably because of his impact on Bangla films. Pictures- 1. Atul Prasad Sen (A.P. Sen) 2. Group Photo of Monday Club, founded by Sukumar Ray, A.P. Sen is in the front row with Sukumar Ray and P C Mahalanobis among others