Anjan Dutta
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| Anjan Dutta | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Genres | Urban Folk,Bengali Modern |
Anjan Dutta is a popular artist of the 1990s Bengali music scene defined by Jeebonmukhi (life facing) singers. He passed his childhood in Darjeeling, a Himalayan city of West Bengal. He holds MA degree in English Literature from Calcutta University, Calcutta. Anjan started his career as an actor in Bengali cinema. His first film was "Chalchitro" directed by Mrinal Sen and won best newcomer actor prize in Venice Film Festival for his acting. But later on his career diverted towards the music world. Anjan Dutta's style of music is different from the others in the sense that it has simple tunes, reminiscent of Western hits, and his lyrics are simple in nature. Anjan's music is somewhat influenced by blues and country music. He is the first Bengali artist to depend so much on the saxophone. Anjan Dutta is also a co-director of Bengali and Hindi movies. He has admitted that he is a fan of Bob Dylan and his Bengali contemporary Suman Chatterjee. He was recently seen in the Aparna Sen film, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer.In a nutshell, Anjan Dutta Is one of the greatest serious actor in Indian parallel cinema movement, that was started by Mrinal Sen with his much-esteemed film "Bhuvan Som".Anjan Dutta may be considered as the 'angry young man' of serious films of India.
Anjan Dutta's music has been covered by a number of Bengali artists through the last decade. He was most recently memorably covered at a South Asian cultural show ("Ghungroo 2006") at Harvard College in March 2006 by a quintet of graduates (Neeraj "Richie" Banerji, Ravi Agrawal, Siddhartha Sinha, Neil Sawhney and Seantanu Dongre) calling themselves the Calcutta Boys. They sang his "2441139 (Bela Bose)" and songs by Mohiner Ghoraguli.
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[edit] Early Years
Anjan Dutta was brought up in the mountains of North Bengal.His schooling was from St. Paul's located in Darjeeling.He did not get much oppertunity to listen to Bengali songs but was well acquianted with Western Folk and Country music at that time.He had no plans to make career as a singer.His father was a solicitor so he wanted his son to become the same and take up a career in law but he was more inclined to working in theatres and cinema.His friends too inspired him to take acting seriously.He came to Kolkata for bigger oppertunities and started working in theatres with Badal Sarkar.
In late seventies he joined a group called 'open theatre' and in early eighties performed plays translated from works of renowned foreign playwriters like Sartre,Peter Weiss,Jean Genet and Bertold Brecht.The group clearly drew inspiration from Nandikar a highly active and already famous theatre group at that time.But due to politicaly sensitive content there was too many obstructions and it was difficult to continue.
He was first selected in a feature film named 'Chalcitro' by renowned director Mrinal Sen.It was an unexpected break for him.The film with Anjan's performance got critical acclaim in Venice Film Festival but unfortunately it was never released commercially.After that he continued working in cinemas though he was more interested in doing films with sensible filmmakers rather than working in commercial mainstream films.After a few not so commercially successful films including critically well received 'Juganto',scarcity of work forced him to take up jobs in advertising and later in newspaper(Statesman).
[edit] Introduction to Singing
At that time Anjan was heavily influnced by the music of Suman Chatterjee(later to become Kabir Suman) who heralded a new dawn in Bengali music through his powerful songs ,very different from the bygone era ,concerning tough reality of everyday middleclass life.Anjan started traslating some english songs and backed by constant inspiration from Suman himself,decided to delve into the music arena on his own.HMV offered him to publish his songs and finally he realised,"I had to take it seriously".
[edit] Anjan: a new dimension to Bangla music
Anjan Dutt is distinguished by a new style he developed, in which a deep influence of theatrical representation is perceptible. In songs like 'bose achi Istisionete' or 'Maser prothom dinta' this becomes obvious. He is deft at bringing out urban landscapes in his lyrics. a substantial portion of his songs capture stories of various urban creatures like Raja Roy, Samson, Horipado, Mala and numerous others who have come alive in his songs.
[edit] Singing career
It is well known that Anjan Dutta's songs are influenced by western music specially country and blues.at first he was more into upbeat,comparatively light-hearted compositions like 'Calcium','Haripada','Ranjana' e.t.c.These kind of songs are influenced by numbers like Cecilia,Me and julio Down by The School yard or Beatles' He's a real nowhere man.But gradually he moved to more serious sort of songs inspired by ballads of Bob Dylan and Leonard cohen and soon developed a unique style of his own truly Bengali in its core though the style may be reminiscent of west.He was also inspired by eminent western singers like Don Mclean,Donovan, John Denver and Paul Simon.
Anjan Dutta belonged to that era of pre-discotheque, pre-lounge-bar Bengalis who were slowly turning on their discmans as the ubiquitous radios started their journeys to oblivion. As like Sumon Chatterjee's, Anjan's songs spoke of the middle-class Bengalis and their dreams, aspirations and their fulfillments and failures without being too sermonising or sighing. He can be credited with giving rise to a new generation of urban Kolkatan youth who learned to thrive and prosper in the wistful mediocrities of lost love, temporary unemployment, breaking of dreams, hearts, hearths or the first kiss or the first swig of rum.
According to him his music can be categorized as 'urban folk'.But in broad spectrum it falls under modern Bengali popular music.The mood also keeps changing.For example Duto Manush speaks of the break-up of a couple after a violent clash,Bondhu revolves around a theme of refusal to a love proposal,whereas Shunte ki Chao or Neel deals with the mourning of lost innocence of childhood and Kolkata-16 which is basically an address in the Park Street region of Kolkata is a tribute to that street which is so intimately related to little pieces of joy and sorrow of the singer's life.He has also dealt with current matters in his songs like the brutal killing of Christian Missionary Graham Stuart Stains and his children on the hand of Hindu fanatics in a remote district of Orissa.The song Sokal depicts the empty materialism of modern lifestyle whereas songs like Kanchan and Darjeeling are tributes to his chidhood spent in the hills.His two most favourite themes are Guitar and the rugged face of Kolkata ,which returned recurringly to many of his songs.This vaying choice of themes combined with an eclectic unique style made him one of the three cult figures of post- ninties era in Bengali popular music besides Suman and Nachiketa.
It is worth mentioning that Anjan dutta has a limited but devoted fan-following specially within college and University students and young urbanites and he maintains a steady popularity within his selected audience.His other works includes "Priyo Bandhu",a voice play performed with Nima Rehman.He has also done a few english compilations like Bandra Blues.
[edit] Selected Discography
- 2441139
- Shunte Ki Chao
- Horipado
- Ami Brishti Dekhechi
- Asomoy
- Alibaba
- TV Dekhona
- Akash Bhora Shuryo Tara
- Bhalobasi Tomay
- Boyos Amar Baro Tai
- Duto Manush
- Hallo Bangladesh
- Mon Amaar
- Purano Guitar
- Keu Gaan Gay
- Das Cabin
- Bondhu
- Brishti
- Chapta Golaap
- Mery Ann
- Jeremir Behala
- Kanchan
- Roma
- Darjeeling Er Raasta
- Janla
- Sesh Bole Kichu Nei
- Jacche Choley
- Vengchi Kete Dekh
- Happy
- Cholo Badlai
- Kolkata-16
- Tumi Dekhecho Ki
- Neel
- Rong Pencil
- Mr. Hall
[edit] Filmography
Actor:
- Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)
- Dekha (2001) .... Sarama's husband
- Yugant (1995) .... Deepak
... aka What the Sea Said (India: English title)
- Antareen (1994) .... The Writer
... aka The Confined
- Shilpi (1993)
... aka The Artist ... aka The Dreamer
- Sunya Theke Suru (1993)
... aka A Return to Zero (India: English title)
- City of Joy (1992) .... Dr. Sunil
... aka Cité de la joie, La (France)
- Mahaprithivi (1992) .... Younger Son
... aka World Within, World Without
- City of Hope (1991)
- Ek Din Achanak (1989) (as Anjan Dutta) .... Neeta's boyfriend
... aka Suddenly, One Day
- Nuit Bengali, La (1988) .... Khokha
... aka Bengali Night
- Grihajuddha (1982) .... Bijon
... aka Crossroads ... aka The Crossroad
- Kharij (1982) .... Anjan Sen
... aka The Case Is Closed
- Chaalchitra (1981) .... Dipu
... aka The Kaleidoscope
Director:
- Aamar Kanchanjangha
- The Bong Connection
- Bow barracks Forever
- Rudra Sener Diary (telefilm)
- BadaDin
He is currently working in his fourth feature film "Aamar Kanchanjangha" featuring Prasenjit and Kankana Sensharma.
