Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemanta Mukherjee and Hemant Kumar, was an Indian music director and a playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, along with several other Indian languages, including Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Tamil, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Konkani, Sanskrit and Urdu.

During his school years, he formed lasting friendships with Subhash Mukhopadhyay, who would later become a celebrated poet, and writer Santosh Kumar Ghosh.

He briefly experimented with literature and published a short story in the Bengali magazine Desh, but by the late 1930s, he had decided to dedicate himself entirely to music.

In 1943, he composed his first original songs, "Katha Kayonako Shudhu Shono" and "Amar Biraha Akashe Priya", with lyrics by Amiya Bagchi.

Hemanta established himself as a prominent exponent of Rabindra Sangeet with his first recorded piece in the genre appearing in the Bengali film Priya Bandhabi (1944).

That same year, he recorded his first non-film Rabindra Sangeet album under the Columbia label, featuring "Aamar Aar Habe Na Deri" and "Keno Pantha E Chanchalata".

During this period, he worked alongside contemporary male vocalists including Jaganmay Mitra, Robin Majumdar, Satya Chowdhury, Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Sudhirlal Chakraborty, Bechu Dutta[4] and Talat Mahmood.

], Hemanta became actively involved with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), where he formed a significant collaboration with fellow member and composer Salil Chowdhury.

His 1947 recording of "Ganyer Badhu" ("The rural bride"), composed and written by Salil Chowdhury, marked a turning point in his career.

This unconventional six-minute composition, recorded on both sides of a 78 rpm disc, departed from traditional Bengali song structure and romantic themes.

[5] During this period, Hemanta received increasing opportunities as a music composer for Bengali films, notably working with director Hemen Gupta.

Anand Math (1952) achieved moderate success, with its standout contribution being Lata Mangeshkar's rendition of 'Vande mataram', which Hemanta set to a stirring martial tune.

44, 1955), "Hai Apna Dil To Awara" (Solva Saal, 1958), and "Na Tum Humen Jano" (Baat Ek Raat Ki, 1962).

He also provided playback for other leading actors including Pradeep Kumar (Nagin, Detective), Sunil Dutt (Duniya Jhukti Hain), and later Biswajeet (Bees Saal Baad, Bin Badal Barsaat, Kohra) and Dharmendra (Anupama), while also serving as the music composer for these films.

Songs of Nagin remained chart-toppers continuously for two years and culminated in Hemanta receiving the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1955.

He sang songs composed by the major music directors in Bengal such as Nachiketa Ghosh, Robin Chatterjee and Salil Chowdhury.

Some of the notable films Hemanta himself composed music for during this period include Harano Sur, Marutirtha Hinglaj, Neel Akasher Neechey, Lukochuri, Swaralipi, Deep Jwele Jaai, Shesh Parjanta, Kuhak, Dui Bhai, and Saptapadi in Bengali, and Jagriti and Ek Hi Raasta in Hindi.

This proved to be a major success and Hemanta's composition style changed noticeably for many of his future films in Bengal such as Baghini, and Balika Badhu.

In the 1960s he was the predominant and lead male voice in many of Tagore's musical dramas like Valmiki Pratibha, Shyama, Sapmochan, Chitrangada and Chandalika.

Some of them are Jodi Jante Chao Tumi (1972), Ek Gochha Rajanigandha, Aamay Prasno Kore Nil Dhrubatara, Sedin Tomay Dekhechilam (1974), Khirki Theke Singho Duar (Stree, 1971), Ke Jane Ko Ghonta (Sonar Khancha, 1974), Jeona Daraon Bandhu (Phuleswari, 1975) and popularised Rabindra sangeet using them beautifully in films as per situations.

That very year Hemanta released his last album with Gramophone Company of India — a 45 rpm extended play disc with four non-film songs.

His philanthropic activities included running a homeopathic hospital in memory of his late father in their native village in Baharu, in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

In a television interview, recorded in the early 1990s, to noted elocutionist Gauri Ghosh, his wife Bela Mukherjee recalled that she never knew during his lifetime the number of families and persons he helped to put up financially or otherwise; it was only after his departure that this truth gradually unveiled.

Immediately after returning from this trip he suffered another heart attack on 26 September 1989 and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcutta.