Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films.

[citation needed] Salil Chowdhury was born on 19 November 1925, in a village called Ghazipur in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal.

During the second world war Chowdhury got the opportunity to closely observe human sufferings, hunger and problem of the refugees.

Chowdhury composed it in 1945 during the Indian National Army trials when the freedom fighters had returned from Andaman jail.

Chowdhury shifted to a village in 24 Parganas to live with his maternal uncles, when he was witness to a big peasant uprising there in 1943.

The famine was human-made as local rice was instead directed to Britain's war effort overseas, leading to scarcity, aggravated by black marketeers and hoarders.

Subsequently, arrest warrants were issued in his name, and he went underground in the Sunderbans, hiding in paddy fields and supported by local peasants.

He joined the IPTA[1] (Indian Peoples Theater Association) the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India.

He was writing the script for a Bengali film about a peasant who was disowned of his land and had gone to Calcutta to earn money as a Rickshaw puller.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who heard of it from Chowdhury during a visit to Calcutta, liked it immensely and suggested that he narrate it to the director Bimal Roy.

[3] During the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, Chowdhury contributed to the programmes of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra based in Kolkata.

Later, he had a court marriage with singer Sabita Chowdhury, with whom he had two sons, Sukanta and Sanjoy, and two daughters, Antara and Sanchari.

[5] Hindi Bengali Malayalam Others 1989 Bangshadhar (Bankground Score) Odia List of some songs for which music or lyrics were composed by Salil Chowdhury (in alphabetical order) IPTA: Indian People's Theater Association A Hindi film directed by Bimal Roy based on a story in Bengali "Rikshawalaa" written by Salil Chowdhury.

Poet, Playwright, Short story writer, he also directed a film Pinjre Ke Panchhi starring Meena Kumari, Balraj Sahani and Mehmood b