Salil Chowdhury, a legendary Indian music composer, lyricist, and writer, known for his magical blending of Western classical music with Indian folk and classical styles.
Salil da wasn’t just a composer — he was a revolutionary, a poet, a storyteller, and a visionary. He contributed massively to Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, and many other Indian-language films. His songs still feel fresh because of his deep sense of melody and complex harmonies.
His birth Centenary was celebrated at Kolkata Centre for Creativity from 2nd – 5th April 2025. Although four days is a very short time to conclude all the aspects of his works. Nevertheless, it was a great effort from his able daughter Smt. Antara Chowdhury and son Sanjoy Chowdhury in concluding the same. A complete display of literary works along with life experience of people who worked with him at different stages of life. The program was inaugurated with complete dignity and respect with the august presence of dignitaries like renowned director Goutam Ghosh, Padmashree Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumder, Padmashree Mamata Sankar, Sri Manomay Bhattacharya, Dr. Probitra Sarkar, Dr. Indrani Sen, Sri Srikanta Acharya, Smt. Subhamita Banerjee, Sri Suphal Pakrashi and many others.
It was a lifetime experience for many as living legends like Sri Kalyan SenBarat, Sri Kankan Bhattacharjee, the violin Brothers, Sri Swapan Basu, Sri Suphal Pakrashi, Smt. Antara Chowdhury, Sri Subho Dasgupta and many others shared their working experience with Salil da and became highly emotional. Many untold stories came to live as they unleashed the veil on different aspects of his life.
The protagonist was a Pakrashi Harmonium Fan. Salil Da was a master harmonium player he was equally good at Flute & Guitar. He composed majority of his songs using Pakrashi Harmonium. His Pakrashi Harmonium was also at the display along with other instruments used by him.
In a nutshell it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for all who loves his works to pay tribute to the trend setter. Whose life and works will inspire generations after generations for at least next 500 years.
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Author – Suvojit Pakrashi
