The Birth Centenary of a Revolutionary Maestro: How Salil Chowdhury Transformed Indian Music
Salil Chowdhury’s birth centenary falls on Nov. 19. The composer, songwriter and revolutionary (1925-1995) was a phenomenon who blurred the lines between literature and music, folk and modernity, India and the world. His centenary celebrations spread over three years, with events spanning from 2023 to 2025, honoring one of India’s most innovative and influential musical geniuses.
Chowdhury was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who composed music for films in 13 languages, including more than 75 Hindi films, 41 Bengali films, 27 Malayalam films, and several Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese films.
Early Life and Formative Influences
Chowdhury was born Nov. 19, 1925, in Ghazipur, a village in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, spending his childhood in the tea gardens region of Assam. His father, Dr. Gyanendra Chowdhury, was the medical officer at Hathikuli Tea Estate near Kaziranga in Assam. Between 1931 and 1951, the chief medical officer was Dr. Maloni, an Irish national.
During his early years, Chowdhury listened to Western orchestral music on Maloni’s gramophone. While he absorbed Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Chopin, his daily life was surrounded by the sounds of the forest, chirping birds and the local folk music of Assam.
The wide range of Chowdhury’s musical compositions can be attributed to his childhood environment. His father and elder brother were fond of Western classical music, while the tea-estate gardens introduced him to eastern folk through laborers singing at work. The impact of both genres is evident throughout his musical evolution.
Encouraged by his elder brother, he learned to play the flute at age 8, eventually picking up the violin and piano. He became a self-taught flute player, with Mozart as his favorite composer.
His brother led an orchestra group where Chowdhury played an array of instruments, providing early practical experience in ensemble music-making and orchestration.
The Communist Movement
In 1940-41, Chowdhury came in contact with the Communist Party. He moved to a village in 24 Parganas to live with his maternal uncles and witnessed a major peasant uprising there in 1943. He became involved and began writing songs for the peasant movement.
In 1944, while studying for his master’s degree, Chowdhury witnessed people dying on the streets of Calcutta as 5 million Bengalis died during a famine. The disaster was human-made: local rice was directed to Britain’s war effort overseas, leading to scarcity aggravated by black marketeers and hoarders. This led Chowdhury to become fully involved in the peasant movement as a full-time member of IPTA and the Communist Party.
He first performed in 1945 at the Rangpur students’ conference, where he, then a fifth-year student at Calcutta University, presented one of his most-remembered early protest songs, “Bicharpoti tomar bichar korbe jara” (O Judge! the masses, who will try you, have risen today!). Originally a song against British justice in its judgment of Indian freedom fighters, it has become a rallying cry against state oppression and injustice.
He was one of the founding members of the Indian People’s Theatre Association, where he composed “Ghum Bhangar Gaan,” which remains one of the most unique compositions to date, setting to music Sukanta Bhattacharya’s poems like “Abak Prithibi” and “Runner.”
On several occasions he said: “The way my mental, cultural, musical and political consciousness was developed during these seven years from 1946 to 1952, became the foundation of my life’s perspective and direction.” Mass music under the IPTA banner gave him primary prominence in Bengal’s cultural landscape from 1946 to 1952.
There is a conscious effort by many to disassociate Chowdhury from the Communist Party and the mass movement, but his political commitments were fundamental to his artistic identity. The turbulent time was the main catalyst in Chowdhury’s rise as an artist.
The Revolutionary Innovator: Musical Techniques
His compositions often used folk melodies or melodies based on Indian classical ragas, but the orchestration was Western in its construction. He developed a unique style audiences could identify with easily.
Chowdhury introduced a totally different style of orchestration, bringing in “voicing” of musical instruments, obbligato, counterpoints and harmony as background rather than simply following the song’s melody, introducing a richness never before experienced by listeners.
One of the salient features of Chowdhury’s orchestration was his use of rhythms, percussion and percussive instruments, clearly defining the rhythmic thrusts of his songs with instruments more suited to the purpose than just the tabla, which had been the standard rhythm instrument in modern Bengali songs.
His innovative application of percussion other than the obligatory tabla in the early 1950s was pioneering work. He sharpened and enhanced the rhythm’s edge by using the piano, which in many early recordings played rhythmic chords, accentuating the accompaniment.
Choral Innovation
Chowdhury founded the Bombay Youth Choir in 1958, the first secular choir in India, serving as its composer and conductor. He inspired scores of secular choir groups to be formed throughout India, formulating a new genre of music using vocal polyphony for Indian folk and contemporary music.
His notable use of chorus transformed how background vocals could be employed in Indian film music. He formed the Calcutta Youth Choir with Ruma Guha Thakurta, which traversed villages in Bengal with IPTA, singing Chowdhury’s compositions.
A master multi-instrumentalist, Chowdhury played the flute, esraj, violin and piano, with an almost complete understanding of several other instruments evident in his musical creations over time.
He based orchestrations on innovative use of the ukulele (a type of mandolin) and flute, expanding the palette of sounds available to Indian film composers.
Entry into Hindi Cinema
In an interview with All India Radio, Chowdhury described his arrival in Bombay in 1953 as a “stroke of luck.” He was writing the script for a Bengali film about a peasant disowned of his land who went to Calcutta to earn money as a rickshaw puller. Hrishikesh Mukherjee heard about it during a visit to Calcutta and suggested he narrate it to director Bimal Roy.
This resulted in Chowdhury’s debut in the Hindi film industry in 1953 as music director for “Do Bigha Zamin.” Based on Rabindranath Tagore’s poem of the same name, the story was different and written by Chowdhury. Directed by Roy, the film became the first to win the Filmfare Best Movie Award and won the international prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Madhumati Masterpiece
His biggest success came with Roy’s “Madhumati.” The film’s songs — from the romantic “Dil Tadap Tadap Ke” to the cheerful “Jungle Mein Mor Naacha” to the haunting “Aaja Re Pardesi” — proved the composer’s versatility. The film’s music, regarded as one of Hindi cinema’s classics, won Chowdhury the Filmfare Award for best music director in 1958.
Chowdhury was at his best with haunting melodies including “Aaja re pardesi,” “Ghadi ghadi mera dil dhadke,” “Suhana safar aur ye mausam haseen,” “Tootey huey khawabon ney” and a light number, “Jangal mein mor nacha.” The duet “Dil tadap tadap ke keh raha hai” was based on Hungarian and Czech folk music.
Raj Kapoor was so impressed with Chowdhury’s music that he invited his regular musicians Shankar-Jaikishan to the song recording to observe the creative process. “Madhumati” is one of Chowdhury’s finest music creations, presenting a palette of melodies featuring Indian folk at its core while carrying shades of Russian and Hungarian folk.
After working for about 20 years in Bengali and Hindi films, he entered the Malayalam film industry and in 1964 composed music for “Chemmeen.” The songs became widely known in Kerala. Chowdhury formed a formidable team with Malayalam lyricist Vayalar and poet ONV Kurup, composing music for more than 25 Malayalam films.
In Kerala, Chowdhury has become a household name and is highly revered.
Adaptations and Borrowings
One characteristic feature of Chowdhury’s music was his adaptation of Western classical music. For instance, Talat Mahmood’s hit “Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyar Kar” from “Chhaya” is said to be based on a well-known Mozart composition. Even when he took inspiration from Mozart’s 40th Symphony for “Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyaar” or a Russian Red Army marching song for “Mausam Beeta Jaaye,” he integrated them beautifully into the grammar of film songs.
In the 1970s, he adapted jazz structure for touching numbers like “Zindagi Kaisi Hain Paheli” from “Anand” and “Na Jaane Kyon” from “Chhoti Si Baat.”
Literary Work
Chowdhury was an artist in the true sense, with creativity extending beyond music. His first short story, “Dressing Table,” was a runaway hit. He subsequently wrote various other stories and plays. The thematic exploration in works such as “Sunya Puron,” dealing with a midget’s fight to overcome his height’s shortcomings, became integral to his writing.
As poet, playwright and short story writer, Chowdhury also directed the 1966 film “Pinjre Ke Panchhi,” starring Meena Kumari, Balraj Sahani and Mehmood, based on his own story and screenplay. The Salil Chowdhury Foundation has published two books by him: “Ek Guchha Chabi” and “Salil Rachana Shangraha.”
He was an outstanding composer, accomplished arranger, poet and writer but above all, an intellectual. His daughter Antara worked hard to salvage unpublished works: “She has found poems written on envelopes or on the backs of cigarette packs. Those have been included in the first volume of poems brought out by Dey’s Publishing.”
He would sketch while he mused, many doodles bearing witness to the habit.
Musical Philosophy and Vision
He once said: “I want to create a style which shall transcend borders — a genre which is emphatic and polished, but never predictable.” He dabbled in many things, with ambitions to achieve greatness in everything he did.
But at times, his uncertainty was evident: “I do not know what to opt for: poetry, story writing, orchestration or composing for films. I just try to be creative with what fits the moment and my temperament,” he told a journalist.
Social Vision
In a Nov. 21, 1993, interview with The Telegraph, Chowdhury said: “My idea of perfect happiness is my ability to compose a musical note that will unite my countrymen and inspire them to make India among the world’s leading nations.”
When asked “Why will history remember you?” Chowdhury replied 10 months before his death: “I don’t think I have any right to tell others why and how they should remember me.”
Impact and Legacy
Chowdhury’s Bengali songs changed the course of modern Bengali music. Audiences were thrilled to hear his songs with completely new melodies, lyrics and musical arrangements. He established a unique approach by combining Western and Eastern music, giving new dimension to the music industry and founding Bengali adhunik (modern) music.
Hridaynath Mangeshkar, who trained in music composition with Chowdhury, and Hemant Kumar, who lent his voice to hundreds of Chowdhury compositions, were deeply influenced by the maestro. Their own music for films and private recordings often recall Chowdhury’s creations. Kumar’s famous composition “Dolkara Dolkara,” a fisherfolk song for a Marathi film, sounds like a Chowdhury composition.
His music was so completely different and his orchestration so unique that he earned the title “composer’s composer.” IPTA General Secretary Dibyendu Chatterjee said the maestro’s charm lies in people’s music and the songs he composed for the average person through film music.
Proposing “Salilsangeet” as a Genre
Advocates are pushing for the term “Salilsangeet” to gain currency. After Tagore, few Bengali composers have written and set to music so many songs. This proposal recognizes Chowdhury’s contribution as comparable to Tagore’s Rabindrasangeet — perhaps the highest honor in Bengali musical culture.
The Centenary Celebrations
The Salil Chowdhury Foundation of Music, Social Help & Education Trust was established in 2002 by Sabita Chowdhury, the late composer’s wife, and Antara Chowdhury, his daughter, to carry forward the legacy and preserve Chowdhury’s works.
The foundation will arrange three concerts in Chennai, Kolkata and Kerala to mark the centenary celebrations and is planning a cultural competition across Bengal for school students in all districts of the state.
The foundation is building an archive of his work and has started compiling the notations of his songs. It held a successful three-day exhibition in 2016 at Gorky Sadan, Kolkata, and in 2018 screened Chowdhury’s sole directorial work, “Pinjre Ke Panchhi,” at Nandan.
Key articles from Chowdhury’s music room are on display, as if waiting for their user to start composing — his spectacles, favorite pens, Pakrashi harmonium, the Roland DX5 keyboard he used since 1980 and handwritten pages from his song notebook.
The foundation is presenting a musical tribute through a concert featuring 18 top artists performing Chowdhury’s songs. The fifth season of Kolkata Street Music Festival celebrated his birth centenary through his ageless melodies, with actress-singer Ruma Guhathakurta’s Calcutta Youth Choir performing “Pothe Ebar Namo Sathi.”
Continued Relevance
Antara Chowdhury said that though her father’s roots lie in Marxism and progressive thought, everyone now sings his songs: “We are not keeping any bar for people to join the birth centenary celebrations.”
Antara, who gained recognition singing children’s songs composed by her father, including “O Sona Byang” and “Bulbul pakhi,” has made it her mission to preserve and proliferate his works: “My focus has shifted from my own performance to teaching music and protecting his legacy.”
A poet, storyteller and revolutionary thinker, Chowdhury’s music carried the fragrance of the soil and the sophistication of global soundscapes. His birth centenary invites us to revisit the magic of a man whose creations remain timeless, universal and deeply human.
Chowdhury’s importance in Indian music cannot be overstated. He was a true revolutionary — not just politically but musically. He demonstrated that Indian music could absorb Western orchestral techniques without losing its soul, that folk traditions could be elevated without being diluted, and that art could serve both aesthetic and social purposes without compromise.
The growth of a young composer from rural Bengal with a flute in hand, leaning heavily on folk music in the beginning, eventually becoming almost a classicist, using strings and horns with movements resembling a classical Western orchestra while simultaneously composing nostalgic tunes in Bageshri and Kalavati, is remarkable.
His influence extends across languages, regions and generations. From revolutionary songs that challenged British imperialism to film melodies that continue to move audiences decades later, from founding India’s first secular choir to pioneering new orchestration techniques, Chowdhury’s contributions fundamentally shaped the sound of modern Indian music.
As we celebrate his birth centenary, we honor not just a composer but a visionary who believed music could unite nations, inspire change and transcend all boundaries — a belief his timeless compositions continue to affirm.
Amy Ghosh is a Los Angeles-based Attorney at Law, specializing in Immigration Law, Family Law, and Employment Law, among others. She can be reached at: amygesq@gmail.com