Playback singer Anup Ghoshal passes away at 77

Anup Ghoshal

Bengali singer Anup Ghoshal, mostly known for the 'Tujhse Naraz Nahi Zindagi' number from the 1983 film 'Masoom' and who immortalised the songs in several Satyajit Ray's musicals died here on Friday, his family said. Ghoshal was 77. He is survived by two daughters.

He had been hospitalised for the past several days at a private hospital in south Kolkata for old age ailments and died due to multi-organ failure at 1.40 pm.
Ghoshal, who had successfully contested the 2011 assembly polls from Uttarpara seat on the Trinamool Congress ticket, left behind two daughters.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled his death. "I express my deep grief and condolence over the death of Anup Ghosal who had sung in Bengali, Hindi and other languages," she said.

A prolific singer, Ghoshal proved his versatility in the songs of Kaji Nazrul Islam, Rabindranath Tagore and modern Bengali songs. As a playback singer, he had been associated with Ray's 'Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne' (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha, 1969) and 'Hirak Rajar Deshe' (Kingdom of Diamonds, 1980).
Director Tapan Sinha also used his voice in his film 'Sagina Mahato' (1971). Other notable films in which Ghoshal was the playback singer include 'Fuleswari', 'Marjina Abdalla' and 'Chhadmabeshi'. However, his rendition of 'Tujhse Naraz Nahi Zindagi' in Gulzar-directed 'Masoom' won hearts across the country.

Besides Bengali and Hindi films, he sang in movies in several other Indian languages such as Assamese and Bhojpuri. Ghoshal was born in 1945. He had his first initiation to music from his mother Labanya Ghoshal in his childhood. He later learnt classical music from Pt Sukhendu Goswami and later became the topper in MA classical music at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata.

In his brief political career, Ghoshal was nominated by Mamata Banerjee to contest from the Uttar Para assembly constituency in 2011. He won from there but did not contest any other election