‘Lata-didi is like my elder sister. We respect each other’

Mumbai: Playback singer Suman Kalyanpur was always compared with legendary Lata Mangeshkar. There was a reported rift between them over certain issues. However, Kalyanpur, who passed away on Sunday night in Mumbai, had dismissed the speculation in an exclusive chat with this correspondent almost three decades ago.

She had responded with characteristic grace and a smile: “I have nothing to say about this. Lata-didi is like my elder sister. We respect each other. I just do my singing, and do not bother about comparisons.”

Kalyanpur was accorded a funeral with full state honours at the Vile Parle crematorium on Monday afternoon in the presence of her family, members of the film fraternity, admirers and countless fans who had cherished her music for over six decades.

Earlier in the day, her mortal remains were kept at Shivshakti Apartments for the public to pay their last respects. Scores of admirers queued up to offer floral tributes to the singer whose voice became synonymous with grace, melody and emotional depth.

Later, her body, draped in the National Tricolour, was taken in a solemn funeral procession. Her daughter Charul Agny and other family members joined mourners as the Mumbai Police accorded her full state honours before the last rites were performed.

Born Rebel

Born on January 18, 1937, in Dhaka, then part of undivided Bengal Province (now in Bangladesh), Suman was the eldest among six siblings, including five sisters and a brother. Her father, a banker, hailed from Hemmadi village in Karnataka's Udupi district.

When she was barely six years old, the Hemmadi family moved to Mumbai where she studied at St. Columba Girls' High School in Gamdevi and later enrolled at the Sir J.J. School of Art, aspiring to become a painter.

Fate, however, had other plans. Blessed with an exceptionally melodious voice, she gravitated towards music and received her initial training under Pandit Keshavrao Bhole. She later refined her skills for professional singing under Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan and Master Navrang.

Despite strong resistance from her family, Suman pursued her passion and was invited to sing for All India Radio in 1952, when she was just 15. A year later, she recorded her first playback song for the Marathi film “Shukrachi Chandni “(1953).

First Break

Her talent soon caught the attention of actor-producer Sheikh Mukhtar, who gave her the first Hindi film break in an action film, “Mangu” (1954). It proved to be a turning point and soon after, legendary composer Naushad Ali entrusted her with five songs in “Darwaza” (1954), including a duet with Talat Mahmood. The teenaged singer's extraordinary promise was impossible to ignore.

Following her marriage to Mumbai businessman Ramanand Kalyanpur in 1958, she found unwavering support from her husband, who accompanied her to recording sessions and encouraged her musical pursuits.

Range of Songs

At a time when giants such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Suraiya dominated film music, Suman carved out a distinctive space for herself.

Her repertoire ranged effortlessly from romantic melodies and ghazals to devotional songs, folk-inspired compositions and light classical numbers.

As her popularity grew, comparisons with Lata Mangeshkar became inevitable, fueling persistent rumours of a rivalry though Suman consistently dismissed such speculation.

From the mid-1950s through the late 1980s, Suman Kalyanpur recorded hundreds of songs with some of India's greatest male playback singers, including Talat Mahmood, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar and Kishore Kumar.

With her strong grounding in classical music, she sang with ease in multiple languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia and several South Indian languages. Her versatility, precision and emotional expression earned her a place among India's most respected playback singers.

Over a distinguished career spanning more than six decades, she received numerous honours and accolades, including the Padma Bhushan in 2023, apart from several state, national and international awards.

Though the singer has fallen silent, her immortal melodies continue to resonate across generations – a fitting echo of one of her most cherished songs: “Rahe Na Rahen Hum, Mehka Karenge.”