n my adolescent years, everyone sang with a mournful droll “yeh retain, yeh mausam, yeh hansna hansana; haminb hool jana, inhain na bhulana.” Our seniors were particularly beholden to this number because it seemed to be the validation of their passion. Love in those days was either chasing a woman, which these days would count as pure and simple harassment, or to be totally crestfallen already foreseeing the tragic consequences of being jilted. There was a great deal of the Devdas syndrome in every love affair, usually one-sided, lined with wallowing misery. The lyrics of the number totally fitted this.

One thought that the number was sung by KL Saigal because he was quite popular and everyone in the street knew about him. His early death and heavy drinking fitted the image of a lover in the archetypal ghazal mould. Later one found out that the number was not by KL Saigal but by Punkaj Mallick.

But who was Punkaj Mallick? Information about film personalities and vocalists was the stuff of gossip and some facts got totally intertwined with fantasy and thus scandalised. When I went to East Pakistan in the 1970, I became acquainted with Mullick’s immense reputation and contribution. It was also my first exposure to Rabindro Sangeet and the near god-like veneration that the Bengalis had for Rabindranath Tagore. He could just do no wrong. Many of the songs that I heard in East Pakistan I had heard before. It was later that I got to know that many of them were originally composed and sung in Bengali. Later, the lyrics were translated either into Urdu or some local language. We were often familiar with those sung to expose one’s vulnerability of passion and the overwhelming fear of rejection. But even those moments usually escaped most of us.

With the advent of the VCR, one got to see many more films, including Indian films that had been banned from Pakistanis’ viewing radar since the mid-1950s. Indian film music had been easily accessible through the radio and a few gramophone records. After the run of the popular stuff, one got to see archival or off beat films in which a certain Punkaj Mullick acted and also sang. It was also a revelation that some of the most popular KL Saigol songs had been composed by him. His image on screen was a perfect blend of woebegone romantic finding pearls of wisdom in the life’s oceanic misery.

Besides his excellent singing and composing, Pankaj Mullick also acted in films. He played his first leading role in Aandhi. In 1941, Doctor was a major hit for which he also provided the musical score.

Pankaj Mullick was an exceedingly versatile film artiste. When BN Sirkar, the great film magnate, founded the New Theatres at Calcutta in the early 1930s, besides RC Boral, the chief of the music department, other noted composers included Pankaj Mullick and Timar Baran. Mullick, himself endowed with a rich voice, was perhaps the sub-continent’s first-ever regular and full-fledged singer music director. He started as a singer-music director in the New Theatres and teamed with pioneer composer RC Boral in the early films produced by this company. Mallick’s music credit went on such hits as Bari Didi, Dushman, Kapal Kundala, Nartaki, Zindagi and Meri Behan.

Some of the numbers rendered by Pankaj Mullick like aaee bahar for Tagor’s writings had a profound impact on film making in Bengal and directors like Dhiran Ganguli. Debaki Bose contacted the giant literary figure for the purpose of securing the copy rights to make film on his novels. Almost all the Bengali composers such as RC Boral, Timer Baran, Anil Biswas and SD Burman, Salil Chaudhry and Hemant Kumar were influenced by Tagore’s music so much so that they even came to imitate his compositions in their films.

On Pankaj Mullick’s request, ArzooLakhnavi, the house poet at the New Theatres, translated a famous Bengali number of Tagore in the same meter, while Pankaj Mullick made a copy of Tagore’s original. In Urdu, thus, was born the ever-lasting song: “piya milan ko jana” rendered by Pankaj himself.

Besides his excellent singing and composing, Pankaj Mullick also acted in films. He played his first leading role in Aandhi. In 1941, Doctor was a major hit for which he also provided the musical score.

It is said that the credit of introducing KL Saigal to BN Sirkar also went to Pankaj Mullick. He also directed the music of Dharti Mata, Kupal Kundala, Mukti and for Paul Ziess’s Zalzala.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1970, followed by the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1972.

Panjak Mallick was born May 10, 1905.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore