Udisha
Salil Chowdhury's 100th Birth Anniversary
Legendary Indian music composer, songwriter, screenwriter and author, Salil Chowdhury's repertoire of music has defined Indian film music. Known for the various musical styles including western classical, Indian folk and more that impacted his composition, Salil Chowdhury saw music as an important part of resistance.
Salil Chowdhury was also a director
The world is aware of the genius that Salil Chowdhury is as a composer. However, he wrote screenplays for movies and even directed Pinjre Ke Panchhi, a 1966 Hindi film based on a story written by him. The film starred Meena Kumari and Balraj Sahni.
Music as resistance
Salil Chowdhury set up the first secular choir in India when he established the Bombay Youth Choir in 1958. With this choir, the music composer redefined chorus music and blended Indian folk music with modern tunes.
A multi-instrumentalist
A supremely talented musician, Salil Chowdhury could play multiple instruments such as the flute, piano, and esraj, and even some Bengali folk instruments that made his music richer and helped him enrich his music with orchestration.
Salil Chowdhury had a huge influence on legendary Indian musicians
Many Indian musicians, such as A.R. Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja, have talked about the influence Salil Chowdhury had on their music. Ilaiyaraaja used to be a session guitarist and combo organ player in Salil Chowdhury's Madras recordings and A.R. Rahman used to go to Chowdhury's recordings with his father R. K. Shekhar, an experience which greatly inspired him as a composer.