RMIM Archive Article "208".

From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Salil - a short biography
#
# Posted by:  pradeep@watson.ibm.com (Pradeep Dubey)
# Author: Vish Krishnan  and Pradeep Dubey
#


               A Short Biography of Sir Salil

You have already seen a  few  bio  sketches  describing  the
maestro's  life and work.  Although it is hard to say enough
about the impact this genius has had on  Indian  cinema  and
music,   we  will defer our written tribute to a later date.
For  now,   here  are  some  suggested  changes  to  details
regarding Sir Salil's  early years.

     Salil Choudhury was born in 1925 in Assam. He came down
to Sonarpur, District 24-Parganas, West Bengal, in 1931, and
he was 6 years old then. His uncle (mother's brother)  lived
there,  and  that  is where the youngster spent a few years.
College start ed around 1942, a great time  to  be  in  Cal-
cutta.   The Bengal famine was at its worst.  The members of
the INA were already on the wanted-dead-or-alive  list,  and
patriotic Bengali songs were popular in every street corner.
Sir Salil joined Bangabaasi college.  He mostly followed the
evolution  of  radical and socialistic organizations through
the East.

     His father, Gyanendra Chaudhary an ICS officer,  had  a
passion  for  music.   His elder brother Nikhil Chaudhary, a
doctor, was the director of an orchestra called "Milan  Par-
ishad"  hence  Salil  was exposed to musical instruments and
instrumental arrangements from a very early age.

     Salil's  favourite  instrument  was  the  flute,  which
featured  prominently in his subsequent work. He was trained
on the piano and violin and hence  from  an  early  age  was
introduced to western classical as well as traditional North
Indian classical musics, and a fusion of the two became  his
distinguishing trademark.

     We will definitely add more to this  tribute,  possibly
as part of the ANSWERS post.

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Vish Krishnan would further like to add the following infor-
mation regarding the last few days of Salil:


August_1:
     Admitted to Woodlands Nursing Home (kidney malfunction)
     South Calcutta (Southern Avenue, I think - not sure)
     Went on and stayed on dialysis for a month.  Was  ready
     to come back home.

Sept_1:
     Suffered a serious brain haemorrhage, went into a coma,
     and  never  recovered.   Spent  the  next 3 days in the
     emergency room.  Before the coma, stayed in a conscious
     state through the immense pain.

Sept_4:
     Died late Monday night (Sept 4) at  the  nursing  home.
     Family  and  some  really  close  friends were at hand.
     Mrinal Sen was one.
     Survived  by  wife  and  4  children  (2  sons  and   2
     daughters).   I  only  know Antara's name as one of the
     children.


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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian