Manna Dey Birthday Special: 5 Beautiful Hindi Songs of the Legendary Singer That You Must Listen to If You are a Music Lover

The late great Manna Dey is considered as one of the best singers Indian cinema has ever seen, a legend in his own right. Not many knew that this singer's real name was Prabodh Chandra Dey. Born in Kolkata, West Bengal on May 1, 1919, today happens to be this legendary singer's 99th birth anniversary.

Manna Dey had begun his playback singing career in 1942 with the movie Tamanna, which happened to be a duet. He got his first solo song with the 1943 movie Ram Rajya, that also happened to be his big break. Manna Dey enjoyed quite the popular phase between the '50s and the '70s. He had sing for popular heroes of the era like Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Rajesh Khanna, Guru Dutt etc and for composers like OP Nayyar, Naushad, SD Burman, RD Burman, Bappi Lahiri, Rajesh Roshan, etc. Manna Dey was believed to have sung around 4000 songs in Hindi, Bengali and even Malayalam cinema. His song from the 1965 movie Chemmeen, Maanasamaine Varoo, is considered a landmark song in Malayalam cinema despite being sung by a non-native singer.

Manna Dey retired from Hindi cinema in 1992, but he continued to sing for Bengali films after that. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007 by the Government of India. The singer, sadly, left us for the heavenly abode on October 24, 2013, at the age of 94.

On the occasion of his birth anniversary, we list five of our favourite Manna Dey songs, that you should not miss out if you call yourself a music lover.

Ae Mere Pyaare Watan

Movie: Kabuliwala

One of the favourite songs of Indians staying abroad, looking for a vacation to return to their homeland. Don't tell me that this song doesn't leave you dewy-eyed!

Aye Meri Zohra Jabeen

Movie: Waqt

Lively and naughty, mature romance has never been versed so beautifully.

Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli

Movie: Anand

There was never any song that philosophised the mystery of life as magnificently as this lovely ditty from Anand.

Chunari Sambhal Gori

Movie: Baharon Ke Sapne

Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar uplift this fun song with their flirty singing.

Ek Chatur Naar

Movie: Padosan

Manna Dey's comical jugalbandi with the equally brilliant Kishore Kumar transcends time to remain ageless! Has Bollywood ever made any song like these in recent times?

Any more of Manna Dey's songs that have been permanently etched on your playlist and deserves to be here as well? Do share them in the comments section below and enlighten us!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 01, 2018 12:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).