Playback singer Pratik Choudhury passes away at age 55

Singer Pratik Chowdhury passed away yesterday after a cardiac arrest at the age of 55. The playback singer, popular for his songs such as 'Ek Je Aachhe Kanya' and his own renditions of ghazals, suffered a cardiac failure on the way while returning from his office. He could not be saved after being taken to the hospital. The entire film industry is deeply shocked by his sudden death.

Son of singer Purnima Chowdhury, Prateek took lessons from his mother as well as Sree Sheetal Mukherjee. His introduction to music director Debajyoti Mishra was a turning point in his life and he began his career as a playback singer lending his voice for many jingles for noted brands, including Cookme, Khadim’s, Ajanta Hawai, Anmol and became immensely popular.

He soon became the voice of many tele-serials, for example, Srimoti, C/o Cinema, Syllabuse Nei, Eto Noi Sudhu Gaan and many others.

Among his works in the feature films, his songs in Sakhi Tumi Kar (1980), Tumi Ele Tai (1999), Ek Je Aachhe Kanya (2001) and Patalghar (2003) received wide acclaim. He has extensively travelled across the country performing Ghazals, infusing his own gayaki and traditions imbibed from his teachers.

He also performed with the legendary Ghulam Ali Khan, Jagjit Singh and Pankaj Udhas in concerts in the country.

Choudhury last lent his voice for Aniket Chattopadhyay’s Hobu Chandra Raja Gobu Chandra Mantri (2019) under the direction of Kabir Suman. He sang a few Bengali ghazals for the film. He was supposed to shoot for a music video with his fellow musician Paroma Banerjee.