Actor Rajatava Dutta turns playback singer for Zee Bangla film Mon Kharaper Osudh

Actor Rajatava Dutta has lent his voice as a playback singer for the first time for the Zee Bangla original film Mon Kharaper Osudh directed by Suman Das.

The song, titled 'Golper Notey Gachhe', has been composed by Ashu Chakraborty while the lyrics have been penned by Rajib Chakraborty.

Rajatava Dutta has previously sung songs picturized on himself in Ascharya Pradeep (2013), Jagga Jasoos (2017, Hindi) and Manojder Adbhut Bari (2018). This time he has lent his voice for veteran actor Partha Sarathi Deb, whose character lip-synchs the song disguised as a joker to instil some important messages in his granddaughter Tinni. The film attempts to critique certain evils of modernity from the perspective of two aged characters.

The director and the music composer were initially thinking of approaching veteran singers Swapan Bose or Nachiketa Ghosh for the song. “When Suman-da first told me that Rony-da [Dutta] will sing the song, I was quite happy as I had heard his songs in the music band Quinine and in some of his films,” said Ashu Chakraborty.

Dutta, however, found the scale of the song quite high and asked the music director to bring it down for him. “When Ashu sent the song in his voice I thought he had captured Partha-da’s diction quite nicely and sung the scratch well," said the actor for whom the project has been like a reunion.

“We had worked on the television serial Ek Akasher Niche," he recalled. "Suman was in the directorial team then. I played the third younger sibling and Partha-da played the eldest brother.”

In the midst of his busy shooting schedule, Dutta memorized the song entirely before recording it in the studio. “I loved the composition and the lyrics and am grateful to have sung this song,” he said. Visuals of the song were played in front of Dutta during the recording. His challenge was to infuse drama into the rendition, going beyond the framework of the composition.

Recalling the days when Dutta introduced the director to the world of theatre and they worked together, Suman Das said, “Singing in theatre requires a lot of drama. Since I have worked with Rony-da in theatre for long, I knew I could place these challenges before him.” He applauded Dutta’s ability to engage proper expression in each word.

According to the music director, Dutta has complemented Deb’s performance and done justice to the primary requirement of playback singing as in the visual it appears that Deb is singing the song himself. “I never thought Rony-da would be so sporting to take up this project,” he said, “Also, it was quite rare to have discussion sessions on the song with him during the recording.”

Though delighted by the experience, Dutta does not plan to pursue a parallel career as a playback singer. “If I get good projects, I might think of singing more songs," he said. Dutta reportedly charged a meagre amount for singing the song simply because he doesn’t regard himself as a professional playback vocalist.

The song is currently available on YouTube.