Birendra Krishna Bhadra (1905 - 1991) was an Indian broadcaster, playwright, actor and theatre director from Kolkata, and a contemporary of Pankaj Mallick and Nazrul Hasan. He worked for the All India Radio, India's National Radio broadcaster for several years during its early, starting 1930s, and during this period he produced and adapted several plays.
Today, he is most known for his soaring Sanskrit recitation through a two hour audio program, Mahishashura Mardini (Annihilation of Mahisasura) (1931), a collection of shlokas and songs broadcast by All India Radio Calcutta (now Kolkata) at 4 am, in the dawn of Mahalaya. He also acted and directed several plays in Bengali theatre and even wrote screenplay for film, Nishiddha Phal.
Career : He adapted and restructures several classics to produce notable radio plays. In the 1930s All India Radio, Kolkata started broadcasting a two hour program called Mahishashura Mardini which describes the epic battle of goddess Durga with the demon king Mahishashura. The script of this program was written by Bani Kumar and music directed by Pankaj Kumar Mallik. Birendra Krishna Bhadra recited. In 2007 Durga Puja opens with the same recital by Birendra Krishna Bhadra.
Bhadra wrote some plays including Mess No. 49, and directed a theatre production Sahib Bibi Gulam, a stage adaptation of the celebrated novel of famous author, the Bimal Mitra, in In 1952, he dramatized Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's Subarna Golak.
Legacy : His rendition, Mahisasura Mardini, is still played by All India Radio, every Mahalaya, marking the beginning of Durga Puja festivities. So popular was his version of the recitation that when in 1976, the voice of noted Bengali actor, Uttam Kumar was employed for the programme, it didn't get favorable response from the audience and it was shifted back to the original version of Birendra krishna Bhadra mahalaya .
On the Mahalaya day in 2006, Sujata Bhadra, daughter of the late Birendra Krishna Bhadra, got a cheque for Rs 50917 from music company, Saregama India Ltd as a royalty for her father's famous work.
Technology these day came with some extraordinary features or products that simply makes your dream comes true. Example like, iPhone & it's Applications. The great thing about the iPhone is that while it is an extraordinary phone with some extraordinary features, there are also an umpteen number of super cool third party apps available which can help you do just about anything you can imagine with your iPhone.
By the help of this Free Application, Bengalis in there 30's and above can recollect old days when we were very young at the time of Mahalaya.
Now many of us are not living in Kolkata or in India for various reasons, but during days like these, our hearts still beat together. Thus if you miss the old days and searching for a way to listen to this years Mahalaya, whilst still in bed, this application will let you all to listen to Mahalaya by Birendra Kishore Bhadra anywhere you are round the globe.
Screenshot of this Application popularly known as iMahalaya.
Specially for NRI's : We miss Mahalaya , We miss Durga Puja and We miss you Kolkata !! ... Well, the time is over now .. There will be no more missing .. Download Mahalaya in your iphone Or in iPod and enjoy Durga Puja 2010 anywhere you like :)
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