Music conquers all, and levels all playing fields.
Listen to late Manna Dey, and one is reminded of the Narada-Hanuman story, where Narada lose himself in the song of Hanuman. The moral of the story is not just 'pride goes before fall', but the 'bhakti' of Hanuman. Manna Dey was a singer on the same vein; when he sang, he gave everything,he gave himsellf. There is more to Manna Dey songs than just his voice. When lesser mortals sing from the throat he sang from his heart; and that made all the difference.
Here's a pick of ten best Manna Dey songs from across the languages.
"Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandani" from the movie Chori Chori. Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar team up to give voice to this Shanker-Jaikishen composition.
"Manasa maine varoo" from Chemmeen. The ripples of the songs created by the golden duo of Salil Chowdhury and Manna Dey haven't subsided ever since.
"Coffe house er sei adda" , a Bengali song by Manna Dey and composed by Sri Suparno Kanti Ghosh from an album.
"O Xiparor Bandhav"-Bhupen Hazarika and Manna Dey sings for the Assamese movie Aparupa.
Song from the Bhojpuri movie Bidesiya: Suman Kalyanpur, Geeta Dutt, K.Munshi, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor with the composer S N Tripathi.
Hum Maile Tum Ujal Karde by Manna Dey from the Punjabi film Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai. Music composed by S.Mohinder.
Manna Dey singing Gujarati Folk song.
Manna Dey's song from the Marathi film Vardakshinaa. A Vasant Pawar composition
"Kuhu Kuhoo Ennutha Haaduva" from the Kannada movie Kallavathi. Song composed by G K Venkatesh, Lakshman Berlekar
This peppy number from Padosan is an evergreen hit of Mannadey. Obviously, a RD Burman composition.