Acclaimed singer Anup Ghosal passes away in Kolkata at 78

Acclaimed singer Anoop Ghoshal, who became a household name in Bengal for lending his voice to the protagonist in Satyajit Ray's Goopy Gyne, Bagha Byne (1969) and Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980), passed away in a Kolkata hospital on Friday afternoon. He was 78 and a bachelor.

Apart from scores of Bengali songs, Ghosal’s rendition of Tujhse Naraaz Nahi Zindagi in the Shekhar Kapur-directed Masoom (1983) also won the hearts of millions of music lovers across the country, not to forget Chhoti Si Panchhi from the Tapan Sinha directorial Sagina Mahato (1970), starring Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu.

Family sources said Ghoshal was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata some time ago owing to a number of age-related ailments, though he eventually passed away on Friday after suffering a cardiac attack.

Besides being an acclaimed singer, Ghosal was also a one-term Trinamool Congress legislator from Uttarpara in Hooghly district, elected in 2011 when the current TMC regime came to power in West Bengal after ending the 34-year rule of the Left Front.

Mourning the demise of Ghoshal, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “Anup Ghosal’s demise comes as an irreparable loss for the entire music industry. I express my heartiest sympathies to his family members and relatives."