Nachiketa Ghosh was one of the most powerful music director and composer of India. He mainly composed for Bengali, Hindi, and Oriya songs. He gave a new dimension to the Bengali music for both the arenas of Bengali modern song as well as Bengali film song. He was also an excellent singer and there are around five published Gramophone records where his role was just of the singer.

Early Life

His father’s name was Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh who was an eminent physician of Kolkata. Sanat-babu was a gold medalist doctor and acted as the attending physician of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the famous chief minister of West Bengal. Sanat-babu inspired his son, Nachiketa, to become a physician and the son behaved accordingly. Nachiketa passed out from R.G. Kar Medical College Kolkata as an M.B.B.S. doctor but never intended to accept medical science as his profession.

At every Sunday, eminent musicians like Krishna Chandra Dey, Subal Dasgupta, Kamal Dasgupta, Kana Satkari used to gather in the Shyambazar house of Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh and that gave little Nachiketa the chance to observe those maestros from a close proximity.. At his very childhood also had accompanied them as Tabla player. Gradually Tabla (and music as a whole) became the first love of Nachiketa. At the age of 24, he emerged as a young promising music director and a new wave started to flow in the world of Bengali music.

Musical Journey

The musical journey of Nachiketa Ghosh started during his college days. At that time he acted as a music director for the film called “Twenty Fifth July” but this film never released in West Bengal. In the year 1953, the film “Boudir Bon” got released where Nachiketa appeared as a professional music director for the first time. The next film “Joydeb”, which released on 1954, gave him a lot of appreciation and he never looked back till his death.

Bengali music industry was passing through it’s golden era at that time and Nachiketa got the chance to work with all the geniuses. He delivered a number of masterpieces at that period of time but undoubtedly the team comprising of Nachiketa Ghosh, Gouriprasanna Majumdar, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Uttam Kumar gave Bengali film industry a new era which people of this part of the world will never forget.

In the early sixties, Nachiketa left Kolkata and went to Mumbai to work in the Mumbai film industry. After working there for seven to eight years, he again returned to Bengal and started working in the same old tune. He started using Manna Dey in place of Hemanta Mukhopadhyay for the voice of Uttam Kumar. Songs from films like “Dhonni Meye”, “Mouchak”, “Sannashi Raja”, “Nishi Padma”, “Strii”, ”Bilombito Loy” etc. had taken permanent place in the golden history of Bengali film songs. The maestro gifted a huge list of ever immortal Bengali film songs like “Mou Bone Aaj”, “Malati Bhromore”, “Nishi Raat Banka Chand”, “Putul Nebe Go”, “Nir Choto Khoti Nei”, “Surjo Dobar Pala”, “Jodi Bhabo Eto Khelaghar”, “Tumi amar Chirodiner”, “Manush Khun Hole Pore”, “Sona Roder Gaan”, “Khirki Theke Singoduar”, “Aaj Dujone Mondo Hole”, “Pagla Garod Kothai Ache”, “Kichimichi Kichimichi” etc that will be there till the last day of Bengali film industry and culture.

Besides working on film songs he worked extensively on basic songs. He worked with lyricists like Gouriprasanna Majumdar, Mukul Dutta, Shyamal Gupta, Pulak Bandyopadhyay, Pabitra Mitra, Shibdas Bandyopadhyay etc to give the Bengali audience a great collection of Bengali modern songs. In fact the songs like “Amar Ganer Swaralipi Lekha Robe”, “Tumi Ele Onekdiner Pore Tobe Bristi Elo”, “Ekgocha Rojonigandha Hate Diye Bollam”, “Megh Kalo Andhar Kalo”, “Mori mori Eki Lojja”, “Cholo Rina”, “Ko Phonta Chokher Jol”, “Bone Noi Mone Mor”, “Ek Tajmohol Goro”, Meghla Bhanga Roddur” and many more are still in the list of best selling Bengali songs.

He was the first composer to use the voice of Md.Rafi for a modern Hindi song in a Bengali movie – Indrani. Many people do not know that he was the first music director to use Lata Mangeshkar’s voice for the first time in Bengali movie Ardhangini – Prior to that she had sung a Tagore number.

Bengali song has got a rich episode for the world of the kids and Nachiketa Ghosh was also a pioneer in that field. His contributions for the songs like “Moinar Ma Moinamoti”, Hattimatim Tim” can never be forgotten. He also contributed a lot in the audio play called “Thakurmar Jhuli”. That album was presented to Mrs.Indira Gandhi on the Children’s Day and is still the most appreciated album for children all over Bengal.

Personal Life

Nachiketa Ghosh was married to Smt. Sibani Dutta. They have got two daughters namely Srabani and Sampura and one son Suparna Kanti. Mr. Suparna Kanti Ghosh is also a very well-known music composer of Bengal and has been following his father’s footsteps for the last three decades.

Bengali filmography as a music composer

Film Name	Year
BOUDIR BON	1953
JOYDEB	1954
ARDHANGINI	1955
BHALOBASA	1955
NISHIDDHA PHAL	1955
PATHER SHESHEY	1955
JHARER PARE	1955
ASAMAPTA	1956
TRIJAMA	1956
NABAJANMA	1956
TAPASI	1957
PRITHIBI AMARE CHAY	1957
NATUN PRABHAT	1957
RASTAR CHHELE	1957
HARISHCHANDRA	1957
INDRANI	1958
BHANU PELO LOTTERY	1958
BANDHU	1958
CHAOWA PAWA	1958
RAJDHANI THEKE	1958
KICHHUKSHAN	1959
NIRDHARITA SILPIR ANUPASTITHI TEY	1959
SWAPNA PURI	1959
KSHUDHA	1960
AKASH-PATAL	1960
BIYER KHATA	1960
HAAT BARALEI BANDHU	1960
CHUP CHUPI ASE	1960
KANAMACHI	1961
KANTATAR	1964
CHHOTTO JIGNANSA	1968
RAKTA REKHA	1968
CHIRADINER	1969
NISHIPADMO	1970
BILAMBITO LOY	1970
FARIYAD	1971
CHINNAPATRA	1971
DHANYI MEYE	1971
NATUN DINER ALO	1972
STREE	1972
AGNIBHRAMAR	1973
SHABARI	1973
BON PALASHIR PADABALI	1973
NANIGOPALER BIYE	1973
NAKAL SONA	1973
SHRAVAN SANDHYA	1973
MOUCHAK	1974
ASATI	1974
SUJATA	1974
ALOR THIKANA	1974
CHHUTIR PHANDE	1974
PRIYO BANDHABI	1975
KAJALLATA	1975
SWAYAMSIDDHA	1975
NAGAR DARPANE	1975
SANYASI RAJA	1975
HOTEL SNOW FOX	1976
ASADHARAN	1976
MOMBATI	1976
ANANDA MELA	1976
SEI CHOKH	1976
BRAJABULI	1979
ABHISHEK	1984