Binota Roy

Binota Basu was born in a Brahma family in 1925 on Kojagari Lakshmi Purnima Tithi and was therefore called Lakshmi. Her father Satya Sundar Basu was an advocate in Patna High court. Binota was one of his six daughters. Satya Sundar was a lawyer by profession but his music was his first love and after court hours his routine was to sing and play musical instruments like the Sitar, the organ and many others. Binota's mother was a good singer too. So Binota had music in her blood and she entered films as a playback artiste in Dikshul (1943). Raichand Boral had introduced her to Pankaj Kumar Mallick, the music director of the film. This happened after the family shifted to Calcutta. While in Calcutta, Binota along with her sisters came in close touch with cousin Chinmohan Sehanbish , who in turn introduced them to the legendary Debabrata Biswas from whom Binota got some early training in music. Under Raichand Boral's guidance her first major success was in Wapas (1943), where she sang "Albela Mastana", "Jeevan Hai Bekar" and "Bhool Na Jana". All the songs became popular. The next year Binota became a star with her acting and singing in Bimal Roy's Udayer Pathey (1944) and with the Hindi version Humrahi got an all India exposure. Her popularity touched the sky but soon she got married to Jyotirmoy Roy, who had written the story of Udayer Pathey. After marriage she was allowed to work mostly in films associated with her husband. These included Abhijatri (1947), Diner Parey Din (194…