Shakti Thakur (1947 – 5 October 2020) was an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer. He has acted in many

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

as well as several

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

films and also lent his voice in films. His repertoire includes '' Yeh Desh'' (1984), ''Aagoon'' (1988), ''Sajanj Go Sajani'' (1994) etc.

Career

Thakur was a school teacher in his primary life. He later started his film career in 1976 with

Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...

's "Harmonium" film as a playback singer. He, later on, starred in films like

Dadar Kirti ''Dadar Kirti'' ( bn, দাদার কীর্তি; ) is a 1980 Bengali romantic drama film directed by Tarun Majumdar. The film was based on an unpublished novel of the same name by Saradindu Bandopadhyay. It stars Tapas Paul, Mahua Roych ...

(1980) and Bhalobasha Bhalobasha. He was successful as an actor. He mostly played comedy roles in films. Thakur was a classically trained singer. He sang songs under the baton of composers like

Hemanta Mukhopadhyay Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian ...

Ajoy Das Ajoy Das (born 5 March 1976) is an Indian former cricketer. He played 22 first-class matches for Bengal between 1996 and 2001. See also * List of Bengal cricketers This is a list of all cricketers who have played first-class, List A or Twe ...

and

R. D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work w ...

etc. In 1984, he debuted in Bollywood when prominent composer

gave him a chance to sing a group song in Hindi film Yeh Desh alongside

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...

Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to: *Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer *Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent *Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch *Udit Patel (born 1984 ...

and Shailendra Singh. It was also the debut song of Kumar Sanu. After this, he lent his voice for many Bengali and Hindi films. In 1988, he sang a duet "Khali Pete Korle Bhojon" with veteran singer

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

in a Bengali film ''Aagoon''.

Personal life

Thakur has two daughters: Mehuli and Monali. His elder daughter Mehuli Thakur is a

Rabindra Sangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Li ...

singer. His younger daughter

Monali Thakur Monali Thakur (born 3 November 1985) is an Indian singer and actress. She is the recipient of several awards including a National Film Award for the song "Moh Moh Ke Dhaage" from the film ''Dum Laga Ke Haisha'' (2015) and a Filmfare Award for t ...

was a contestant at

Indian Idol ''Indian Idol'' is the Indian Reality television, music competition television franchise based on the ''Pop Idol'' format. Versions : Currently airing – 1 : Upcoming for airing – 0 : Recently concluded – 3 : No longer airing – ...

Season 2. She later went on to become a leading playback singer in

as well as

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film industry. On his death, Monali shared a heartbroken note and cited that all she has become today is due to him.

Death

On 5 October 2020, Thakur died at the age of 73 following a massive heart attack. Many fellow actors and singers paid tribute to him.

References

{{Reflist 1947 births 2020 deaths Bengali playback singers Bengali actors Bollywood playback singers Male actors in Hindi cinema Singers from West Bengal