What happens when a few friends, all from different walks of life, put their minds together to restore, preserve and perpetuate heritage from both sides of Bengal? Such grit and determination did these long-time friends demonstrate to achieve this end after a few serious brainstorming sessions, that they tasted success in a short while, three years ago?.

And for these three years, Calcutta is buzzing with one name, which made waves in culinary delicacies from Bengal ? Bhojohori Manna, named after a mythical chef, made immortal many years ago by the legendary Manna Dey when he lent his voice to one of the most popular Bengali film songs, Ami Sri Sri Bhojohori Manna.

Noted filmmaker Goutam Ghose, former SAIL executive Rajiv Neogi, ‘Topshe’ of the film Sonar Kella and portfolio consultant Siddhartha Chatterjee, businessman Ranjit DuttaGupta and former Tata executive Siddhartha Bose, are the brains behind the chain of these four extremely popular restaurants in the city.

These entrepreneurs along with HMV SaReGaMa have come up with CD of timeless appeal, Bhojohori Manna. In doing so, two of the most popular aspects of Bengal’s speciality have been bridged ? Food and Music. It is interesting to note that the palate has inspired the pen of Bengali songwriters for a long time.

Manna Dey is the only living member of the quartet of Ami Sri Sri Bhojohori Manna, which was composed by Pulak Bandopadhyay and set to tune by Sudhin Dasgupta. The actor who lipped this extremely popular number in the film, Prothom Kodom Phul, was Samit Bhanja.

All the 14 songs which find place in this handpicked collection, portray the gastronomic delight associated with the average Bengali. Apart from the title song by Manna Dey, other wellknown voices include Manabendra Mukherjee, Nachiketa, Anjan Dutta, Suman Chattopadhyay, Anup Ghoshal, Amit Kumar, Nisith Sadhu, Arati Mukherjee, Shakti Thakur and of course the doyens of Rabindrasangeet ? Asoketoru Banerjee and Hemanta Mukhopadhyay.

Timeless compositions of Pulak Bandopadhyay, Gouriprasanna Majumdar, Pranab Roy, Suman Chattopadhyay and Hiren Bose co-exist with Rabindranath Tagore, Rajanikanta Sen, Sukumar Ray and Satyajit Ray.

The music of stalwarts like Sudhin Dasgupta, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Anup Ghosal and Soumitro Banerjee have added exquisite flavour to such songs like Jodi jote roj emni, Haridasher bulbul bhaja, Bhooter raja dilo bor, Ei dakho pencil, Dadar hotele khai and others.

The restaurant chain uses the catchline ‘Swade Gune Bhorpur Ahar’, meaning ‘Fine dining in great taste and appeal’ ? the first of this collection of CDs, go a long way in justifying the great taste and appeal of each one of the songs featured in the album.

Some of these are being hummed by Bengalis for years while some others are rarely heard but equally enjoyable in word and tune.

The CD pack, too, looks very attractive with the brand logo of Bhojohori Manna on it ? the chef ‘Kathburo’ ? a product of the timeless genius of Sukumar Ray in Abol Tabol. Recommended as a must-have for all connoisseurs of food ? and music.