From a very young age, Sanju Kumar Mondal was determined that he would not do a job. The idea of working for someone else held little appeal to him even as a young boy. “I always wanted to do something on my own and I chose to do it in music. Music is a difficult field, because there are hundreds who are struggling to establish themselves in this profession,” said Mondal. And that was what prompted Sanju to take up the challenge of becoming a singer. 

To a large extent, Sanju has achieved what he wanted. Living in Bargachhia, Sanju runs his own music, guitar and dance school, Culture, where he also works on fusion and contemporary music. He experiments with music and tries out compositions with symphony or harmony in western music. In future, he also wants to train students in music arrangement. “Although these may seem commonplace  to people in Calcutta or Howrah town, it is very difficult to get concepts like these across to people in rural Howrah. When I talk about harmony here, I get answers like ‘Yes, Sir. I have a harmonium at home’,” said Sanju. 

Sanju is now a star in his neighbourhood. This happened after Sanju appeared in Zee Bangla’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa reality show in the 2012 season. He reached the top 11 in the show, after which he was eliminated. However, the show brought him to the limelight, specially after judges, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik and Joy Sarkar, arranged a wedding ceremony for him and his wife, Antara, on the sets. “I had married a few months before the show. My marriage was a hasty decision because Antara’s parents would not accept me, since I was a singer, and were preparing to get her married elsewhere. We did not have any grand ceremony. When I narrated my story at the reality show, they decided to arrange a social wedding ceremony on screen. That was the official announcement of our wedding,” said Sanju. 

His dedication to music was apparent when Sanju performed sitting on a wheelchair, after a ligament injury on the sets. “I fell down and injured my leg, but I said I would still perform,” said Sanju.  

Sanju’s journey in the world of music started when he was a young boy. He used to listen to his father sing and would try to play the harmonium at his neighbour’s house. When he was in Class IX, Sanju started training under Chandipada Ganguly in Maju in Jagatballavpur. After a few years, he went to Gyantosh Das in Domjur. After passing Higher Secondary, Sanju initially planned to study business management, but later changed his mind and thought of taking up music seriously. He took admission into Rabindra Bharati University and completed his graduation and post-graduation in music. “After completing my graduation, I started taking lessons in classical music from Jayanta Bose, and I continue to learn from him,” said Sanju. 

While studying at RBU, Sanju and his friends started an instrumental band named Flame. The band also cut its first album, Collage. “At that time I was totally involved with the band and its work and that is how I met Antara,” said Sanju. 

The pressures of livelihood has shifted Sanju’s attention from the band. “At present I do a lot of live programmes around Calcutta, the moffusils and even around the country. These take up a lot of my time and I cannot concentrate on the band. My friends have left the band and it has become weak. We don’t do shows these days. In future, I plan to concentrate on the band again and compose new songs,” he said.

 

MORE ABOUT SANJU

• DOB: June 4, 1987
• Born in: Howrah
• Education: M Muse
• Family: Parents, wife, elder brother and his family
• Loves: Cricket, listening to music
• Hates: Those who dislike him

Dalia Mukherjee