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 Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

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'' (; ) 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 The film was based on an unpublished novel of the same name by Saradindu Bandopadhyay.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 Roychoudhury, Ayan Banerjee, Debashree Roy, ...

(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 Hemanta Mukherjee and Hemant Kumar, was an Indian music director and a playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, along with several other Indian ...

, Ajoy Das and R. D. Burman etc. In 1984, he debuted in Bollywood when prominent composer R. D. Burman gave him a chance to sing a group song in Hindi film Yeh Desh alongside

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), professionally known as Kumar Sanu, is a leading Indian playback singer who primarily sings in Hindi film songs. He is widely regarded as the Melody King of Bollywood. He holds the record for winn ...

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

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

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'' (; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengalis, Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Indian and also the ...

singer. His younger daughter

Monali Thakur Monali Thakur (born 3 November 1985) is an Indian playback singer. She is the recipient of several awards including a National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Moh Moh Ke Dhaage" from the film '' Dum Laga Ke Haisha'' (20 ...

was a contestant at

Indian Idol ''Indian Idol'' is an Indian music competition television franchise based on the ''Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was ...

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, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film industry. On his death, Monali shared a heartbroken note and cited that all she has become today is due to him. Shakti Thakur's wife Minati Thakur passed away on 17 May 2024 due to kidney related ailments.

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 Bollywood playback singers Male actors in Hindi cinema Bengali male actors