Watch: Bollywood remains absent from Suman Kalyanpur's funeral; only Suresh Wadkar attends as singer receives full state honours

Suman Kalyanpur recieves Padma Bhushan. Pic via X

The last rites of the veteran playback singer Suman Kalyanpur were held in Mumbai on Monday, June 1, in the presence of close friends and family. However, the music and film industry largely skipped her farewell as she was laid to rest with full state honours.

Suman Kalyanpur receives full state honours

Only playback singer Suresh Wadkar was seen paying his final respects to the departed soul, while both, music and film industries remained absent. The singer who received the Padma Bhushan award for her contribution to music in 2023 was laid to rest at the Pawan Hans crematorium on Monday.

The late singer was given full state honours as her mortal remains were draped in the Indian tri-colour. The Mumbai Police personnel offered a ceremonial salute to the deceased at a Santacruz crematorium before the final rites were performed by her only daughter, Charu.

The farewell further turned emotional as her loved ones sang Rahen Na Rahen Hum, Meheka Karenge from the 1966 film Mamta while the funeral pyre was lit. For the unversed, the song, which is one of Kalyanpur's most cherished renditions, echoed through the venue as mourners remembered her.

About Suman Kalyanpur

Suman Kalyanpur was one of the most renowned playback singers in Indian cinema, known for her melodious voice and long career spanning across several decades. The veteran singer was born on January 28, 1937, and rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, for recording songs in Hindi, Marathi and several other Indian languages.

Throughout her career, she worked with leading composers such as Shankar-Jaikishan, O. P. Nayyar and Kalyanji-Anandji. Her duets with Mohammed Rafi became especially popular. Suman gained widespread attention after the fallout between Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi.

Notably, her voice was often compared to Lata Mangeshkar's, which brought both opportunities and challenges for the singer throughout her career. When Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi had disagreements over royalty issues, Kalyanpur became one of Rafi's most frequent duet partners. The two recorded more than 100 songs together.

Interestingly, despite her achievements, many of Kalyanpur's songs were often mistakenly attributed to Mangeshkar because of the similarity in their voices. However, Kalyanpur always maintained a warm relationship with the late singer.