Ayanaanto (1964)

Ayanaanto (1964) is one of Salil’s most mysterious Bengali films — mainly because no visual print or video tape of the film is known to have survived. What remains is the title music, reconstructed lovingly through personal memory.

The original title music was played on piano by a friend of Salil who took part in the film’s music recording. Many years later, he played it again from memory and wrote down the notation. This allowed the piece to be professionally rearranged and recorded — a rare rescue of an otherwise lost composition.

This title theme later inspired Salil’s celebrated song “Gum Gun Phagun Sesh Holey” sung by Madhuri Chattopadhyay. A beautiful Hindi adaptation was recorded for the film “Pinjre Ki Panchhi” by Lata Mangeshkar — but tragically, the song was deleted from the final print.

Song AY2 is a Rabindrasangeet, adding a classical and literary dimension to the soundtrack.