Sandhya Mukherjee, the legendary Bengali singer, died on Tuesday after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. A hospital official told PTI that the 91-year-old breathed her last at 7.30 pm on Tuesday.
Mukherjee had been in the hospital since January 27. She was taken to SSKM hospital after suffering a fall in the bathroom of her south Kolkata residence. The singer had sustained a fracture in the left side of her neck due to the fall and also suffered from multi-organ dysfunction. She tested positive for Covid-19 as well.
She was put on vasopressor support and moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Tuesday following a drop in her blood pressure, a senior hospital official told PTI. “She suffered a massive heart attack at around 7.30 pm following which she expired,” the official added.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the singer’s mortal remains would be kept at the Rabindra Sadan from noon till 5 pm on Wednesday for people to pay their last respects. She added that Mukherjee’s last rites will be conducted with full state honours, including a gun salute.
The chief minister also took to Twitter and mourned the loss of the iconic singer. She wrote, “Deeply saddened that Geetashree Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, the queen of melody in Bengal, is no more. Her departure creates an eternal void in our world of music and in the hearts of millions of her followers here and in the diaspora. I used to look up to her as my elder sister and this is a grave personal loss to me. She used to be the moving spirit in our Sangeet Akademi and we had conferred upon her Bangabibhushan (2011), Sangeet Mahasamman (2012), etc. We shall continue to pay our tributes to the departed genius.”
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his condolences on Twitter and said, “The passing away of Gitashree Sandhya Mukhopadhyay Ji leaves us all extremely saddened. Our cultural world is a lot poorer. Her melodious renditions will continue to enthral the coming generations. My thoughts are with her family and admirers in this sad hour.”
In a career spanning over eight decades, Mukherjee has thousands of songs in Bengali and nearly a dozen other languages to her credit. She received the Banga Bibhusan, highest civilian honour bestowed by the West Bengal government, in 2011 and the National Film Award for best female playback singer in 1970 for the films, Jay Jayanti and Nishi Padma.
Recently, Mukherjee had refused the Padma Shri award from the Government of India, stating that it was more appropriate for a junior artiste and not someone of her stature.
She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law.