Editing Hemant Kumar (section)

==Career rise==
By the mid-1950s, Hemanta had consolidated his position as a prominent singer and composer. In Bengal, he was one of the foremost exponents of Rabindra Sangeet and perhaps the most sought-after male singer. In a ceremony organized by Hemanta Mukherjee to honor [[Debabrata Biswas]] (1911–1980), the legendary Rabindra Sangeet exponent, in Calcutta in March 1980, Debabrata Biswas unhesitatingly mentioned Hemanta as "the second hero" to popularise Rabindra Sangeet, the first being the legendary [[Pankaj Kumar Mullick]]. In [[Mumbai]], along with playback singing, Hemanta carved a niche as a composer. He composed music for a Hindi film called [[Nagin (1954 film)|''Nagin'']] (1954) which became a major success owing largely to its music. Songs of ''Nagin'' remained chart-toppers continuously for two years and culminated in Hemanta receiving the prestigious [[Filmfare Best Music Director Award]] in 1955. The very same year, he scored music for a Bengali movie ''[[Shap Mochan]]'' in which he played back four songs for the Bengali actor [[Uttam Kumar]]. This started a long partnership between Hemanta and Uttam as a playback singer-actor pair. They were the most popular singer-actor duo in Bengali cinema over the next decade.

In the latter part of the 1950s, Hemanta composed music and sang for several Bengali and Hindi films and recorded several Rabindra Sangeet and Bengali non-film songs. Almost all of these, especially his Bengali songs, became very popular. This period can be seen as the zenith of his career and lasted for almost a decade. [[Salil Chowdhury]] and [[Lata Mangeshkar]] stated Hemanta as the Voice Of God. He sang songs composed by the major music directors in Bengal such as [[Nachiketa Ghosh]], [[Robin Chatterjee]] and [[Salil Chowdhury]]. Some of the notable films Hemanta himself composed music for during this period include ''[[Harano Sur]]'', ''[[Marutirtha Hinglaj]]'', ''[[Neel Akasher Neechey]]'', ''[[Lukochuri]]'', ''Swaralipi'', ''[[Deep Jwele Jaai]]'', ''Shesh Parjanta'', ''Kuhak'', ''Dui Bhai'', and ''[[Saptapadi (1961 film)|Saptapadi]]'' in Bengali, and ''[[Jagriti]]'' and ''[[Ek Hi Raasta (1956 film)|Ek Hi Raasta]]'' in Hindi.