Entertainment Desk:

Indian poet Arun Chakraborty, who penned the timeless Bengali folk song “Lal Paharir Deshe Ja”, died of a heart attack on Friday night at his residence in Chinsurah of Hooghly,West Bengal sources close to the family have said. He was 80 years old.

Chakraborty, an alumnus of Shibpur Engineering College, worked at Hindustan Motors while pursuing his passion for writing. He is survived by his widow, two sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.

In the 1970s, while passing by the Serampore Railways Station, he saw a mahua tree, the sight of which seemed odd to him. A tree like mahua doesn’t belong in the land of paddy and potato but belongs to the red-soil landscape, he thought, thus penning the poem “Lal Paharir Deshe Ja”. It earned him widespread acclaim after being adapted into a song.

Composed and performed by Jhumur artiste Subhas Chakraborty, “Lal Paharir Deshe Ja” became an anthem of Bengali folk culture. Arun Chakraborty’s death comes just a year after the demise of Subhas Chakraborty, who passed away in February, 2023.