Why malign Hemanta Mukherjee in a film?

In 1967, singer-cum-music director Ashima Mukherjee had composed Kache Robe Kachhe Robe with Hemanta Mukherjee for Chowringhee along with Boro Eka Lage for Manna Dey. In his career, Hemanta had sung 12 compositions for Ashima. The latter had sung eight compositions by Hemanta. In 1976, she was also the light music producer of All India Radio and had got in touch with Hemanta for scoring the music of Debin Durgati Harinim — the Mahisasura Mardini programme that had Uttam Kumar’s chant.In 2016, Ashima had spoken extensively about how she, along with Hemanta, had convinced Uttam Kumar to do this programme. Ever since Mahalaya released, she has been flooded with calls asking her if there was indeed any undercurrent between Hemanta and Pankaj. Excerpts from a conversation with Ashima on the controversial replacement issue:
How was Hemanta Mukherjee selected to score the music?
I was the light music producer of AIR. Once there was an order from Delhi to drop Pankaj Mullick’s songs. Then came the order to rewrite the script. Dr Dyanesh Narayan Chakraborty rewrote it. The entire responsibility was on me to execute the thing. In 1976, Hemantada’s name was selected from Delhi. That’s why I approached him. I had requested Hemantada to approach Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey and Asha Bhonsle to participate in the programme. That too was done. Finally, we thought of approaching Uttambabu.
It is said that Pankaj had dropped Hemanta from the programme because the latter couldn’t give time for rehearsals since he was busy with professional commitments in Mumbai. When Hemanta got the offer to score, did he try to show off his talent?
No, never. During that time, we used to only talk about rehearsals, songs and tunes. Hemantada was a soft-spoken person and never raised his voice or gave any hints that showed another person in a bad light. He had a lot of respect for Pankajda and used to follow Pankajda right from the beginning. That’s why he was called Chhoto Pankaj. Nobody had even mentioned Pankajda’s name during the recording. We were given an instruction and were just following it.
Could it be possible that there was an undercurrent that you were not aware of?
I don’t think that is possible. Why malign stalwarts this way?
Did you accompany Hemanta to convince Uttam?
Yes, I had to go. Uttambabu wasn’t ready. It took a lot of convincing by us to finally get him to narrate. Uni korte channi. Bhodrota kore amader request-e raji hoyechhilen (He didn’t want to do it. When we requested him, he did it out of courtesy). This was the only time when Uttambabu had come to the radio station to record something and was given a cheque of `150. Uttam Kumar had chanted for two to three minutes. There were others who had recorded Birendra Krishna Bhadra’s portions. Basanta Choudhury, Govinda Gopal Mukherjee, Partho Ghosh and Dr Dyanesh Narayan Chakraborty were also part of the same programme. With so many others also lending their voice, it is unfair to say that Uttam Kumar alone had replaced Birendra Krishna Bhadra.
Have you watched Mahalaya?
No, I haven’t.