When Prafulla Kar refused to accept blank cheque from Gulshan Kumar

Bhubaneswar: The demise of legendary music director, singer and lyricist Prafulla Kar has left an unfillable void in the music industry.

Kar was not only a music maestro but also a man of honour and righteousness.

It was the year 1988 when Kar was in Bombay for recording the songs of an Odia movie, during which noted singer Anuradha Paudwal expressed her willingness to sing Odia bhajans and urged him to compose the devotional songs.

Within a span of few days, Kar penned and composed as many as eight songs for the album namely ‘Prabhu Krupa’ which was produced under the banner of T-Series owned by Gulshan Kumar.

The devotional music album, which comprised iconic song ‘Kalia Mo Dehe Bolide To Deha Kala’, had created a record with sale of more than 10 lakh cassettes.

While Kar had asked for a payment of Rs 10,000 for the album, Kumar, being happy over his work, handed him over a blank cheque and told Kar to fill it with any amount of his choice.

Displaying immense honesty and professionalism, Kar refused to take the cheque and only received the amount demanded by him.

Kar breathed his last at his residence at Satya Nagar in the city at around 10 pm, yesterday. He was 83. The veteran singer was suffering from age-related ailments.

He is survived by his wife Manorama Kar and children Mahaprasad Kar, Sandhyadipa Kar and Mahadeep Kar.

A pall of gloom descended on the Ollywood fraternity after the demise of Kar.

Born on 16 February 1939 in Puri, Kar was an eminent musician, singer, lyricist, writer and columnist.

He had become a household name in Odisha with his song ‘Kamala Desha Rajakumara’.

He had received the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2015. He was also the recipient of the Jayadeva Award in the year 2004.