Bhubaneswar: Legendary musician Prafulla Kar breathed his last at his residence at Satya Nagar in Bhubaneswar around 10 pm on Sunday. He was 83. He was an Odia musician, singer, lyricist, writer and columnist. He received Padma Shri in 2015 for his contribution in the field of arts. He was born in 1939 into a musician family in Puri of Bengal Presidency.
His father Baidyanath Kar and mother Susila Kar while his uncle Khetra Mohan Kar was a renowned tabla player. He was raised and brought up by his grandfather Bhagaban Misra and grandmother Apanna Devi because he lost his father at an early age. Prafulla Kar has worked as a music director and as a singer in 70 Oriya films (released and unreleased) as well as in four Bangla films. Well-known singers like Usha Mangeshkar, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Suresh Wadkar, Md Aziz, Kishore Kumar, Amit Kumar, Vani Jairam, S Janaki, Chitra, Yesudas and SP Balsubramanyam have rendered songs in Odia films under his music direction. This apart, he has introduced more than 20 playback singers to the Odia film industry.
