With ‘Ador’, Srijit Mukherji brings his storytelling sensibility to songwriting and composition, crafting a quietly affecting meditation on affection, memory, companionship and the sustaining warmth of human connection.
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This piece began as an attempt to assess the role Srijit Mukherji’s films have played in reshaping the musical landscape of Bengali cinema. Alongside Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Antaheen, films such as Autograph, Baishe Srabon, Chotushkone and Jaatishwar marked a significant shift, opening up new possibilities for Bengali film music. However, the deeper I delved into these films, the more apparent it became that the subject demanded a far more substantial exploration than a simple listicle could accommodate, tempting though it remains to compile one on the finest songs from Srijit’s oeuvre.
Then came the news that the film-maker would make his debut as a composer with the song ‘Ador’ in Abhimaan, the forthcoming Indraadip Dasgupta-directed film. Rather than following the advice from The Sound of Music – ‘Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start’ – I thought it more fitting to start at the other end, with his debut as a composer. What makes this approach particularly intriguing is that, with his own forthcoming film The Empire vs Sarat Chandra, he appears to be moving steadily towards becoming a full-fledged composer in his own right.
What strikes one immediately on listening to ‘Ador’, is how Srijit brings to the music the same sensitivity and narrative instinct that characterize his film-making, particularly in the first phase of his career. The song is less concerned with grand musical flourishes and more with capturing an emotion as it unfolds naturally. Blending reflective lyrics with a restrained soft-rock soundscape, ‘Ador’ feels intimate and deeply personal, as though it is speaking directly to the listener rather than performing for an audience.
What makes the composition particularly striking is the seamless relationship between the words and the melody. Writing both the lyrics and the tune, Srijit allows the music to grow organically from the text. The imagery – drawn from familiar moments, changing seasons, and fleeting memories – carries a quiet poetic charm, while the melodic line follows the cadence of everyday speech. The result is a song that feels conversational yet evocative, revealing its emotions without ever overstating them.
Musically, ‘Ador’ unfolds with an effortless grace. Beginning with sparse acoustic textures, it gradually opens out into a more expansive refrain, mirroring the way memories and emotions often gather strength over time. There is no abrupt dramatic shift; instead, the song moves with an easy, unhurried flow that captures the tenderness at its core. A significant part of its appeal lies in its understated arrangement, shaped by Indraadip Das Gupta’s music design. The gentle instrumentation creates an uncluttered acoustic environment, allowing Sutirtha Chakraborty’s expressive voice to remain at the centre of the experience. Every instrumental detail seems designed to support the mood rather than draw attention to itself.
The song also carries a subtle sense of nostalgia. Its melodic sensibility recalls the Bengali soft-rock sound that flourished during the 1990s, bringing to mind the warmth and accessibility of that era’s music without slipping into imitation. At the same time, it reflects Srijit’s instinctive grasp of Bengali melodic traditions, enabling ‘Ador’ to feel both contemporary and rooted in a familiar cultural landscape. As a debut composition, it offers an intriguing glimpse into a film-maker translating his storytelling instincts into music, with quietly impressive results.
The words of the song are a lyrical celebration of tenderness, care, companionship and emotional sustenance. Rather than focusing on romantic love alone, the song explores the many forms that affection takes in human life, through nature, friendship, memory, home and collective solidarity. Its central refrain is a quiet yet profound wish: that life may always be enriched by warmth, protection and love.
The song is built around a recurring pattern. Each verse begins with an image or experience introduced by ‘just as’ (jebhabe), and culminates in the refrain ‘maya thaak, chhaya thaak, thaak jibonay ador’ (loosely translated: May there always be affection, may there be shade, may there be tenderness in life). This repetition gives the song a prayer-like quality. The refrain functions as both a blessing and a yearning, turning individual images into expressions of a larger philosophy of life.
The opening verse draws on imagery from nature: ‘Gaachher angule jodano paatar, jebhabe sporsho madhabhilatar’ (As leaves curl around a tree’s leafy arms, as the madhabilata vine holds it in a gentle embrace). The branches of the tree are imaginatively described as fingers, while the flowering vine clings to them in a gesture of intimacy and dependence. The image evokes relationships that are nurturing rather than possessive, suggesting a bond based on closeness, support and coexistence.
The next verse continues with another image inspired from nature: ‘Jebhabe pahar-churar mathay, megh kate, bili din kete jay’(Like the clouds that drift across, caressing a mountain peak…). The mountain and the clouds meet only fleetingly, yet their encounter is recurrent and eternal. The image suggests that while life is marked by change and transience, affection can remain a constant presence amid the passage of time.
The song then moves from nature to human experience: ‘Bohudin por dekha hoye jaoa priyo bondhur ghran, Jebhabe japte kachhe tene ney, bhule giye obhiman’ (Like the fragrance of a dear friend met again after years, drawing you into an embrace where old hurts are forgotten). The use of ‘fragrance’ is particularly evocative. Smell is one of the strongest triggers of memory, capable of collapsing years of separation into an instant. The embrace of an old friend dissolves resentment and restores connection. Here, affection is portrayed as a force of healing and reconciliation.
In its final movement, the song broadens its scope from the personal to the communal: ‘Nishaner hatpakha, sohager gogras bandhe ghor, jebhabe michhile aguner sneho’ (Like a hand-fan stirring the air of a summer gathering, like affection woven generously into the fabric of a home; like the warmth of comradeship that glows even amid fire and struggle). The imagery points to the small acts of care and everyday gestures through which a home is created and sustained. Affection is not expressed through grand declarations but through humble, tangible acts of nurturing.
The most striking line might well be: ‘jebhabe michhile aguner sneho’ (Like the warmth of fire in a procession…’). The juxtaposition of ‘fire’ and ‘affection’ stands out. Fire here symbolizes passion, protest, collective energy and social commitment. By describing it as a form of tenderness, the lyric suggests that solidarity itself is an act of care. Affection extends beyond personal relationships into the realm of community and shared purpose.
The language is simple yet richly evocative. The repeated trio of words – maya (affectionate attachment), chhaya (shade, shelter), and ador (tender care) – forms the emotional core of the song. Together they encompass love, protection, belonging and emotional security. The song avoids abstraction by grounding its ideas in concrete sensory images: the touch of a vine, clouds over a mountain, the scent of a friend, the comforts of home, the warmth of a collective gathering. These images make the emotion feel lived and tangible.
‘Ador’ is ultimately a hymn to the sustaining power of affection in all its forms. It suggests that what makes life meaningful is not achievement or ambition, but the quiet presence of care, whether in nature, friendship, family, memory or community. The repeated invocation of maya, chhaya and ador becomes a universal prayer: that amid life’s uncertainties and changes, we may continue to find love, shelter and human warmth.
More importantly, the song does not feel like the tentative experiment of a film-maker dabbling in composition. While it would be premature to speak of a fully formed musical voice on the basis of a single song, the composition reveals certain instincts that are distinctly Srijit Mukherji’s: a preference for emotional nuance, a sensitivity to language and imagery, and an ability to locate the universal within the particular. Just as his best films derive their power from character, memory and atmosphere, ‘Ador’ finds its strength in suggestion rather than assertion. If this song offers a glimpse of the composer he is becoming, it is one rooted not in musical virtuosity for its own sake but in storytelling through melody.
That, perhaps, is what makes Srijit’s gradual movement towards composition especially intriguing. When films such as Autograph, Baishe Srabon, Chotushkone and Jaatishwar appeared, they helped redefine the place of music within contemporary Bengali cinema, creating space for songs that were more literary, self-aware and narratively integrated. With ‘Ador’, Srijit is no longer merely shaping that musical conversation as a film-maker; he is beginning to participate in it directly as a creator of songs. Whether this remains an occasional pursuit or develops into a significant parallel career remains to be seen. Yet ‘Ador’ suggests that the transition is more than a curiosity. It hints at the emergence of an artist seeking new ways to tell stories, extending a creative journey that has already left a substantial mark on the musical landscape of Bengali cinema.
The original song
গাছের আঙুলে জড়ানো পাতার, যেভাবে স্পর্শ মাধবীলতার,
সেভাবে নিরন্তর মায়া থাক, ছায়া থাক, থাক জীবনে আদর।
যেভাবে পাহাড়চূড়ার মাথায়, মেঘ কাটে, বিলি দিন কেটে যায়,
সেভাবে নিরন্তর মায়া থাক, ছায়া থাক, থাক জীবনে আদর।
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বহুদিন পর দেখা হয়ে যাওয়া প্রিয় বন্ধুর ঘ্রাণ,
যেভাবে জাপটে কাছে টেনে নেয়, ভুলে গিয়ে অভিমান।
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নিশানের হাতপাখা, সোহাগের গোগ্রাস বাঁধে ঘর,
যেভাবে মিছিলে আগুনের স্নেহ,
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সেভাবে নিরন্তর মায়া থাক, ছায়া থাক, থাক জীবনে আদর।
মায়া থাক, ছায়া থাক, থাক জীবনে আদর
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A Translation for Essence More than Meaning
As leaves curl around a tree’s leafy arms,
as the madhabilata vine holds it in a gentle embrace,
may life be blessed with unending affection,
with sheltering shade, with love that lingers.
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Like the clouds that drift across,
caressing a mountain peak,
may there always remain that gentle grace,
that shade of care, that enduring tenderness.
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Like the fragrance of a dear friend met again after years,
drawing you into an embrace where old hurts are forgotten;
like a hand-fan stirring the air of a summer gathering,
like affection woven generously into the fabric of a home;
like the warmth of comradeship that glows even amid fire and struggle,
may there always be affection,
may there always be shade,
may there always be love in life.
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May there be affection,
may there be shade,
may there be love in life.
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Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri 
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