Manna Dey began his career when he sang a duet with Suraiya in the film Tamanna in 1942. A year later he followed with his first solo “Gayi tu gayi Seeta sati” from the film Ram Rajya. He came to Bombay not to be a singer but to be a composer, inspired by his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey. Manna Dey assisted Anil Biswas and Khem Chandra Prakash before deciding to abandon his dream of composing music.