Manek Premchand has a Diploma in Journalism and a degree in Arts from Bombay University. He has many friends in the film industry, and remains fascinated by the enormous role that cinema has played as a key gluing medium in a country as disparate as ours. This fascination has motivated him to write five books on the subject. These are Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories, Musical Moments From Hindi Films, Romancing The Song, Talat Mahmood—The Velvet Voice, and Hitting The Right Notes. A sixth book, Shiv Kumar Sharma—The Man And His Music, was co-authored with two others. Besides these, he has written hundreds of music-related articles for a variety of newspapers.
He has also been a Consultant with Saregama India Ltd, advising for compilations of CDs and meeting music personalities such as AR Rehman, Manna Dey, and Suraiya. On WorldSpace Satellite Radio’s Farishta channel, he hosted a weekly show, interviewing a slew of personalities such as Lata Mangeshkar, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ram Narain, Burjor and Kersi Lord, Uttam Singh, Manohari Singh, Bahadur Nanji, Kishore Desai, Homi Mullan, Jairam Acharya, Manna Dey, etc.
WorldSpace apart, a few years’ stints happened on All India Radio and the web portal www.bollywoodondemand.com. Manek Premchand is frequently asked to share his knowledge on stage shows and TV, and to address Rotary Club meets.
In his work for his books, articles and other platforms, he has interviewed a host of music luminaries. Apart from those named above, these include Khayyam, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sudha Malhotra, Naqsh Lyallpuri, Pyarelal, Talat Mahmood, Prem Dhawan, OP Nayyar, Anil Biswas, Anand-Milind, Snehal Bhatkar, Kidar Sharma, Anu Malik, Gulshan Bawra, Enoch Daniels, Pt. Ram Narain and many more.
