New Delhi: His contribution to Hindi film music, spanning classical to casual, is considerable, but composer C. Ramchandra’s biggest endowment was to the nation, in creating the haunting, heart-rending, yet inspiring strains of its best-known patriotic song – that left a Prime Minister in tears on its first rendition.
While “Ae mere vatan ke logo..” owes its fame to the bravura performance of Lata Mangeshkar, she was initially reluctant to sing it due to a lack of rehearsal time, but could not refuse its legendary lyricist, Kavi Pradeep. However, the poet, who wrote it soon after the debacle in the 1962 India-China war, had straight away picked up Ramchandra to score it, given his long-standing association with him.
And, it is the same Ramchandra, born on this day (January 12) in Puntamba town in what is now Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district in 1918, who is also known for breezy, seemingly flippant songs like “Aana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday” (“Shehnai”, 1947), “Mere piya gaye Rangoon, kiya hai wahan se telefon” (“Patanga”, 1949) – which is possibly Indian films’ first telephone romance song, “Gore gore banke chori” (“Samadhi”, 1950), “Shola jo bhadke”, “Shaam dhale khidki tale”, and “Bholi soorat dil ke khote” (“Albela”, 1951), and “Ina meena dika (“Aasha”, 1957), among others.
Most of these, based on his fascination with American musician Benny Goodman, broke new ground with the introduction of an alto sax in combination with guitar and harmonica, and a bongo, oboe, trumpet, clarinet and sax. They also featured him as the male singer, making him the only composer – apart from Hemant Kumar – who doubled as a playback singer.
But, Ramchandra was more than just a purveyor of American jazz and swing and Caribbean and African-inspired rhythms for the Hindi film milieu. For instance, his association with Kavi Pradeep began when he provided music for “Dekh rere sansar ki haalat kya ho gayi Bhagwan” (“Nastik”, 1954) – one of the songs the master lyricist sang himself.
He had a deep knowledge of and affection for Indian classical music, and his raag-based compositions are immortal. He had a special penchant for Raag Bageshri. Asked about this in a BBC interview by Mahendra Kaul, he said that the first thing was its simplicity, and then, that he just liked it.
The raga forms the basis of his evergreen compositions like “Mohabbat hi na jo samjhe, woh zalim pyar kya jaane” (“Parchhain”, 1952), and “Radha, na bole na bole re” (“Azaad”, 1955).
Interestingly, Ramchandra was not the first choice for the latter film, produced by southern Indian filmmaker S. M. Sriramulu Naidu.
Maestro Naushad was approached first but baulked when told he would have to compose 10 tunes within a month. Turning down the offer, he said that he could not guarantee even one tune in this time period. Ramchandra, fresh from the success of “Anarkali” (1953), with the likes of “Yeh zindagi usi ki hai” and “Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai”, both picturised on the ethereal Bina Rai, was then approached.
Ramchandra not only delivered in due time – with his only stipulation being that he would be paid one rupee more than what the filmmakers were willing to offer Naushad – but also sang a song for the film – “Kitna haseen hai mausam, kitna haseen safar hai” – in the style of Talat Mahmood!
But then, Ramchandra, born Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar, and using the name we know him as or Anna Sahab for film music and Chitalkar for his film songs, was always destined for films. As he revealed in a BBC interview, he inherited his love and knowledge for music from his father and being indifferent in studies, he studied music under some maestros and then gravitated to the film industry as a teenager in 1932. As the silent era was still on, his ambition was to become a hero.
After a few side roles, he got a leading role in “Naganand” (1935) but it was a super flop. Ramchandra later admitted that this film probably made a record by just being screened for half its duration for the dozen-odd viewers who came to see it, but they also left midway. It was then taken down, and never screened again, he said with a laugh.
As Ramchandra disarmingly revealed that he was not fit for any other work and came to film music, where he eventually came to notice with Bhagwan Dada’s “Sukhi Jeevan” (1942) and continued to maintain his presence throughout the rest of the 1940s and the 1950s with his versatility.
V. Shantaram’s “Navrang” (1957), especially “Aadha hai Chandrama”, where he used Raga Malkauns than his favourite Bageshri, was a highpoint, but then, he was seen less and less before bidding adieu to the industry in 1972 and to the world in 1982.
(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
–IANS