Golden Era of Bollywood: Remembering Music Director RAVI on his 91st Birth Anniversary

Friday 3 March 2017

Remembering Music Director RAVI on his 91st Birth Anniversary

The well Known Music Director Ravi was born on 3rd March 1926 in Delhi.His full name was Ravi Shankar Sharma,had no formal training in classical music but wanted to become a singer. In 1950 he decided to shift to Bombay and become a professional singer but had to strugle for 2 years.
In 1952, Ravi was discovered by Hemant Kumar who hired him to sing backing vocals in Vande Mataram from the film Anand Math.He later became assistant to Hemant Kumar played the tabla for him.
He played the been for the iconic number ‘Man dole mere tan dole' from ‘Nagin.' Soon, he started composing as well as writing lyrics. Slowly, he got more work. His song Chandamama Door Ke became a hit. he composed music for several films. Then Hemant Kumar told him to become an independent composer. During that time he got a chance to compose for Vachan (1955) and the other offers followed.
In 1958 his film Dilli Ka Thug released,the songs of this film were instantly hit,Kishore Kumar was the hero of that film and the song C A T Cat Mane Billi","Hum To Mohabbat Karega"and "Yeh Raaten Yeh Mausam" became immortal.That year his 4 films released,the music of all his movies was apreciated.In 1960 Chaudhvin Ka Chand released,the film became a mega hit ,its music was the highlight,the song Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho was super hit,In fact mohmmad Rafi got Filmfare award for this song.
In 1961 his film GHARANA was released,the film as well as its music was super hit, He won Filmfare awards for Gharana (1961) and latter on for Khandan (1965). His other successful films include Waqt, Neel Kamal,Do Badan , Gumraah,Aankhen,Hamraaz and Nikaah (1982). His songs Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai, Babul ki duyaen leti ja, Doli chadh ke dulhan sasural chali and Mere Yaar Bana Ke Dulha became very popular in wedding celebrations.
Ravi was one of the music directors who shaped the career of Asha Bhosle with songs like Tora man darpan and Sun le Pukar Aai. He was also instrumental in making Mahendra Kapoor a popular singer in bollywood.
Besides hindi films he gave music for Gujarati films and Malyali films,He was the rage in Malayalam cinema. As he had worked his magic in Bollywood, he soon had music buffs in Kerala enshrining him as one of the best in the music industry. Evergreen compositions from his baton adorned films such as ‘Vyshali,' ‘Parinayam,' ‘Oru Vadakkan Veergatha,' ‘Sargam,' ‘Sukrutham,' ‘Ghazal,' and ‘Mayookham.'
Ravi's wife, whom he married in 1946, died in 1986. He had two daughters Veena and Chhaya and a son Ajay. His estranged son Ajay is married to Varsha Usgaonkar who is a Marathi and Hindi film actress.
He died on 7 March 2012 in Mumbai at the age of 86.