Remembering Ravi

( March 3, 1926 to March 7, 2012 )

'जब चली ठंडी हवा, जब उठी काली घटा, मुझसे ऐ जाने वफा, तुम याद आये '

Yes, we do remember Ravi not only in 'ठंडी हवा,' but quite often for his melodious music and superhit songs.

Ravi was born as ' Ravi Shankar Sharma' in Delhi. He could not learn any classical music and was an electrician by the occupation. He shifted to Bombay in 1950 to become singer and had hard times as he had to stay on streets and sleep at night on railway platform.

The great music composer Hemant Kumar gave him the first opportunity to sing in chorus of ' Vande Mataram' in film ' Anandmath'. Thereafter he worked as an assistant to Hemant Kumar for some time. His first film as a music composer was ' Vachan ' . But he got popularity from the song of Talat Mehmood in 1957 from ' Ek Sal' (सब कुछ लुटाके होश में आये तो क्या किया ) He was consistent enough to establish himself as a recognised music composer by composing melodious music for the films ' Dilli ka Thug, ( ये राते ये मौसम नदी का किनारा ) Chirag kanha Roshni Kanha, Choudhvi ka Chand,(चौदव्हीका चांद हो या आफताब हो ) Ghoongat , Tower house (ऐ मेरे दिले नादान तु गमसे ना घबराना )

He thereafter had a long association with producer B. R. Chopra and composed music for of his films which became superhit viz. Gumrah,(चलो एक बार फिरसे अजनबी बन जाये हम दोनो ) Waqt (आगेभी जानेना तू , ओ मेरी जोहराजबी, हम जब सिमटके आपकी बाहो में आ गये ) and Nikah (दिलके अरमान आसुओमे बह गये )

Ravi's other best songs include तोरा मन दर्पन, छु लेनेदो नाजुक होठोंको ( Kajal ) रहा गर्दिशोमे हरदम ( Do Badan ) ना मुह छुपाके जिओ (Humraaz ) etc.

He was instrumental in bringing Mahendra Kapoor ,the singer, to the limelight. He received the Filmfare award for best music composer twice viz. Khnadan and Gharana.

Later on Ravi diverted himself to Mallyam films and had a remarkable presence there. He received National awards for two Malyalam films in 1995 : Parinayam and Sukhrutam.

I was never an ardent lover of Ravi's Music. With due respect, I found his music of same style even though melodious. But I still remember the folks in college days who used to watch 'काजल , वक्त , दो बदन, हमराज at Matinee shows again and again to listen to Ravi's songs. He had a notable fan base.

Ravi's songs were much popular and used to be played at weddings ( आज मेरे यार की शादी है , बाबुल कि दुवाये लेती जा ) Interestingly the beggars in trains ( especially in Mumbai local trains ) used to recite only the songs of Ravi ( दिलके अरमान आसुओमे बह गये, तुम एक पैसा दोगे वो दस लाख देगा ) Reasons beyond my comprehension !

Even though popular among masses Ravi remained less appreciated by Hindi film industry. He was never retained by any Big banner production houses. Ravi , in spite of lack of appreciation,always remained a self content man till he breathed his last at Mumbai on March 7, 2012