Music Composer - C Ramchandra

The gentle giant who was affectionately known by several names: Annasaheb, Chitalkar and mostly as C Ramchandra, was born in Punatamba, Maharashtra in the year 1918. He was a student of Vinayakbua Patwardhan at Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya music school. He joined films with Y.V. Rao's flop, Naganand followed by chuck roles in Minerva Movietone (Saeed-e-Havas, Atma Tarang). He became a Harmonium accompanyist for Minerva composers Bindu Khan and Habib Khan. He often got opportunities to sing and act in Marathi films.

His debut film as a music director was in Tamil films with Jayakkodi and Vanamohini. He got his first Hindi film, Bhagwan's Sukhi Jiwan, in 1942. Ramchandra's juvenile songs may be sub-divided into those with highly westernized male and / or female choruses, duets or quawwalis. The mood of these songs was zany, saucy, raucous, irreverent, mischief-laden..joyful noice. The composer's natural ebullience, boyish vigor and state of camaraderie with the young man of the Hindi cinema are evident here. It was 'let's have a good time' music; on the screen the purveyors of these songs were either the raunchy comedy team of Yakub and Gope (Patanga, Saaqi, etc.) or the funnyman Bhagwan (Albela, Shin Shinaki Bubla Boo, etc.) who was often Ramchandra's juvenile persona on the screen.

An outstanding feature of many of these songs is their intense curiosity about western mores and manners; they often employed western musical idioms in exaggerated fashion either for satire or irony. These songs mirrored the curiosity of the educated, urbanized Indian youth of British India regarding their colonizers. Popular belief has it that Ramchandra introduced rock 'n' roll in India before it became a rage in the west. This is a paltry statement in the face of his numerous experiments in western/Indian and middle-eastern styles. For example, in 'Meri Jaan..Sunday Ke Sunday..' (Shehnai) he introduced the Benny Goodman style of jazz clarinet in combination with an Indian melody. The song is infused with hilarious verbal and musical incongruities resulting in a comical effect. Other westernized songs e.g. 'Shola Jo Bhadke..' and 'Ye Diwana Ye Parwana..' (Albela) employed cabaret type dance feturing bongo drums, oboes, clarinets, trumpets, saxophones, etc. The spirit and atmoshphere of these songs convey much hilarity, exuberance and gaiety of the sort one finds in opera comique of Jacques Offenbach.

Those who lavish extravagant praise - richly deserved, of course on the filmi ghazals of Madan Mohan and Khayyam, forget that C Ramchandra composed some of the most exemplary song in this genre. One need only to point to those sung by Lata or by Talat Mehmood in Parchhain, Yasmin and Kavi. Furthermore, those who simplistically claim that Lata Mangeshkar was at her best under Madan Mohan's baton engage in cruel, selective memory. Song upon song composed by Ramchandra for Lata Mangeshkar belie those contentions. Moreover, it is conveniently forgotten that Madan Mohan worked under Ramchandra for the songs od Shabistan (1951). No wonder, then, that Madan Mohan's music has an underlying Ramchandran flavour. The supreme lyricism of their melodies united them; further, their orchestra had similar sound and ambience. Except that Ramchandra's string section (violin) had a more dancing , 'waltzing' sound. In a Madan Mohan song the 'waltzing' effect was more muted, to create a more somber sound.

It is noteworthy that although C Ramchandra was most commonly associated with lyricists Rajendra Krishan and Santhoshi. In Anarkali he worked with three lyricists, Rajinder Krishan, Shailendra, and Hasrat Jaipuri. In his later he employed Noor Lakhnavi (Parchhain), Jan Nissar Akhtar (Yasmin), Pradeep (Nastik), Shakeel Badayuni (Zindagi Aur Maut) and others. The diversity of poetic sources notwithstanding, his style remained intact.

If in the mid 50's someone had suggested that the artesian well of Ramchandra's creativity would shortly run dry, he would have invited scornful ridicule. And yet, this is exactly what happened. By the early 60's Ramchandra had fallen silent..this silence became permanent on January 5, 1982. He worked on Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Bhojpuri films. And briefly he turned producer with New Sai Productions in 1953 and produced Jhanjhar, Lehren, Duniya Gol Hai under his banner. In the late 60s, he composed for successful Marathi films: Dhananjay, Gharkul. He got his autobiography published in the year 1977.

Sr.	FILM TITLE	YEAR OF RELEASE	Sr.	FILM TITLE	YEAR OF RELEASE
1	Sukhi Jeewan	1942	53	Saaqi	1952
2	Hanso Hanso Aye Duniya Walon	1942	54	Shin Shinaki Bubla Boo	1952
3	Badla	1943	55	Anarkali	1953
4	Bhakt Raj	1943	56	Jhamela	1953
5	Mr Jhatpat	1943	57	Jhanjhar	1953
6	Muskurahat	1943	58	Lahren	1953
7	Zabaan	1943	59	Shagoofa	1953
8	Bahadur	1944	60	Kavi	1954
9	Dil Ki Baat	1944	61	Minar	1954
10	Lalkaar	1944	62	Naastik	1954
11	Manorama	1944	63	Pehli Jhalak	1954
12	Raunaq	1944	64	Subah Ka Tara	1954
13	Naghma-E-Sehra	1945	65	Azaad	1955
14	Saawan	1945	66	Duniya Gol Hai	1955
15	Samrat Chandragupt	1945	67	Insaniyat	1955
16	Bachchon Ka Khel	1946	68	Lutera	1955
17	Dosti	1946	69	Saavdhan	1955
18	Safar	1946	70	Teerandaaz	1955
19	Ahinsa	1947	71	Yaasmin	1955
20	Bahadur Paratap	1947	72	26 January	1956
21	Leela	1947	73	Devata	1956
22	Madadgaar	1947	74	Shatranj	1956
23	Matwale	1947	75	Aasha	1957
24	Saajan	1947	76	Baarish	1957
25	Shadi Se Pehle	1947	77	Nausherwan-E-Dil	1957
26	Shehnai	1947	78	Sharda	1957
27	Khidki	1948	79	Talash	1957
28	Mera Munna	1948	80	Amardeep	1958
29	Nadiya Ke Paar	1948	81	Kaarigar	1958
30	Duniya	1949	82	Raaj Tilak	1958
31	Girls School	1949	83	Talaq	1958
32	Namoona	1949	84	Navrang	1959
33	Patanga	1949	85	Paigham	1960
34	Roshni	1949	86	Aanchal	1960
35	Saanwraa	1949	87	Sarhad	1961
36	Sipahiya	1949	88	Amar Rahe Ye Pyar	1961
37	Nazrana	194?	89	Stree	1962
38	Nirala	1950	90	Madam Zapata	1963
39	Samadhi	1950	91	Bahu Rani	1964
40	Sangeeta	1950	92	Dal Mein Kala	1964
41	Sargam	1950	93	Veer Bhimsen	1965
42	Albela	1951	94	Sherdil	1965
43	Khazana	1951	95	Zindagi Aur Maut	1966
44	Sagaai	1951	96	Labela	1966
45	Sangram	1951	97	Tasveer	1967
46	Saudagar	1951	98	Wahan Ke Log	1968
47	Shabistan	1951	99	Balram Shri Krishna	1968
48	Ustaad Pedro	1951	100	Payal Ki Jhankar	1968
49	Chhatrapati Shivaji	1952	101	Jitne Door Utne Paas	196?
50	Ghunghroo	1952	102	Rootha Na Karo	1970
51	Hungama	1952	103	Tulsi Vivah	1971
52	Parchhain	1952	104	Toofani Takkar	1978

C RAMCHANDRA

Filmography