Music Director Ravi Passes Away

Mangalore Today / DHNS

Mumbai, March 8: Legendary music director Ravi Shankar Sharma, popularly known as Ravi, passed away today in Bombay Hospital after suffering two massive heart attacks.

Ravi, 96, was admitted to the hospital three months back and was recovering, but on Tuesday he suffered two massive heart attacks and was in the intensive coronary care unit.

 

He was revived but was in extremely critical condition.

Music genius Ravi gave several hit songs in films like Waqt, Neel Kamal, Phool Aur Patthar, Humraaz, Nikaah, Do Badan, Aankhen, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Gumraah.

He won Filmfare awards for Gharana (1961) and Khandaan (1965).

’Dil ke armaan aansooyon main beh gaye…’, ’Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai’, ’Babul ki duyaen leti jaa…’ are few of the evergreen classics composed by the musical maverick.

He composed music for Malayalam films too. After a successful career in Hindi cinema, he took a break from 1970s to 1984.

Born in Delhi on March 3, 1926, ravi had no formal training in classical music; instead he learned music from listening to his father sing bhajans.

He taught himself to play harmonium and other classical instruments and worked as an electrician to support his family. In 1950 he decided to shift to Bombay and become a professional singer.

At first Ravi was homeless, living on the streets and sleeping in Malad railway station at night. In 1952, he was discovered by Hemant Kumar who hired him to sing backing vocals in Vande Mataram from the film Anand Math.

Ravi gave several hit songs and received Filmfare nominations for these films: Chaudhvin Ka Chand(1960), Do Badan(1966), Humraaz(1967), Ankhen (1968), and Nikaah(1982).

He won Filmfare awards for Gharana(1961) and Khandaan (1965).

His other successful films include Waqt, Neel Kamal and Gumraah. His songs Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai, Babul ki duyaen leti ja and Doli chadh ke dulhan sasural chali became very popular in wedding celebrations.

He was one of the music directors who shaped the career of Asha Bhosle with songs like Tora man darpan. He was also instrumental in making Mahendra Kapoor a popular singer in Bollywood.

After a successful career in Hindi films during the 1950s and 1960s, he took a long break after 1970 till 1982.

In 1982, he gave music for the Hindi film Nikaah, and one of the film’s songs Dil ke armaan aansooyon main beh gaye sung by Salma Agha won her the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.

In the 1980s, he made a comeback as a music director in Malayalam (and some Hindi) films as Bombay Ravi.

Ravi has composed for many films produced by South Indian banners: Ghoonghat, Gharana Grihasti, Aurat, Samaj ko badal dalo (Gemini), Meherban, Do Kaliyan (AVM), Bharosa, Khandaan (Vasu Films).