C. Ramchandra


Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar was a renowned music composer in the movie industry of India.
In the composer's role, he mostly used the name C. Ramachandra, though he also used the names Annasaheb, Ram Chitalkar, and Shyamoo. Further, he often sang and acted in Marathi movies under the name R. N. Chitalkar. For his career as an occasional playback singer he used only his surname Chitalkar. Chitalkar sang some renowned and unforgettable duets with Lata such as Kitna haseen hai mausam in film Azad or Shola Jo bhadke in Albela.

Biography

Ramachandra Chitalkar was born on 12 January 1918 in Puntamba, a small town in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra, India. He studied music under Vinayakbua Patwardhan at "Gandharva Mahavidyalaya" and also under Shankarrao Sapre of Nagpur where he studied music alongside Vasantrao Deshpande. He joined the movie industry playing the lead role in Y. V. Rao's movie, Naganand. He also had some small roles at Minerva Movietone in the movies Said-e-Havas and Atma Tarang.
Ramachandra provided harmonium accompaniment for Minerva composers Bundu Khan and Habib Khan. He debuted as music director in Tamil movies with Jayakkodi and Vana Mohini. He received public notice as a good composer in Bhagwan Dada's Sukhi Jeevan, and established a long association that culminated with the musical box office hit Albela.
Influenced by Benny Goodman, Ramachandra introduced in his compositions the alto sax in combination with guitar and harmonica. He also included whistling in one of his famous songs, Aana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday in film Shehnai. He used a combination of a bongo, an oboe, a trumpet, a clarinet and a sax for the song Shola Jo Bhadke in film Albela. He sang the title song "Shin Shinaki Boobla Boo" with Lata Mangeshkar, which included rock rhythms. He provided the musical score for the scat song "Ina mina dika" in Aasha.
Perhaps C. Ramachandra's biggest success as a music composer was the 1953 movie Anarkali starring Beena Roy in the title role and Pradeep Kumar. The songs that he composed for this movie are today legendary. Songs of this movie like "Yeh Zindagi Usiki Hai", "Mujhse Mat Poochh Mere Ishq Main Kya Rakha Hai", "Mohabbat Aisi Dhadkan Hai", "Jaag Dard-e-Ishq Jaag" etc. went on to become huge hits and were also highly acclaimed as masterpieces. Anarkali also perhaps saw the famed composer-singer combination of Ramachandra and Lata Mangeshkar at their best ever together. A film critic in London who watched the movie is said to have remarked that the heroine sang like an angel without knowing that the angel was actually Lata giving playback for the actress. Similarly, C. Ramchandra's compositions in V. Shantaram's Navrang and Stree were also quite popular and are still remembered.
The highly popular patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo", which was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and penned by poet Pradeep, was a composition of Ramachandra. It was later performed live, by Lata Mangeshkar, in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru at the National Stadium, in New Delhi on Republic Day in 1963. It is said Jawaharlal Nehru became so sentimental that tears rolled down his cheeks. On 27 Jan 2014, Lata Mangeshkar was felicitated by the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi at Mumbai to commemorate 51st Anniversary of this song.
Ramachandra similarly provided a memorable musical score accompanying a competition between two dancers whose roles were played by Padmini and Vyjayanthimala for the song Kannum Kannum Kalanthu lyrics penned by Kothamangalam Subbu, sung by P. Leela and Jikki in the Tamil movie Vanjikottai Valiban. He remade the song in Hindi as "Aaja Tu Aaja" from Raj Tilak written by P. L. Santoshi where Asha Bhosle and Sudha Malhotra rendered their voice.
Ramachandra provided music compositions for a few Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Bhojpuri movies besides Hindi movies. He also produced three Hindi movies with New Sai Productions namely Jhanjhar, Lehren, Duniya Gol Hai.
In the late 1960s, Ramachandra produced two Marathi movies, Dhananjay and Gharkul. Apart from composing music, he also acted in them. Ramchandra wrote his autobiography The Symphony of My Life in 1977.
C. Ramchandra died on 5 January 1982, a week before his 64th birthday, in Mumbai.
Mumbai based troupe Musicolor, which is promoting vintage music, presented an exclusive tribute programmes featuring the gems of C Ramchandra at Dinanath Mangeshkar auditorium on 22 January 2010.

Popular songs

Though Ramchandra used a number of ragas in his compositions, his favourite remained raga "Bageshri". In a 1978 interview at BBC studios with Mahendra Kaul, he ascribed the reason to Bageshri's simplicity. However, he also composed songs in other ragas including Malkauns.
The following is a short list of some of Ramachandra's best compositions:
Movies for which Ramachandra provided musical scores are listed below in alphabetical order:
  1. Aanchal
  2. Azaad
  3. Ahinsa
  4. Albela
  5. Amar Rahe Yeh Pyar
  6. Amar Deep
  7. Anarkali
  8. Aasha
  9. Baarish
  10. Bachchon Ka Khel
  11. Badla
  12. Bahadur
  13. Bahadur Pratap
  14. Bahurani
  15. Balram Shri Krishna
  16. Bhakt Raj
  17. Chhatrapati Shivaji
  18. Daal Me Kaala
  19. Devta
  20. Dil Ki Baat
  21. Dosti
  22. Duniya
  23. Duniya Gol Hai
  24. Ghungroo
  25. Girls School, with Anil Biswas
  26. Hanso Hanso Ae Duniya Walo
  27. Hum Diwane
  28. Hungama
  29. Insaniyat
  30. Jhaanjhar
  31. Jhamela
  32. Jitne Door Utne Paas
  33. Kaarigar
  34. Kavi
  35. Khazana
  36. Khidki
  37. Labelaa
  38. Lahren
  39. Lalkar
  40. Leela
  41. Lutera
  42. Madadgaar
  43. Madam Zapata
  44. Manorama
  45. Matwale
  46. Meenar
  47. Mera Munna
  48. Mr. Jhatpat
  49. Muskurahat
  50. Nastik
  51. Nadiya Ke Paar
  52. Naghma-e-Sehra
  53. Namoona
  54. Nausherwan-E-Adil
  55. Navrang
  56. Nazrana
  57. Nirala
  58. Payal Ki Jhankar
  59. Paigham
  60. Parchhain
  61. Patanga
  62. Pehli Jhalak
  63. Raj Tilak
  64. Raunaq 1944
  65. Rootha Na Karo
  66. Roshni
  67. Sajan
  68. Sanwaria
  69. Saqi
  70. Savdhan
  71. Sawan
  72. Safar
  73. Sagaai
  74. Samadhi
  75. Samrat Chandragupt
  76. Sangeeta
  77. Sangram
  78. Sargam
  79. Sarhad
  80. Saudagar, with Hanuman Prasad
  81. Shabistan
  82. Shadi Se Pehle
  83. Shagoofa
  84. Sharda
  85. Shatranj
  86. Shehnai
  87. Sher Dil
  88. Shin Shinaki Bublaa Boo
  89. Siphaiya
  90. Stree
  91. Subah Ka Tara
  92. Sukhi Jivan
  93. Talaq
  94. Talash
  95. Tasveer
  96. Teerandaaz
  97. Toofani Takkar
  98. Tulsi Vivah
  99. Ustad Pedro
  100. Vana Mohini
  101. Veer Bhimsen
  102. Wahan Ke Log
  103. Yasmin
  104. Zaban
  105. Zindagi Aur Maut