RMIM Archive Article "13".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives...
# Subject: C. Ramchandra - A Feature
#
# Posted by: "Rajan P. Parrikar" (parrikar@mimicad.Colorado.EDU)
# Source: G.N.Joshi's "Down Melody Lane" pp. 80-86
#
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C. Ramchandra
by
G.N. Joshi
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One day in 1947, a debonair young man, about six feet tall and
well built, walked into my cabin. I did not know him and hence
looked at him questioningly. He said, 'Joshi Saheb, you won't
know me, but I have known you for over 12 years and I have been
waiting for a chance to meet you. Today I have come to your stu-
dio for a film recording and therefore I came straight to meet
you. I come originally from Ahmednagar district, but since I
spent my childhood and some years of my youth in Vidarbha, I feel
I belong to Vidarbha.'
When he mentioned that he belonged to Vidarbha, I felt immediate
closeness to him. He said further, 'I listened to your record
Dole He Julami Gade for the first time in Nagpur: I liked it so
much that I played it again and again 27 times in quick succes-
sion. Then again, you had once come to perform at the Somalvar
School in the city, and the crowd was so huge that there was
hardly any space to sit. For over four hours I sat, crushed in
the crowd, listening to you. Since that time I have been longing
to meet you and at last the chance has come. I have entered the
film world recently as a music director and I need your bless-
ings.' He introduced himself - 'My name is Ramchandra Chitalkar
and I am today recording songs from my picture Shehnai.
I wished him good luck and he went away to the studio for rehear-
sals. Recording songs from films was, for the most part, a mono-
tonous affair. It usually took more than two hours to record one
song. The duration of one side of a record in our studio was only
3 minutes and 20 seconds. Some film songs were either longer or
shorter than required. Therefore, it was often necessary to cut
the lengthy songs or lengthen the short ones, hence the singer
and the orchestra had to spend a long time in our studios.
Mr. Ramchandra Chitalkar started his rehearsal, and partly be-
cause he hailed from Nagpur I felt an interest in him. So I went
to the studio to see for myself how this young man would conduct
the music. To rehearse an orchestra comprised of more than a
dozen musicians is not an easy job. Every instrument needs to be
perfectly tuned and played according to the notation of the song.
The passages which accompany the singing and the passages that
form musical interludes have to be played at different volumes.
The music director, who is the conductor, has to get from his
troup a perfectly tuned support for the vocalist. I have seen
many music directors who behaved like cattle-drivers. Musicians
are artists and as such they need to be handled with care, like
fragile glass. To get the best results, they must be kept in good
cheer all along. Ramchandra appeared to me to be on excellent
terms with his team of players. This was evident from the cheer-
ful atmosphere in the studio, and immediately made a very favour-
able impression on me. Though he was friendly and genial, he was
also a strict disciplinarian. This became clear when he admon-
ished some of the p]ayers for their lapses.
In those days playback singing was unheard of. Even unmusical
heroes and heroines like Devika Rani, Motilal, Savita Banerji,
Leela Chitnis and Ashok Kumar came before our microphones a
number of times. (We were thankfully spared the ordeal of record-
ing actors like Dara Singh or actresses like the fearless Nadia.)
Songs had to be rehearsed till they were as flawless as plossi-
ble, so that we did not have to waste a lot of wax discs. Ram-
chandra realized this and always prepared his musicians perfect-
ly. Therefore we did not have to repeat recordings unnecessarily.
A music director has to approve the recording, keeping in mind
the singer's voice and ability to sing. Hence it was always
desirable to okay a performance which was, by and large, up to a
certain standard. Expert singers like Lata Mangeshkar did not
need a lot of rehearsing. (When the song Jaa ri jaa ri o kari ba-
dariya was recorded by Lata it was done after just one rehearsal
and a single take.)
After our first meeting we developed a very close relationship
and consequently I had some intimate glimpses into the life of
Ramchandra. Some incidents would be of interest to the readers.
The words of the song Dhire se aaja from Albela were given to
Ramchandra by poet Rajendrakrishna at 4 in the afternoon, one
day. The recording was to be done in a studio at Andheri the same
evening. Ramchandra set out in his car from Dadar. With one hand
on the steering wheel and the other holding the sheet of verses,
he attempted to put a tune to the words. Surprisingly, by the
time he reached the studio at Andheri, he had created a tune
which was later found to be so suitable and perfect that the song
was recordcd on schedule without any alteration, and became an
all time hit.
Ramchandra took great care to see that the tune of a song suited
the scene and situation in the picture. A song from Parchhai
(Mohabbat hi na jo samaze) which was sung by Talat Mehmood was to
be filmed. Ramchandra and his musicians arrived in the studio for
the filming. To his consternation Ramchandra found a very lavish
set that was completely unsuitable for the tune he had given to
the song. Ramchandra brought this to the notice of Mr. V. Shan-
taram, the producer, and requested that the shooting be cancelled
that day. This meant a lot of expense to the producer. But Ram-
chandra convinced him that the contrast between the setting al-
ready erected and the tune of the song would not go down well
with the audience. Shantarambapu had implicit faith in Ramchandra
and he agreed that the recording be postponed. After a week or
so, the same song, with a new tune by Ramchandra, was recorded
and it was a terrific hit.
Some producers, though completely ignorant of music, are in the
habit of giving advice to the music director just to assert their
authority. Ramchandra told me how he dealt with one such produc-
er. While working in Filmistan, he was told to compose a tune for
a song. After studying the situation and the scene, Ramchandra
made up a suitable tune and, when ready, he played it to the pro-
ducer for his approval. The producer said, 'It's good but it
needs to be changed like this here, there, and again here.' 'Very
well,' said Ramchandra, 'I will come back in a week, with another
tune.' The next time, Ramchandra played the same tune without
making any alteration. 'That's much better,' said the producer
Just see what a difference the changes I suggested have made. If
you try again it will be more effective.' Ramchandra said, 'I
will see what I can do.' After a week or so he again played the
original tune to the producer. The producer, looking very
pleased, said, 'Oh, very good! This is just what I wanted.' He
did not realize that Ramchandra had made a fool of him.
A few years later Ramchandra Chitalkar took another name -- C.
Ramchandra. This created some confusion. Ramchandra first assumed
this new name in the pictures in the South for which he directed
the music. His close friends in Bombay always call him 'Anna'. A
very senior actor, just to tease him and incite him to give
better results, said to him, Just look at that fellow C. Ramchan-
dra from Madras. He is really very talented, why don't you try to
do something like him?' Anna saheb gave a sly smile but made no
comment. One can imagine the surprise and shame the actor must
have felt when he learnt that Ramchandra Chitalkar and C. Ram-
chandra were one and the same person!
On the other hand there were a few producers who had such faith
in his abilities that they never interfered with his work. S. M.
Naidu, the South Indian producer who shot his films in Coimba-
tore, engaged C. Ramchandra to compose the music for his picture
Azad. The recording for all the ten songs was done by Ramchandra
in Bombay, and on completion the entire set of songs was packed
up and sent to Mr. Naidu. Mr. Naidu accepted the recordings
without question, and it must be said to the credit of C Ramchan-
dra, that all the songs became very popular.
Ramchandra reached very imposing heights. As many as 26 of the
pictures for which he scored music celebrated silver jubilees,
and three even achieved the golden jubilee. Ramchandra's magnifi-
cent achievement is made all the more noteworthy by the fact
that, although a Maharashtrian, he won unique laurels in Hindi
films.
When he was only 17 years old, he entered the cinema world in
Kolhapur. Prior to this, he had wanted to work in the C.I.D. The
thought of being a secret police agent and detecting crime by
moving about in disguise fascinated him. His impressive physique
made him very suitable for such a career, but he soon discovered
that it was extremely diflficult to get work as a detective. He
gave up the idea, and to satisfy his love for disguises, he en-
tered the film world.
Thanks to his impressive appearance, he was given the role of
hero in his very first film. The film however was a complete
flop. The hero of this film consoled himself after this failure,
by appearing as a mere extra in the next film. Ramchandra was ab-
solutely determined to stay on and make his fortune in the
movies. He therefore migrated to Bombay where he decided to try
his luck in a different line. He was a very good harmonium
player. Sohrab Modi took him into his music department, and from
then on Ramchandra's musical gcnius found outlets. As opportuni-
ties came his way, he very successfully experimented with many
novel ideas in film music. He was the first music director to in-
troduce Western music into and also use Western instruments for
Indian songs. The tune of Mai hun ek khalasi which he wrote for
the film Sargam was hased on the rock 'n' roll style. This song
and another one from the picture Shehnai - Ana meri jaan, meri
jaan, Sunday ke Sunday - became thunderingly popular. One has
only to remember some of the haunting tunes created by him to
realize his musical genius and fantastic creative ability.
Oh chand jaha o jaye from Sharda, Mohabat aisi dhadakan hai from
Anarkali, Kitana badal gaya insan from Nastik, Kaise jawu main
jamuna ke tir, - all these and many more speak volumes for his
versatile ability as a music director.
Anna, besides being an artist, was also a patriot. During the
last 30 years, whenever India was threatened by invasion, he al-
ways volunteered and visited the front lines of our army to cheer
up our Jawans. During the Sino-Tndian war of 1962, he gave the
nation the very tragic (but extremely patriotic) song, Ai mere
vatan ke logo. This song moved Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to tears
and it continues likewise to move thousands of our countrymen.
Although past 60, he stood proudly erect, always discovering new
horizons for his art. He travelled extensively abroad, and won
for himself a very large number of fans in U.K. and America. He
had a peculiarly endearing style of singing. He was an ardent de-
votee of Sai Baba of Shirdi and therefore often sang religious
songs in Baba's praise. (He named his bungalow after Sai Baba).
For some inexplicable reason film producers dropped him some
years ago and therefore the present generation has heard very
little of this great musician. By casting him away, the film pro-
ducers not only suffered a great loss themselves, but they
deprived the public of most delightful and unique music.
His sad demise early in January 1982 was a great and irreparable
loss to modern music. He will be remembered fondly for many long
years.
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Rajan Parrikar
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian