Chandidas Mishra
One does not associate his name with the kind of genius of an SD Burman, or Naushad, Shanker Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, Salil Choudhury, Madan Mohan, Roshan and Hemant Kumar, all of them his contemporaries. And yet, at a time when he had these formidable masters of the Bollywood music world to compete with, he went on churning out extremely hit songs for decades, not a few of which have acquired cult status. That was Ravi Shankar Sharma, or Ravi as he figured in the credits.
Take, for instance, the title song from the Guru Dutt masterpiece Choudvin Ka Chand. Or the jazzy baar baar dekho, hazaar baar dekho, from the Shammi Kapoor starrer Chinatown. Or the immortal ode to time, Aage bhi jane na tu, from Waqt. Or the teasy ode to middle-age love that Balraj Sahani sings to his wife, Ae meri zohra jabeen, also from Waqt. Or the song of gentle romance, Yeh raten yeh mausam nadi ka kinara. Or the wildly wicked C A T cat, cat mane billi. The list is long.
Ravi Shankar Sharma was born in Delhi in 1926. He had no formal training in music. But his father had a bhajan group which provided some outlet and honing to his innate gift. He was fond of film songs of the time, and eventually came to Bombay to become a playback singer. He began with chorus singing, giving voice in many SD Burman and Hemant Kumar songs. While his singing career refused to go beyond this, the famous Hemant Kumar took him on as an assistant, and also encouraged him later to become a composer himself.
The break came with Vachan (1955), produced and directed by Devendra Goel, with whom Ravi was to have a long association. The songs, including Chandamama door ke, proved hits. Ravi followed up with one success after another, coming up with hit songs for movies such as Narsi Bhagat, Dilli Ka Thug, Nazrana, Gharana, Tower House, Ghoonghat, Ankhen, Khandan, Waqt, China Town and many others.
For the music of Chauduvin Ka Chand (1960), the fastidious Guru Dutt chose Ravi. The latter did not disappoint. In fact, the songs were responsible in no small measure for the success of the film which revived a nearly bankrupt Guru Dutt Productions after the disastrous Kagaz Ke Phool.
One of Ravi’s steadfast patrons, along with S D Narang (Dilli Ka Thug, Shehnai, Anmol Moti) and Devendra Goel (Vachan, Ek Phool Do Mali, Dhadkan, Aadmi Sadak Ka), was the distinguished B R Chopra. From Gumrah onwards, Ravi composed songs for almost all his films including Humraz, Waqt (directed by B R’s brother Yash Chopra), Admi Aur Insaan, right up to Nikah and Tawaif, and unfailingly gave hit numbers.
Incidentally, the great Sahir Ludhianvi wrote some of his best songs for Ravi, such as Chhoo lene do nazuk hothon ko (Kajal), Age bhi jane na tu (Waqt), Milti hai zindagi me mohabbat kabhi kabhi (Ankhen), Yeh wadiyan yeh fizayen bula rahi hain tumhe (Aaj Aur Kal).
While Asha Bhonsle was a Ravi favourite among female playback singers, singing some of her best songs for him such as Age bhi janena tu, Zindagi itefaq hai and Saiyan le gayi jiya teri pehli nazar, Mahendra Kapoor’s career would have been unthinkable without Ravi who composed for him immortal songs like Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jayen hum dono (Gumrah), Ae nile gagan ke tale (Humraaz), Dil ki yeh arzoo thi koi dilruba mile and many others.
Ravi was never really much of a stylist. And yet, there is no genre or style in which he hasn’t produced outstanding songs, whether it is a bhajan like O rom rom me basnewale Ram, or a lullaby like Tujhe suraj kahoon ya chanda, or semi-classical songs like Tora man darpan kehlaye and Lage na mora jiya sajna nahin aye haye, or beggar songs Amma ek roti de and Auladwalo phoolo palo, or the bidai song Babul ki duayen leti jaa. And can any baarat band do without the song Aaj meri yaar ki shaadi hai. That too was a Ravi composition.
His greatest strength was his unfailing instinct for melody, and with the musical resources of the time he produced songs that were an exquisite combination of catchy tune and orchestral elegance. No wonder most of his songs reached the top of the popularity charts, while also winning awards both for himself and the singers who sang them.
Mohammad Rafi, for example, got his first Filmfare award for the song Chaudvin Ka Chand Ho, and Ravi also earned for Lata the 1965 Filmfare award for the song Tumhi meri mandir from the movie Khandan.
And when he made an immensely successful foray into Malayalam films, where he went by the name Bombay Ravi, he earned for the singer Chitra two National awards for playback singing, for the songs Manjal prasadavum from the movie Nakhakshathangal (1986) and Indupushpam choodi nilkum from the movie Vaishali (1989).
And of course, he himself won the Filmfare Award for best music twice, for Gharana (1961) and Khandaan (1965), while the Indian government, too, honoured him with a Padmashri.
When his name is mentioned, people often ask, “Ravi who?” But then their faces light up when any of his songs is mentioned. Known to have been always sweet natured and modest, Ravi would not have minded that his songs are better known than his name.
