Ravi Shankar Sharma Death Anniversary – Music Icon’s Thoughts on Poetry!

Ravi Shankar Sharma Death Anniversary: I was very interested in music since childhood, although I did not know anything about music at that age. After doing intermediate, I got employed in the Post and Telegraph Department where I served for 5 years. My wish was to become a playback singer in films. My idol was Mohammad Rafi and I struggled a lot to become a playback singer. The period from 1942 to 1949 was a period of intense struggle for me. In 1949, I took leave from the office and came to Mumbai. The reason was that after the partition of India, the Post and Telegraph Department wanted to transfer its staff out of Delhi. I also had three conditions (1) I should be kept in Delhi itself (2) or I should be transferred to Mumbai (3) or I should be sent to some big and prosperous city of India. When my request was not accepted, I came to Mumbai after taking permission from my parents.

I had to face a lot of difficulties in the unknown city of Mumbai. I used to wander from morning till evening, not caring about food or shelter. I stayed in C.P. Tank's Heera Bagh Dharamshala for a month, after that I was forced to leave that place and stayed in the veranda of a relative's room. I had to lose my job and did not get a chance here either. 6 months passed by. Everyone used to give assurances. They used to recommend me to sing in the chorus but I wanted to sing solo. I used to ask for money from home and somehow managed to survive with that.

I used to have food at Kalba Devi once, I used to have a cup of tea in the morning at Garudiya Bank's shop. When I got very upset, I started repairing fans and motors. I used to visit producers all day, fix fans etc. at night. I used to overcome the disappointment of the evening by working at night. Now I had stopped asking for money from home as well. My condition was such that I had no clothes to wear. I used to travel with torn clothes, torn slippers and a dejected mind. Finally I started playing tabla in Filmistan. My desire to sing was buried. I agreed to become a tabla player because the music director of Filmistan had lured me to become his assistant.

That composer did not make me his assistant, but impressed by my work, dedication and hard work, Hemant Kumar sahab did make me his assistant. As his assistant, I worked with him in many films like 'Sharat', 'Samrat', 'Nagin', 'Jagrati', 'Durgeshnandini'. It was a coincidence that when 'Nagin' was being made, I met late Devendra Goyal. I played my songs for him and he signed me as composer for 'Vachan'. 'Nagin' in which I was Hemant da's assistant and 'Vachan' in which I was an independent composer. Both the films celebrated jubilees together. Hemant da's happiness knew no bounds. He was happy with the work and he became even more happy with the jubilee.

After this, I got 3-4 more films from abroad, then one day Hemant saheb said - 'Ravi, your future is very bright and you are going to become a great musician, now you should stop working as my associate and develop yourself independently. Dada's prediction proved true. All my films proved to be hits one after the other and after 'Chaudhvin Ka Chand' which was a very big hit musical film, I became very famous and I started being counted among the top music directors. Till now I have been contracted for about 150 films, out of which 125 films were made and released and almost all the films got the same response.

This year my friends, well-wishers, fans etc. are preparing to celebrate the silver jubilee of my film career. In the last twenty-five years, I have composed music, written lyrics and also sung some songs. I have received Filmfare Awards twice for excellent music - 'Gharana' and 'Khandaan'. Apart from this, I have received many awards, trophies etc. from various associations, institutions, parliaments in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata etc. The biggest award I received in 1971 was the title of Padma Shri from the Government of India.

I have given music in films in many languages ​​like Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati. Recently, the Gujarat government honoured me as the best music composer of 1979 for the music of the Gujarati film 'Ver Na Vasulat'. My upcoming films are - 'Sanjh Ki Bela', 'Premika', 'Chingari', 'Jogi', 'Ritu Aaye Ritu Jaaye', 'Sajjan Thug', 'Bhangra' and some other titled films whose names are yet to be finalised.

While composing music, I take utmost care of the following things: (1) The tune should be as simple as possible, easy and pleasant to hear (2) The poetry should also be simple and heart touching. Sometimes I have to struggle for this myself because sometimes poetry is more important according to the situation and sometimes the tune is more important (3) If the tune is good, the song is heart touching and the singer is found good and along with that (4) the picturisation is also good then the song becomes even more beautiful. Such songs also become popular. When I started my career, the influence of western music in the music of Indian films was negligible. Very rare English type songs were heard. But today it is completely opposite, today very rare songs are heard based on Indian tunes. It should be said that the total songs coming in films are copied from English tunes.

As far as I am concerned, I am a devotee of Indian tunes, although due to compulsion or as per the desire of the scene, be it disco or cabaret, I have to resort to western style, but I give it my own way, while many of our colleagues instead of taking inspiration from the tunes of those places, keep the same tunes as they are. I give more importance to poetry and believe more in creating tunes based on poetry, so I have composed very few tunes before, this is the reason that poetry comes out in my music.

I cannot say according to me, but the films in which the public appreciated my music the most were - 'Do Badan', 'Bharosa', 'Kajal', 'Gumrah', 'Dhurmyug', 'Dhool Ka Phool', 'Waqt', 'Khandaan', 'Das Lakh', 'Ek Phool Do Mali', 'Yeh Raste Hain Pyar Ke', Meharbaan', 'Do Kaliyan', 'Ghunghat' etc. Lataji also considers 'Lage Na Mora Jiya, Sajna Nahi Aaye Haye' and 'Mori Chham Chham Baje Payaliya' as some of the best songs she has sung. I have three hobbies (1) Electronics Whenever I get time, I start repairing and opening and closing tape recorders, instruments, harmoniums etc. (2) Photography Whenever I go out of India, I return with a lot of photographs. (3) I am most interested in writing.  

Read Also:

• Sana Khan Allegedly Forces Sambhavna Seth to Wear Burqa, Fans React Strongly
• Shah Rukh Khan Praises Anant Ambani on PM Modi’s Vantara Visit – Details Inside
• Tamil Actress Ranya Rao Caught Smuggling 14 Kg Gold, Arrested at Airport
• Mahir Pandhi Interview: Talks About His Dual Role in ‘Veer Hanuman’