Remembering music composer C. Ramachandra 1918-82

Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar (12 January 1918 – 5 January 1982) 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 (in the movies Bahadur Pratap, Matwale, and Madadgaar), Ram Chitalkar (in the movies Sukhi Jeevan, Badla, Mr. Jhatpat, Bahadur, and Dosti), and Shyamoo (in the movie Yeh hai duniya). 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.
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 (1936) and Atma Tarang (1937).

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 combine 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' (Adha hai chandramana, raat aadhi, Tu chhupi hai kahan, Shyamal shyam varan, Are ja re hat natkhat) and V. Shantaram's 'Stree' (O' nirdayi priyatam, aaj mad-hava sath dole) 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 Ramlila grounds, in New Delhi on Republic Day, 26 January 1963. 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 To 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. In 1953, he also produced with "New Sai Productions" three Hindi movies: "Jhanjhar", "Lehren", "Duniya Gol Hai".
In the late 1960s, Ramachandra produced two Marathi movies, "Dhananjay" and "Gharkul". He also acted in them and composed music for them. C. Ramchandra died on 5 January 1982 in Mumbai.
Ramchandra wrote his autobiography in Marathi in 1977.
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.

Compositions
The following is a short list of some of Ramachandra's best compositions:
• Yeh zindagi usi ki hai jo kisi ka ko gaya (Anarkali)
• Ae Mere watan ke logon
• Dheere se aa ja re akhiyan mein (Albela)
• Katatay hain dukh mein ye din (Parchhaain)
• Tum kya jaano, tumhari yaad mein (Shin Shinaki Bubala Boo)
• Aankhon mein sama jao is dil mein raha karana (Yasmin)
• Kitna haseen hai mausam (Azaad)
• Koi kisi ka deewaana na bane (Sargam)
• Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag (Anarkali)
• Mehfil mein jal uthi shama (Nirala)
• Aye pyar teri duniya se hum (Jhanjar)
• Wafaaon ka majboor daman bichha kar dua kar gume dil khuda se dua kar (Anarkali)
• Muhobbat aisi dhadkan hai jo samjhayi nahi jati (Anarkali)
• Main jagu sari rain (Bahu Rani)
• Ab woh raate kahan ab woh baate kahan (Yasmin)
• Kannum Kannum Kalanthu (Vanjikottai Valiban) (Tamil film)
• Jo mujhe bhula ke chale gaye (Sangeeta)
• Mujh se mat poochh mere ishq mein kya rakha hai (Anarkali)
• Dekho ji bahar aayi (Azad)
• Jo dil ko jalaye sataye dukhaye aisi muhobbat se hum baaz aaye (Nirala)
• Mujh pe ilzaam-e-bewafaai hai (Yasmin)
• Aye chand pyar mera tujh se ye kah raha hai (Khazana)
• Muhobbat mein aise zamane bhi aaye (Sagaai)
• Aa ja ab to aa ja (Anarkali)
• Tere dar se khushi mangi magar gum de diya tu ne (Hungama)
• Tere phoolon se bhi pyar (Nastik)
• Kali kali ratiyan yaad sataye (Ghungaroo)
• O nirdayi pritam (Stree)
• Balma bada nadan (Albela)
• Dil se bhula do tum humen (Patanga)
• Kaghaz ki thi woh nao jis main ham jarahe the (Zaban)
• Dil ki duniya basa ke sawariyan (Amardeep)
• Ina Meena Dika ( ASHA )