Vanraj Bhatia

 

Vanraj Bhatia (born 31 May 1927 is an Indian composer best known for his work in Indian New Wave cinema. He is also one of the leading composers of Western classical music in India.

Bhatia is a recipient of the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the television film Tamas (1988), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Creative and Experimental Music (1989) and India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri (2012).

Early life and education

Born into a family of Kutchi businessmen, Bhatia attended the New Era School in Bombay and learnt Hindustani classical music as a student at Deodhar School of Music. On hearing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 as a teenager, he became interested in Western classical music and studied the piano with Dr. Manek Bhagat for four years.

After earning his M.A. (English Honours) from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay in 1949, Bhatia studied composition with Howard Ferguson, Alan Bush and William Alwyn at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he was a recipient of the Sir Michael Costa Scholarship (1951–54). After graduating with a gold medal in 1954, Bhatia won a Rockefeller Scholarship (1954–58)[6] as well as a French Government Scholarship (1957–58) that allowed him to study with Nadia Boulanger at the Conservatoire de Paris for five years.

Career

On returning to India in 1959, Bhatia became the first person to score music for an advertisement film in India (for Shakti Silk Sarees), and went on to compose over 7,000 jingles, such as Liril,[8] Garden Vareli and Dulux. During this time, he was also a Reader in Western Musicology at the University of Delhi from 1960 to 1965.

Bhatia's first feature film score was for Shyam Benegal's directorial debut Ankur (1974), and he went on to score almost all of Benegal's work, including the song "Mero Gaam Katha Parey" from the film Manthan (1976). Bhatia predominantly worked with filmmakers in the Indian New Wave movement, such as Govind Nihalani (Tamas, which won Bhatia a National Film Award for Best Music Direction), Kundan Shah (Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro), Aparna Sen (36 Chowringhee Lane), Saeed Akhtar Mirza (Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho!), Kumar Shahani (Tarang), Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Khamosh), Vijaya Mehta (Pestonjee) and Prakash Jha (Hip Hip Hurray). In the 1990s, he also composed background scores for mainstream films such as Ajooba, Damini and Pardes.

Bhatia has scored television shows such as Khandaan, Yatra, Wagle Ki Duniya, Banegi Apni Baat and the 53-episode Bharat Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru's The Discovery of India, as well as numerous documentaries. He has also released albums of spiritual music on the Music Today label, and composed music for trade fairs such as Expo '70, Osaka and Asia 1972, New Delhi.

Bhatia is the best-known composer of Western classical music in India. His most frequently performed works are the Fantasia and Fugue in C for piano, the Sinfonia Concertante for strings, and the song cycle Six Seasons. His Reverie was performed by Yo-Yo Ma at a concert in Mumbai in January 2019, and the first two acts of his opera Agni Varsha, based on Girish Karnad's play of the same name, premiered in New York City in 2012 in a production by soprano Judith Kellock.

Feature film scores

The Householder (1963) – background score only

Ankur (1974)

Nishant (1975)

Ek Dal Mithi (c. 1976, unreleased)

Manthan (1976)

Bhumika (1977)

Anugraham/Kondura (1978)

Junoon (1979)

36 Chowringhee Lane (1981)

Kalyug (1981)

Sazaye Maut (1981)

Je Peed Parai Jaane Re (1982)

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

Mandi (1983)

Hip Hip Hurray (1984)

Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho! (1984)

Tarang (1984)

Aghaat (1985) – song only

Khamosh (1985)

Massey Sahib (1985) – uncredited

Surkhiyaan (1985)

Trikaal (1985)

Mohre (1987)

Pestonjee (1987)

Susman (1987)

Percy (1989)

Ajooba (1991) – background score only

Antarnaad (1991)

Jazeere (1991)

Kasba (1991)

Pita (1991)

Bekhudi (1992) – background score only

Beta (1992) – background score only

Chamatkar (1992) – background score only

Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992)

Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992)

Damini (1993) – background score only

Sardar (1993)

Droh Kaal (1994)

Mammo (1994)

Bangarwadi (1995)

Naseem (1995)

Bandish (1996) – background score only

Ghatak (1996) – background score only

Katha Doan Ganpatraonchi (1996) – background score only

Sardari Begum (1996)

The Making of the Mahatma (1996)

Jaya Ganga (1996)

Char Adhyay (1997)

Himalay Putra (1997) – background score only

Pardes (1997) – background score only

China Gate (1998) – background score only

Samar (1999)

Dhaad (2000, released 2018)

Hari-Bhari (2000)

Chameli (2003) – background score only

Escape from Taliban (2003) – background score only

Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula (2003) – background score only

Kahan Se Aaye Badarwa: Forgotten Showers (2005), re-released as Bhagya Na Jaane Koi (2017) – background score only

Halla Bol (2008) – only one song

Television scores

Khandaan (1985)

Katha Sagar (1986) – selected episodes

Yatra (1986)

Tamas (1987)

Bharat Ek Khoj (1988)

Naqab (1988)

Wagle Ki Duniya (1988)

Lifeline (1991)

Baingan Raja (c. 1990s)

Bible Ki Kahaniyan (1993) – selected episodes

Banegi Apni Baat (1994)

Sankranti (1997)

Documentary scores (selected)

A Certain Childhood (1962)

To Light a Candle (1964)

A City in History (1966)

From Lagoon to Sea (1966)

The House That Ananda Built (1967)

An Area of Darkness (c. 1968)

Indian Youth: An Exploration (1968)

Water (1968)

Creative Artists: Amrita Sher-Gil (1969)

The Women of India (1975)

A Small Family (1976)

Nirnaya (1979)

Bombay: A City at Stake (1981)

Shaping a Future (1983)

Tata Steel: Seventy-Five Years of the Indian Steel Industry (1983)

Nehru (1984) – certain sections scored by Alexei Kozlov

Molly’s Wish (1985)

Chocolate Story (1986)

Nature Symphony (1990)

The Love We Give for Nothing (1992)

Prabhupada: A Lifetime in Preparation (1996)

Purva Uttara: Past Forward (1997)

Theatre music

Teen Takke Ka Swang (1970), directed by Ebrahim Alkazi and Fritz Bennewitz

A Man’s a Man (1971), directed by Amal Allana

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1972), directed by Ebrahim Alkazi and Fritz Bennewitz

Nisheeth (1972), directed by Shanta Gandhi

Tughlaq (1972), directed by Ebrahim Alkazi

Andha Yug (1974), directed by Ebrahim Alkazi

Son-et-Lumiere: The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (1976), directed by Ebrahim Alkazi

Aurat Bhali Ramkali (1984), directed by Amal Allana

Othello (1991), directed by Alyque Padamsee

Cyrano de Bergerac[14] (1995), directed by Jatinder Verma

My Bollywood Summer (2005), directed by Sabera Shaik

Albums

Preeti Sagar – "Spring Is Coming"/”All Night and Day" (1976)

Hi! Ho! (1986)

Indian Meditation Music (1993)

The Elements: Earth (1995)

The Bhagavad Gita, Vols. 1 & 2 (1996)

Anant: The Endless (2001), re-released as The Spirit of the Upanishads (2007)

Ritika Sahni – Ritika (2001)

Vaishnava Jana To (2005) – only one song

Tiranga Tera Aanchal (2005)

Awards

Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund (1957)[15]

Bengal Film Journalists Association Award for Music: Manthan (1976), Bhumika (1977)[16]

Sur Singar Samsad Award for Best Classical Score/Song (1986, 1987)[17]

National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Tamas (1988)

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Creative and Experimental Music (1989)

Maharashtra Rajya Puraskar (1990)[18]

Padma Shri (2012)

Further reading:https://atulsongaday.me/2020/12/06/saawan-ki-aayi-bahaar-re/?fbclid=IwAR2kt_-0PBTb6qtv3RztVMTydtRWQAyH2hVXlzl-tyWEiHaSJwuru00YWzY