Vanraj Bhatia

Vanraj Bhatia
Born 1927
Bombay, Maharashtra

Vanraj Bhatia (born 1927) is an Indian music composer, who is best known for providing music for most of Shyam Benegal's films, and for his private albums with Music Today. Although he gave good music to many art movies, he never came to mainstream commercial movies, therefore, his success was limited.

During the 1970s and 1980s he worked with many art film makers in India. In the 1990s he composed the music of Vijay Singh's international film Jaya Ganga (1996). He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Tamas in 1988, and was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989.[1] Padmashree for 2012 has been conferred upon him in field of Art – Music.[2]

Biography

Early life and education

Born in 1927 in Bombay, Vanraj Bhatia (Hindi: वनराज भाटिया) trained in Western classical music while studying at the Elphinstone College in Mumbai for M.A. (English Honours); after graduating in 1949 he left for the Royal Academy of Music, London, to study music composition, which he passed with a Royal Academy Gold Medal in 1954.

Thereafter he entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and Howard Ferguson between 1954 and 1959. During his studies abroad he received various scholarships, including the Sir Michael Costa Scholarship (1951–54), a Rockefeller Fellowship (1954–58), and a French Government Scholarship (1957–58).[3]

Career

In 1960, he started his career as Reader in Musicology in charge of Western Music, at the Faculty of Music Delhi University, where he stayed until 1965.

Meanwhile, in 1959, he created his first advertising jingle for Shakti Silk Sarees. From that point on he became one of the pioneering ad jingle makers in India, and also one of the most successful, later moving to Mumbai and working for the advertising industry. In all he has created over 7000 scores for advertising jingles, corporate and business films.

His first film as a music composer was Ankur (1974), and he soon became a regular composer for Shyam Benegal and other art film makers of the time. His most noted works in this period are Manthan (1976), Bhumika (1977), Junoon (1978), 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), Trikal (1985) and Mandi (1983) and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983).

He has also created music for Indian theatre productions such as "Tughlak" and "Andha Yug"[4]

In the following decade, his work was heard constantly[5] on Indian television with the title scores for TV series like Khandaan, Yatra, Lifeline, Discovery of India, Wagle Ki Duniya, and the made-for-TV film Tamas (1987), for which he received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1988.

In the 1990s, he worked in many commercial Hindi films as well as providing background scores for many other films, working on over 40 films during his career. His most noted works were for Shyam Benegal's film Sardari Begum in 1996 and for Vijay Singh's international film Jaya Ganga.

In 2012, the first act of his opera Agni Varsha was premiered in Queens, New York.

He is the composer of the famous Liril soap jingle "La... Lalala.la..[6]"

Filmography

Non-film albums

Awards & recognition

References

  1. ↑ Creative Music Sangeet Natak Akademi Official Award listings.
  2. ↑ "Padma Awards". pib. 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 Awards and Scholarships
  4. ↑ Vanraj Bhatia at internationalopus
  5. ↑ Vanraj Bhatia profile at indiatoday
  6. ↑ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110621/jsp/entertainment/story_14138658.jsp
  7. ↑ CBS Cassette
  8. ↑ "Past Winners". University of Massachusetts, Boston. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
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