Ashok Patki (born 25 August 1941) is an Indian music director and composer; working predominantly in

Marathi cinema Marathi cinema is an Indian film industry of Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi film to be released in India was ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. He is best known for his very popular compositions like "

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara "Ek Sur" () or "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" () as it is better known, is an Indian song and accompanying video promoting national integration and unity in diversity. The concept for ''Mile Sur'' was developed in 1988 by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad a ...

", "Purab Se Surya Uga". Patki has also composed over 5000

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s and has been awarded with Indian

National Film Award for Best Music Direction The National Film Award for Best Music Direction (the Silver Lotus Award) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards by the Directorate of Film Festivals to a musician who has composed the best score for films produced within th ...

54th National Film Awards The 54th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2006. Three different commit ...

in 2006 for a Konkani film, ''Antarnaad''.

Early life

Patki was born on 25 August 1941 to a Maharashtrian family in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. He completed his secondary schooling in Gopi Tank Municipal school and is followed by a sister and two brothers. With his growing interest in music, Patki did not show much interest in schooling and decided not to complete his college education. In 2012, Patki wrote a book about his career named as "Saptasur Majhe" ("My Seven Notes"). The book was written in

Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...

and was launched by Manovikas Prakashan. Though Patki did not receive any formal training in music, in August 2013, he started a music school in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

named as "Sanchari Gurukul", mainly focusing on light and semi-classical Hindustani music, better known as "Sugam Sangeet". Patki noted that the school "aims at bringing back the traditional guru-shishya parampara (master-pupil tradition) in teaching music."

Early career and success

Since childhood, Patki started playing two

Indian musical instruments Indian musical instruments can be broadly classified according to the Hornbostel–Sachs system into four categories: chordophones (string instruments), aerophones (wind instruments), membranophones (drums) and idiophones (non-drum percussion in ...

–

Tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

and

Harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

. Patki practised his musical skills with his neighbour and then struggling music composer

Sudhir Phadke Sudhir Phadke (, 25 July 1919 – 29 July 2002) was an Indian singer- composer. He was regarded as an icon of the Marathi film industry and Marathi ''Sugam Sangeet'' (light music) for five decades. Apart from Marathi, Phadke sang and composed s ...

. During initial days, Patki accompanied his sister Meena for her musical programs with local orchestra. He was later introduced to the Marathi entertainment industry by singer-composer

Jitendra Abhisheki Ganesh Balawant Nawathe, better known as Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki (21 September 1929 – 7 November 1998), was an Indian vocalist, composer and scholar of Indian classical, semi-classical, and devotional music. While he distinguished himself i ...

and started composing music for children's stage plays. Patki worked as an assistant with Jitendra Abhisheki for background music for theatre and

S. D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one ...

, Shankar Jaikishan, R. D. Burman, Robin Banerjee for film music. The flutist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia made Patki certified musician for

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

. Patki had started his career as a composer with a devotional album for singer

Suman Kalyanpur Suman Kalyanpur (born as Suman Hemmadi;January 28th 1937) is an Indian playback singer, one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Her voice was often mistaken to be that of Lata Mangeshkar. Suman Kalyanpur's career st ...

's album ''Gaani- Ekdach Yave Sakhya'' and later accompanied her as a composer for her stage shows abroad. He also started composing music for Marathi theatre with the plays like "Moruchi Mavshi", "Bramhachari" and "Eka Lagnachi Gostha". Patki worked in the advertising field and composed more than 5000

s. His first jingle was for Dhantak's Double B soap which was played on Aakashwani everyday at 8am for over 2 decades. Some of his very popular jingles includes "Dhara Dhara", "Jhandu Baam" and "Santoor". Patki shot to fame with his song and accompanying video promoting national integration and

unity in diversity Unity in diversity is used as an expression of harmony and unity between dissimilar individuals or groups. It is a concept of "unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation" that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance ...

, "

". The song was composed by Patki, co-composed and arranged by

Louis Banks Louis Banks (born Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi on 11 February 1941) is an Indian film composer, record producer, keyboardist, and singer. He has often been referred to as the 'Godfather of Indian jazz'.Piyush Pandey Piyush Pandey is an advertising professional and the Chief Creative Officer Worldwide (2019) and Executive Chairman India of Ogilvy (agency). He is the recipient of the Padma Shri award (2016). Pandey is also credited with shaping a distinct ind ...

. The song achieved critical acclaim and is considered as "The unofficial Indian anthem". He has been awarded with Indian

in 2006 for a Konkani film, ''Antarnaad''.

Filmography

Awards

;Plays * Natyadarpan Puraskar ** 1996 – ''Priyatama'' ** 2007 – ''Chaar Divas Premache'' * Rangdarpan Puraskar ** 1999 – ''Eka Lagnachi Gosht'' ;Feature films * Maharashtra State Film Awards ** 1985 – ''Ardhangi'' ** 1988 – ''Aapli Manasa'' ** 2007 – ''Savalee'' *

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

– ''Antarnad'' * MICTA Marathi International Cinema and Theatre Awards ** 2011 – '' Mee Sindhutai Sapkal'' * Sursingar Puraskar ** 1984 – ''Goshta Dhamal Namyachi'' * V. Shantaram Puraskar ** 2007 – ''Savalee'' ;Other awards * Ananya Puraskar * Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Puraskar (Akhil Bhartiya Natya Aani Kalasankul) * Gan-Samradnyi Lata Mangeshar Award * Jankavi P. Savlaram Smruti Puraskar * Lokshahir Vitthal Umap Smruti Puraskar * Maharashtra State Cultural Puraskar for Sangitkshetratil 'Kaladan' * Navartna Puraskar (Shyadri-Television) * Ram Kadam Puraskar * Sharad Ratna Gaurav Puraskar * Vasuandhara Pandit Smruti Puraskar (Bharat Gayan Samaj) * Zee Puraskar (Various Films, Dramas and Serials)

References

External links