Bhaskar Chandavarkar (16 March 1936 – 26 July 2009) was an Indian

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen ( ; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was a Bengali film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali, and a few Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu language films. Regarded as on ...

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

, Aparna Sen, K. G. George and

Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Early life and education Palekar was born to Kamlakara and Suhasini Palekar in a Marathi language, Marathi speaking middle-class family ...

in various languages including Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Oriya and was known for his blending of Indian classical and western music. He taught at FTII,

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

for many years, and during his career as a music composer he worked for 40 films, and is most known for his work in films such as Amol Palekar's ''Aakreit'' and '' Thoda Sa Rumani Ho Jaayen'', Girish Karnad's '' Ondanondu Kaladalli'', Jabbar Patel's ''Samna'', Mrinal Sen's '' Khandhar'', Vijaya Mehta's '' Rao Saheb'', Chitra Palekar's ''Maati Maay'' and K. G. George's ''

Swapnadanam ''Swapnadanam'' () is a 1976 black-and-white Malayalam-language film. K. G. George debuted as a director in this film. It won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film and National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. The cast includes ...

''. He has given music to films which are considered classics in their respective languages, like: '' Vamsha Vriksha'' (1971), '' Ondanondu Kaladalli'' (1978) in Kannada, '' Maya Darpan'' (1972), ''Khandhar'' (1984) in Hindi, ''

'' (1975) in Malayalam, '' Paroma'' (1984) in Bengali, '' Maya Miriga'' (1984) in Oriya, ''

Shwaas ''Shwaas'' (''The Breath'') is a Marathi film, released in 2004. It was India's official entry to the 2004 Oscars and was ranked 6th in the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film category. Its storyline is based on a real-life incident ...

'' (2004) in Marathi, etc. He received the President's

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

for Music direction in the Marathi short film

Chaitra Chaitra () is a month of the Hindu calendar. In the standard Hindu calendar and India's national civil calendar, Chaitra is the first month of the year. It is the last month in the Bengali calendar, where it is called Choitro. Chaitra or Cha ...

directed by Kranti Kanade in 2002.

Early life and education

Born and brought up in

, he completed his graduation from Wadia College, in Pune and studied contemporary music. He also studied at Fergusson College,

. In late 1950s he studied under

player Pandit

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

, and Umashankar Misra, and also learnt Indian classical vocals. He also studied contemporary Western music and jazz.

Career

He remained a part of the faculty at the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. ...

(FTII), as a resident composer and teacher of applied music, from 1965 to 1980. He worked with Merzbow, Sonic Youth and Throbbing Gristle and was a big fan of experimental and noise music. While still at FTII, he composed the music of the acclaimed Marathi play '' Ghashiram Kotwal'' written by Vijay Tendulkar and directed by Jabbar Patel in 1972 and received critical acclaim for its use of Marathi devotional songs to ironic situations, later he also gave music for its Marathi feature film adaptation in 1974, and went on to compose for Marathi, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam language cinema and stage with his blend Indian classical and Western music. He also received acclaim for his music for P. L. Deshpande's Marathi play ''Teen Paishacha Tamasha''. He died on 26 July 2009 in

, after a prolonged illness and was survived by his wife, Meena, director of New India School, and son Rohit. The Yard Went on Forever was his multi-volume autobiography published in 2008.

Filmography

* '' Vamsha Vriksha'' (1971) – Kannada * ''Jai Jawan Jai Makan'' (1971) * '' Maya Darpan'' (1972) * '' Jadu Ka Shankh'' (1974) * '' Samna'' (1974) * '' Bhakta Pundalik'' (1975) * ''

'' (1976) – Malayalam * '' Ghashiram Kotwal'' (1976) * '' Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane'' (1977) – Kannada * ''Sarvasaakshi'' (1978) * '' Chandoba Chandoba Bhaglas Ka'' (1978) * '' Ondanondu Kaladalli'' (1978) – Kannada * '' Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan'' (1978) * '' Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai'' (1980) * '' Garambicha Bapu'' (1980) * ''Akriet'' (1981) * '' Ek Daav Bhutacha'' (1982) * '' Paroma'' (1984) * '' Maya Miriga'' (1984) * '' Khandhar'' (1984) * '' Rao Saheb'' (1985) * '' Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen'' (1990) * '' Cheluvi'' (1992) * ''Kairee'' (2000) * ''

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2004) * '' Sarivar Sari'' (2005) * '' Maati Maay'' (2006)

Awards

* 1975: Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director: ''

'' (Malayalam) * 1988:

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

* 2002: National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Music Direction: ''

'' (Marathi)Awards

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

References

Endurance test: Bhaskar Chandavarkar's music lives on in both film and stage
Time Out, Mumbai

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandavarkar, Bhaskar 1936 births 2009 deaths Hindustani instrumentalists Academic staff of the Film and Television Institute of India Kannada film score composers Musicians from Pune Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sitar players Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni Marathi music Indian musical theatre composers Indian classical composers 20th-century Indian musicians Indian male film score composers 20th-century Indian male musicians