Pandit Suresh Haldankar (18 December 1926 - 17 January 2000) was an Indian classical singer, actor and teacher. His rise in the 1950s musical world of

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

was dramatic but he failed to deliver on his promise and soon faded away from the

mehfil Mehfil or ''mahfil'' (Urdu: محفل), alternatively known as Bazm (Urdu: بزم) is a formal venue where indoor recreational activities such as poetry ( mushaira), singing, music, and dance are entertained in parts of the Indian subcontinent. ...

platform. He spent the rest of his life as a teacher in a

chawl A chawl ( Marathi: चाळ) is a type of residential building found in western India, similar to a tenement. Typically low quality housing, chawls are generally associated with poverty. The first chawls were constructed in the early 1700s, as ...

in Bombay (now Mumbai). The music lovers in the Maharashtrian community still remembers him for the many immensely popular ''Natyageete'' records he cut.

Background

Born in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

to a

Daivadnya The Daivadnya, (also known as Sonar or Panchal or Vishwa Brahmin), is a community from Goa and Karnataka, who claim to have descended from Vishwakarma. Although they claim themselves to be Brahmin, but these claims are not accepted by others i ...

family, Suresh Haldankar learned classical music from Jagannathbuwa Purohit, Ganpatrao Dewaskar and Manhar Barve.

Career

Haldankar performed in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

''Sangeet Natak'' musicals and acted alongside Bal Gandharva. His most memorable performance was in the musical ''Honaji Bala'' who was based on shahir Honaji Bala. Acharya Atre conferred upon him the title of "Maharashtra Gandharva" after listening to his singing in ''Shri Ranga Kamala Kanta''. Among his other popular songs are ''Vithu maza lekur wala'' and ''Govinda re gopala''. He conducted Indian classical music classes at

Dadar Dadar (Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːd̪əɾ is a densely populated residential and shopping neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also a prominent railway and bus service hub with local and national connectivity. It is Mumbai's first planned area and i ...

. Prabhakar Karekar is one of his notable students.

References

Male actors from Goa Singers from Goa Konkani people Hindustani singers Indian music educators Marathi-language singers Konkani-language singers Male actors in Marathi cinema 20th-century Indian singers {{India-musician-stub