Friday, July 05, 2013

The Man Who Loved Aliases!



C. Ramachandra - one of the greatest music directors in Hindi cinema.  (Just to jog your memory - Shola jo bhadke dil mera dhadke, O chand jahan wo jaye and Shaam Dhale Khidki Tale)  I say Hindi cinema because that's where he did most of his work, but he also composed for Marathi, Telugu and Tamil films including this famous song  for SS Vasan's blockbuster -  Vanjikottai Valiban!)
I just discovered that he was influenced by Benny Goodman! But what I know is that he's a fabulous singer, singing as Ram Chitalkar (he acted and sang Marathi films by that name and the "C" in "C Ramachandra stands for "Chitalkar"). One of his most famous songs is a duet with Lataji - Kitna Haseen Hai Mausam - in the film AZAD for which he was also the music director. Another of his great hits is Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai, originally sing by Lataji for the film Anarkali, but just listen to him sing it here, 28 years after he first composed it! C.Ramchandra Live at BBC Studios,1981
But a lot of his really delightful songs (including one in Punjabi)  are rarely heard and mostly unknown. So, if you want to listen to C.Ramachandra alias Ram Chitalkar as the singer, visit this site
http://chitalkar.tripod.com/
And if you want to know more about more about this multi-talented musician with a penchant for aliases, this is a good starting point! http://www.anmolfankaar.com/features/blog/107-c-ramchandra-and-his-autobiography.html



Tuesday, July 02, 2013

First Blood

"We were the first" 
to show you 
bomb blasts, 
body parts
scams bursting
dams

"We were the first"
to cry "Shame!"
then hold candlelight marches
as we told you
her name
("Shall we call her 'rape victim?'" No! 'Survivor'." "No. The One who knows no fear' because she's dead now..."

"We were the first"
to dangle this juicy
scandal
and bait with that
breaking news
that was often nothing but a 'phus'...
("Warning : the next few images may be disturbing, shocking, licking-you-chops-disgusting..."

As you watch
Drool-drugged
Fool,
Panting, "More! gimme-gimme-gimme more...
More bombs, wars, floods, blood
More terror, rape, plunder, the pounding thunder of
More...."news"