Veteran music composer
Vanraj Bhatia, famously known for for Shyam Benegal's films like Ankur, Manthan, Bhumika, Mandi, Junoon, and many more had a long career span and was a celebrated music composer. However, Vanraj Bhatia is in a dire situation and in need of help today. As reported by Mumbai Mirror, the musician is now broke and
penniless and lives all alone in his apartment at the Rungta Housing Colony on Napean Sea Road. His health is deteriorating and he is bedridden with only a domestic help who has been looking after him for the past decade.
It was earlier reported in Mumbai Mirror that Vanraj Bhatia's friends and admirers had started raising funds for his medical care. The house, of which the musician has been a tenant is also being preserved by the help of donations. But this is hardly sufficient and now, filmmaker Sudipto Sen took to Twitter to seek help from any agencies that could support Bhatia. He also appealed to renowned personalities such as Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Prakash Javadekar and Amruta Fadnavis to come to his aid. Sudipto Sen tweeted, “One of the finest music directors of country, natl award winner (For timeless classic Tamas) music director Vanraj Bhatiya has no money to survive. He is 92. Is there any agency to suport him? @PrakashJavdekar@BeingSalmanKhan@iamsrk@fadnavis_amruta.”
Vanraj Bhatia has been struggling to make ends meet and has several health issues including severe knee pain, hearing loss and memory lapse. He has greatly contributed to music and is very well-known to the previous generations for his wide array of work. He is a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner and he has also won the National Award for Best Music for the TV series Tamas. Vanraj Bhatia also holds a Padmashri conferred to him in 2012.
Image Source: YouTube/Rajya Sabha TV, Twitter/sudiptoSENtlm, eastereye.biz, variety