From ‘Ankhiyon Ke Jharokon Se’ To ‘Shyam Teri Bansi’ – 5 Favourite Compositions Of Ravindra Jain On His Birth Anniversary

Ravindra Jain’s melodies have an austere beauty to them. No unnecessary embellishments, no gimmicks, no redundant orchestration. This composer won our hearts with his minimalist melodies.

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From ‘Ankhiyon Ke Jharokon Se’ To ‘Shyam Teri Bansi’ – 5 Favourite Compositions Of Ravindra Jain On His Birth Anniversary
He went too soon but left us with songs to swoon over forever. Ravindra Jain’s melodies have an austere beauty to them. No unnecessary embellishments, no gimmicks, no redundant orchestration. This composer won our hearts with  his  minimalist melodies. My favourite RJ songs.

1. Ankhiyon ke jharokhon se (Title song):  The  Sachin Pilgaonkar-Ranjita  Kaur  tragic  love story, ripped off from  Erich Segal’s Love Story  featured a  super-smooth soundtrack with  some  of loveliest love lilts that lit up the luminous  sky. While I like other songs in the film specially Ek din tum bahot bade banoge (Hemalata-Shailendra Singh) and Jaate  huey yeh plachhin (sung by the  composer Ravindra  Jain) and  Kaiyee din se mujhe , my favourite is the title  song  ,which soars  like  a dream and plunges like  a heartbreak. Dewdrop fresh and  achingly sweet, Hemlata’s  offkey singing cannot diminish  the  beauty  of this composition.

2. Jab deep jale aana(Chitchor):  The  visually impaired Ravindra  Jain once said if he was asked  one reason to get his eyesight back it would be to see  singer  Yesudas just  once. Indeed, Yesudas  sang  Jain’s  most  exquisite  compositions , many times of offsetting Hemlata’s offkey  trespassing  into  Jain’s  enchanting  compositions with his supreme sonority.Chitchor had four Yesudas songs two  solos and two duet(with you know who). Each a masterpiece. And if I choose Jab deep jale aana  over  Tu  jo mere sur mere, Aaj se pehle aaj se zyada or Gori  tera gaon bada pyara,  it is only a lottery draw. Soaring into a stratosphere  of sublimity Yesudas  carried the song (and his co-singer) to a sphere of  radiance and beauty.

3. Jo dard diya tumne geeton mein piro lenge(unreleased song): This is  actually my favourite  Ravindra Jain composition, with exceptional  lyrics(by Jain)   about accepting heartb reak  and betrayal, and flawless singing by Lata Mangeshkar. Jain  held on  to this precious composition refusing to give it to any  film producer.  He  sang it in his  own  voice at many  mehfils and then  finally invited  the one voice that could do justice to this pitch-perfect song. The result is devastating.

4. Shyam  teri bansi  pukare radha naam(Geet Gata Chal): One of RJ’s earliest  soundtracks  contained myriad hits  sung by Jaspal Singh (who was Jain’s  favourite male  singer until Yesudas ) . Singh’s title  song , Mukherjee’s Kar gaya  kanha Milan ka vada  are  ornamental  in their elegance. But it’s the Singh-Mukherjee duet which has embedded itself permanently  in our hearts  even  45  years after  it was  first  released. 

5. Shadjane  paaya   yeh vardaan(unreleased): A  9-minute  classical  masterpiece where Yesudas  holds court  in  true  Tansen  tradition.  Jain composed this masterpiece  for a bio-pic on  the legendary singer  Tansen which never got made. But the song survived.  Thank God! It’s a living testimony  of Jain’s  outstanding collaborative commitment  to Yesudas’s vocal  mastery.  

Image source: Imbd/SpotboyEarchives
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