National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Aashay Film Club and Rajhans Publication are launching a Marathi book called Chitrabhaskar on veteran music director Bhaskar Chandavarkar at NFAI on December 3. Besides composing music for regional films between 1980 to 2009, Chandavarkar also wrote articles for various newspapers on films and music, taking into account the traditions, history, social changes and so on. Well-known author Arun Khopkar has brought them out in a book form.
Prior to the launch, two Hindi films — Khandhar and Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen for which Chandavarkar composed music, will be screened at NFAI.
Among the films for which Chandavarkar composed music are Vanshavriksha, Saamna, Swapnadanam, Ondanondu Kaladalli, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Maya Miriga and others, apart from Vijay Tendulkar’s iconic play Ghashiram Kotwal.
Virendra Chitrav, founder, Aashay Film Club says that his association with Chandavarkar goes a long way. “I was associated with him for almost 25 years. I have many fond memories of him. He was a friend, philosopher and guide for me. He was an encyclopedia of culture and music,” he says, adding, “Bhaskarji was a very positive person but also straightforward.”
Chitrav says that when Aashay Film Club was going through a bad phase, he had consulted Chandavarkar. “Between 1992 and 96, the club was going through a bad phase. We were not sure what the youth and middle-aged people wanted. Globalisation had struck India which kind of has changed culture, art, print and visual medium. A number of television channels had also started and films had changed. I had approached him to share his viewpoint on how we could revive the club,” he says.
He adds that Chandavarkar’s thoughts were not only inspiring but his predictions were also always correct. “He used to tell us not to just focus on screening films because films will be easily available. ‘Understanding filmmaking will be extremely rare. In the coming years, there would be very few experts who can tell us about cinema,’ he would say. So we started discussing about cinema. He also asked us to focus on activities related to culture. That’s when we launched Aashay Sanskrutik, which helped us grow. When we launched, our membership was around 100 but within two years, it went up to 2500. Over the years, we have brought films to Pune and all this was suggested by Bhaskarji,” Chitrav recalls.
For several years, Chandavarkar was also associated with Film and Television Institute of India as a faculty member.
Chitrav says that he got to know the composer after attending his lecture on strings and instruments. “I had read several articles of his and also heard him on radio. We used to invite several dignitaries to the club. I knew Vijaya Mehtaji and she knew Bhaskarji and his family. I got to know him better through Vijayabai,” says Chitrav whose favourite composition of Chandavarkar is Kunachya Khandhyawar Kunache Ojhe, sung by Ravindra Sathe.
He adds that the last time he had invited the composer was for a lecture in Solapur. “It was such a memorable discussion as he spoke about PL Deshpande. He had immense knowledge about folk and western music and why not? Ravi Shankarji was his guru. He had a good mix of folk, classical and Western music,” he says before signing off.