Ravindra Jain

Ravindra Jain was a popular lyricist, singer, music composer and music director.

Even though he was born blind, he became world famous with his musical talent and this makes his life story very inspiring.

So, read on.

Introduction-

Ravindra Jain was born on 28 February 1944 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.

His father, Indramani Jain was a Sanskrit pundit and also a practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine.

His mother, Kiran Jain was a housewife.

Ravindra was the fourth child of his parents and he had seven siblings, six brothers and one sister.

He was very attached to his parents and brothers, D.K. Jain, Mahendra Kumar Jain, Tarun Kumar Jain, Akhilesh Kumar Jain, Manindra Jain and Vijay Kumar Jain and to his sister, Lakshmi Jaiswal.

Visually impaired –

When Ravindra didn’t open his eyes even after a day after being born, his father arranged an operation for him.

Even though the doctor succeeded in opening his eyelids, he was unable to see.

Both his parents were very saddened to know about his blindness.

Introduced to music-

Ravindra’s father enrolled him into music training believing that he would grow up to become a musician and being blind wouldn’t be much of a drawback for a musician.

So, since his childhood, he started receiving music training and his father gave him a mini harmonium as a gift.

Initially, Ravindra received training from Ghamandi Lal and then, from Janardhan Sharma.

Janardhan Sharma trained him in vocals.

Finally, Ravindra finished his formal education in music by receiving training from Nathuram Sharma.

He developed a passion not only for singing but also for writing songs.

A curious kid-

Even though Ravindra couldn’t continue his studies beyond fifth grade due to his impairment, his curiosity for education didn’t die.

At that time, his elder brother, D.K. Jain used to read literature and he used to request him to read aloud his books and he used to assimilate them.

Thanks to this, even though Ravindra didn’t receive much formal education, he became very knowledgeable.

Moving to Kolkata-

Once, Ravindra’s cousin, Padma Kumar invited him to Kolkata.

As he was already very inspired by the music of Rabindranath Tagore, he readily moved from Aligarh to Kolkata to study his music.

Ravindra stayed there for ten years and not only studied music but also taught people music.

In Kolkata, he listened to the folks of Assam, Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan and learnt about the culture of these states.

In this city, Ravindra recorded his first ever song for All India Radio.

Shifting to Mumbai-

Ravindra’s friend, Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala, a producer, assured him that he would take him to Mumbai and will provide him with music direction opportunities.

So, on 19 September 1969, he along with Radheshyam reached Mumbai.

Here, Sanjeev Kumar, a famous actor and an old friend of his, introduced Ravindra to N.N. Sippy, a famous producer.

Entering Bollywood-

Ravindra impressed N.N. Sippy by singing the song Ghunghroo Ki Tarah Bajta Hi Raha in front of him.

He began working in Bollywood from 1971.

On 14 January 1972, this song was recorded in the Film Centre Studio, Mumbai by Mohammed Rafi, a noted singer.

This song was to be used in the Lori movie but unfortunately, this movie didn’t release.

This song was later used in a 1974 movie, Chor Machaye Shor.

Ravindra debuted as a music director and lyricist with the film, Kanch Aur Heera (1972).

Becoming popular-

Saudagar, a 1973 film made Ravindra very popular.

This film starred Amitabh Bachchan as the lead actor.

Later, many of Ravindra’s songs made him even more popular.

He also did many live shows in India and abroad.

Many movies-

Ravindra composed music for around 200 films and his last film was Jaana Pehchana (2011).

Some of the films for which he composed music are Haathi Ke Daant, Geet Gaata Chal, Do Jasoos, Chitchor, Fakira, Deewaangee, etc.

Spirituality-

Apart from singing Bollywood songs, Ravindra also composed songs for TV serials like Ramayan, Shri Krishna, Alif Laila, Jai Ganga Maiya, Jai Mahalaxmi, Shree Brahma Vishnu Mahesh, Sai Baba, Jai Maa Durga, Jai Hanuman, Sankat Mochan Hanuman and Maha Kavya Mahabharat.

All these serials became very popular and even till date, they are popular.

Ravindra also did Shrimad Bhagwat and Samaveda.

He composed and sang bhajans on Jainism and on Tirthankar Mahavir’s life.

Ravindra, through D.R. Productions released many spiritual cassettes and all of them became very popular.

Getting married-

In 1973, Ravindra went to Delhi to attend the premier of Saudagar.

During that time, he was staying in the residence of Satish Chandra Jain and Nirmala Jain, a poet and a writer, along with her daughter, Deevya Jain came to meet him.

Ravindra sang a song to entertain them and the summary of the song was- you are beautiful irrespective of if you wear makeup or not.

After listening to this song, Deevya Jain instantly fell in love with him and decided to marry him and at that time, she was just 17.

Later, she succeeded in convincing her mother to let her marry Ravindra.

They got engaged on 14 February 1981 and finally got married on 2 March 1982 in Delhi.

On 9 March 1995, this couple was blessed with a son, Ayushman Jain.

Ayushman grew up to become a singer and songwriter.

Books-

Ravindra wrote a book of Urdu Shayari by the name, Ujalon Ka Silsila and for this he received Sahitya Award from Uttar Pradesh Hindi-Urdu Sahitya Award Committee in 1997.

He wrote, Sunehre Pal, his autobiography and his wife edited this book and this book was published in 1998.

Ravindra translated Quran Sharif from Arabic to Urdu and Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit to poetic Hindi.

He also played a significant role in the success of singers like K. J. Yesudas, Jaspal Singh, Hemlata, Aarti Mukherji and Suresh Wadkar.

Awards-

Ravindra won numerous awards and some of them are as follows-

• Padma Shri in 2015.
• Rasheshwar award.
• Swami Haridas Award.
• Filmfare Best Music Director award.
• National Youth Award.
• Best Lyricist Award.
• Aadharshila Award.
• Priyadarshini Award.
• Sangeet Gyaneshwar Award..
• Asha Bhosle Award.
• Sur Singar Award.
• Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
• Lata Mangeshkar award.
• Uttam Kumar Award, etc.

He received a Doctor of Philosophy from Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Ravindra has been honoured as Jain Sangeet Samrat.

Udiyaman Sansthan (institute) has been presenting yearly awards by the name Ravindra Jain Samman.

Since 2016, his wife has been presenting Ravindra Jain Academy Awards on Ravindra’s birthdays.

Passing away-

Ravindra passed away on 9 October 2015 in Mumbai due to multiple organ failure and he was 71.

His academy-

Ravindra established Ravindra Jain Academy of Music and Fine Arts Charitable Trust in Mumbai.

This music academy supports young musicians.

Some interesting facts about Ravindra Jain-

• Even after Ravindra became a celebrity, he led a humble life.
• He was a vegetarian and a fun loving man.
• Ravindra composed music in many languages like Hindi, Braj, Bengali, Rajasthani, Haryanvi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
• He also knows Sanskrit, Urdu, Arabic, and Punjabi.

So, how are you inspired by his success story?

And which is your favourite Ravindra Jain’s song?

Share with me in the comment section below.

Also read- Inspiring Biography of Srikanth Bolla

Featured image credit- bollywoodhungama.com/Wikimedia Commons