Among India’s most gifted music composers, Vanraj Bhatia, was born in a Kutchi businessman’s family on the 31 May, 1927. He had his schooling at the New Era School in Mumbai (then Bombay) and exhibited a flair for music. He continued his education further and earned a post-graduate honours degree in English from the prestigious Elphinstone College. His interest in western classical music was sparked off after he heard a piano concert performed by Tchaikovsky, as a teenager. Later Bhatia picked up the rudiments of Hindustani classical music as a student of the Deodhar School of Music in Mumbai. He honed his talents by studying music composition with Howard Ferguson, Alan Bush and William Allwyn, all celebrated composers at the Royal Academy, London and passed out with flying colours in 1954 securing a Gold Medal.
Two coveted scholarships came the way of Vanraj Bhatia and the first was the Rockfeller Scholarship (1954-58) followed by the French Government Scholarship (1957-58). After fulfilling his commitments vide the scholarships Bhatia returned to India and soon found himself besieged with offers. He earned the distinction of becoming the first music composer to score music for an ad film and after tasting success in his maiden venture went on to compose a mindboggling 7000 jingles.
From the ad world to the celluloid world was but a short step for the composer and he landed his first feature film when celebrated director Shyam Benegal assigned him the music director’s job for ‘Ankur’ in 1974. Such was the rapport between the auteur and the composer that Bhatia went on to score music for 16 of Benegal’s directorial ventures including Bhumika, Sardari Begum and Manthan.
This was the time that the advent of a new wave in cinema was creating ripples and several young directors were jumping on to the bandwagon and acquitting themselves creditably. Cinematographer-turned-director Govind Nihalini too placed his faith in Bhatia and their collaboration produced a riveting score in the TV serial ‘Tamas.’ Bhatia was also honoured with a National Award for Best Music Director in 1988 as well.
Having earned a reputation as the go-to-man where the music for new wave cinema was concerned Vanraj Bhatia found excellent opportunities to hone his craft and some of his memorable compositions were showcased in films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (Kundan Shah), 36 Chowringhee Lane (Aparna Sen), Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho (Saeed Akhtar Mirza). Tarang (Kumar Shahani), Khamoshi (Vidhu Vinod Chopra), Pestonjee (Vijaya Mehta) and Hip Hip Hurray (Prakash Jha). His commitment to avant garde films however did not come in the way of his accepting offers that came to him from mainstream cinema and he also wielded the baton for potboilers like Ajooba, Damini and Pardes among others.
Bhatia also kept himself busy with assignments on the small screen as well and Shyam Benegal’s popular tele-series Bharat Ek Khoj, an adaptation of Jawaharlal Nehru’s bestselling tome ‘Discovery of India’. Other TV mega serials to which he lent his magic touch were Khandaan, Yatra, Wagle Ki Duniya and Banegi Apni Baat. Bhatia also came out with albums of spiritual music which further enhanced his reputation. Some of these albums that became extremely popular were ‘The Elements’ ‘Earth’ ‘Bhoomika’ and ‘Bhagwad Gita’. His forte however was western classical music and he was regarded as the finest exponent of that genre.
The maestro also worked as a Reader in Western Musicology at the University of Delhi between 1960-65. Bhatia was the recipient of the Sahitya Natak Akademi Award for creative and experimental music in 1989 and was also honoured by the Government of India with a Padma Shri in 2012. He completed his magnum opus named ‘Agnivarsha’at the fag end of his life.
Vanraj Bhatia passed away in Mumbai on the 6 May, 2021 at 93. An under-rated composer Bhatia’s demise was widely mourned.