Sudhir Phadke – A Tribute

Sudhir Phadke, an iconic music director and singer from Marathi Film Industry, has also sang and composed for hindi films.
Babuji (As he was affectionately called) has 111 films as a music director to his credit, of which around 21 films were hindi.
Majority of his hindi films are from late 1940s and 1950s.
He started his film career in 1946 by joining the Prabhat Film Company as music director and worked for hindi films, Gokul (1946), Aage Badho (1947) Sant Janabai (1949),
Apradhi (1949) etc. by Prabhat Film Compnay.
His best known hindi film, Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan, was released in 1961, but thereafter no major hindi film bore his name as music director, though he composed for a couple of hindi films in 1970s-80s.
He continued working for Marathi films in 1970s and 1980s.

With Wife Lalita Phadke

Sudhir Phadke was born as Ram Phadke, on 25th of July 1919 in Kolhapur.
He acquired his primary training in vocal classical music from late Vamanrao Padhye in Kolhapur & strated his carrier in 1941 with HMV.
He changed his name to ‘Sudhir’ when he composed a song for HMV. It is said that, he thought ‘Sudhir Phadke’ sounded more ‘weighty’.
In 1949, he married Lalita Deulkar, a popular playback singer.Rafi sang Mangalashtake, (Sacred Marriage Rhymes) at the wedding.
His son, Shridhar Phadke, is also a singer and popular music director in Marathi Films.
Babuji was extremely busy in marathi films in 50s & 60s.His association with lyricist G D Madgulakar has given Marathi Film Industry many eternal songs.
His finest and the most popular work in Marathi, is undoubtedly ‘Geet Ramayan’.
Geet Ramayan,written by writer and lyricist, G D Madgulkar is a musical, based on the Epic Ramayan.
It was first aired in 1955 on All India Radio, on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami and continued for 55 more weeks, one song being released every week.
Phadke composed all the 56 songs, and they were sung by different singers for radio (Manik Verma, Lata Mangeshkar, Phadke himself, Vasantrao Deshpande etc)
Stage performances of the program continue to draw huge crowds even today. All 56 songs were also recorded in Phadke’s own voice, and are still popular.
It has also been translated in various Indian languages.
In last days of his life, he was involved in producing a hindi film based on Indian freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The movie Veer Savarkar was funded by public donations. Sudhir Phadke last sang and composed music for this movie.
He was the main inspiration and founder member of India Heritage Foundation in the United States.
He died on 29th July 2002, at the age of 83.

Today, as a tribute to him, on his 15th death anniversary, I have attempted to throw some light, on his carrier in Hindi Film Industry.
The songs are in no particular order.

1. Jaan Pehchan Na- Aparadhi (1949) Sitara Kanpur / Lyrics- Amar Verma
Aparadhi is a hindi social thriller drama film directed by Yeshwant Pethkar for Prabhat Film Company.
The cast included Madhubala, Ram Singh, Leela Pandey, Pran, Uma Dutt, Madhu Apte and Raj Kishore.
The film has a few gems sung by playback singer, Sitara Kanpur & G M Durani.Very young Madhubala looks innocent in this catchy number.

2. Bandh Preeti Phool Dor- Malati Madhav (1951) Lata Mangeshkar / Lyrics- Pandit Narendra Sharma.
This is one of the popular songs, Lata Mangeshkar has sung for him. The pure hindi lyrics, with no urdu or other words, was the speciality of Pt Narendra Sharma.
Even though the antaras(stanza) are a bit high pitched, it doesn’t disturb the melody and the final impact of the song.
The song lingers in our memories for a long time.

3. Hay Mori Daiyya- Aage Badho (1947) Manik Verma / Lyrics- Amar Verma.
It is perhaps the only example where, the wife of the lyricist, sang the song. This was a social film by Prabhat Company, which was Dev Anand’s second film.
This film, of course had Khurshid as main lead actress and singer, and had some beautiful solos to her credit.
I chose this particular song, because of excellent rendition by Manik Verma.
She is a well known singer in Marathi films, mainly singing devotional songs & songs from Marathi plays (Natya Sangeet).
She singing this mujra song so beautifully, makes me astonished.

4. Din Hai Suhana Aaj- Pehli Tarikh (1954) Kishore Kumar / Lyrics- Qamar Jalalabadi
This is one of the well known hindi songs by Sudhir Phadke.
This song is still played on Radio Ceylon on the first day of each month, a tradition that hasn’t changed for a long time.
This fun filled song is very appropriately composed and written.
It portrays the joy of the ‘PAY’day and various emotions of the common man!
There is nothing more to say about the song, just listen and enjoy it, if you haven’t done so! (Which is less likely!)

5. Tu Kahan Chali Kuchh Bol- Ratna Ghar (1955) Lata Mangeshkar / Lyrics- Pt Narendra Sharma.
The film has some precious gems by Lata Mangeshkar like, Aise Hai Sukh Sapne Hamare and Main Ban Ki Bholi Gwalaniyan.
This song is my favorite just because the way Lata sings the word “bol”, Just Fabulous. Though that word is not sung too often in the song,
that adds to the sweetness of the song and makes it more memorable.

6. Chand Tu Yahan Hai- Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan (1961) Asha Bhosle / Lyrics- Bharat Vyas.
This film has the best known hindi song composed by Sudhir Phadke in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar- Jyoti Kalsh Chhalake.
This is considered to be one of Lata’s best songs, and it is undoubtedly so!
The immense popularity of the song has overshadowed the other memorable songs in the movie, which are nevertheless very good.
This is one of the songs, that has all the elements necessary for a perfect romantic song. It is picturised on gorgeous Seema Dev.

7.Qismat Ka Nahi Dosh Baaware- Sajani (1956) Lata Mangeshkar & Sudhir Phadke / Lyrics- Pt Narendra Sharma
This film also has few Lata solos, that are worth listening, Ja Ja Re Chandra and Sajan Ke Paas Chali Sajani.
This is one of their few duets, which is melodious and makes us think! Again pure hindi lyrics leave an impact of this philosophical song.

8. Bhaj Man Kamal Nayan Kamlesh- Sant Janabai (1949) Rafi /Lyrics- Pt Narendra Sharma
Again a film by Prabhat. It was based on the life story of Sant Janabai, a great saint from Maharashtra.
This bhajan, excellently sung by Rafi, is another example of music crossing all the boundaries of caste and religion.
This film also has Sapane mein Sampada Jo Payee, a bhajan by Sudhir Phadke himself.

9. Duniya Pyari Pyari Re- Aahe Badho (1947) Khurshid / Lyrics- Amar Verma
This is the only film, Sudhir Phadke & Khurshid worked together, and she sang 4 solos and a duet in this film.
The song describes the journey of a mother, bringing up her little one, with love and care, and the change she observes in her surroundings.
The baby is too cute and adorable.

10. Yeh Mujh Ko Kaun Bulaye- Gokul Ka Chor (1959) Lata Mangeshkar / Lyrics- Qamar Jalalabadi
The prelude of the song starts with flute and takes us to another world. This is again a high pitched song, but never irritates, on the contrary soothes the ears.
Other songs from this movie, Naina Nigode Nadan by Lata Mangeshkar & Ab Chhod Chale Sanvariya by Suman Kalyanpur, are also good.

His other popular hindi films include, Muraliwala (1951) and Gaj Gouri (1958).Unfortunately, his name was never associated with big production houses.

Do you want to add your favorite song?

(My Sincere & Special Thanks To My Sister, Anagha, for helping me in this post)

Disclaimer – Mehfil Mein Meri, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. Images on this blog are posted to make the text interesting. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube, only for the listening convenience of music lovers. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.