Vasant Desai

Vasant Desai was the composer who could easily pivot the various situations of life around his simple and classy tunes. He was a man of great musical insight. He could easily grasp the situations and put them successfully in his songs. Who can forget his composition, 'Aei Maalik Tere Bande Ham..', in fact, Punjab govt. declared it as a part of morning prayers in their schools.

Vasant Desai was born in 1914. In his early days, he used to act in silent films. Prabhat's Khooni Khanjar (1930) was his first film as an actor. He also used to sing songs in films. He sang his first song, 'Jay Jay Rajadhiraaj..' in Ayodhaya Ka Raja (1932). In 1934, he sang a popular 'Kajri', 'Barsan Laagi..' in Amrit Manthan. He sang many songs in those times in various films. But that was not his destiny, his career took a turn with 1939's Aadmi. He could not managed to get the role of Hero in the film, so gave up acting and started his training in music, under Ustaad Aalam Khan and Ustaad Inaayat Khan.

He became an assistant of music director Govind Rao Tembe. He did Our India, Monsoon, Amar Bhoopali, Shobha Aankh Ki Sharam and Mauj with him as an assistant. He got his first opportunity in 1943 to work independently for Shantarm's Shakuntala. The film was a major hit of those times. It ran for 104 weeks. After Shakuntala's overwhelming success, Vansat Desai became a part of V. Shanatram's Rajkamal Studio. He gave unforgettable music for Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath and Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje. He became very popular in his early career as a music director. He composed music for 14 films in the 1940's. Parvat Pe Apna Dera (1944), Subhadra (1946), Jivan Yatra (1946), Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946), Matwala Shaayar Raam Joshi (1947), Uddhar (1949) were some of his popular films.

In 1955, 1956 and 1957, Rajkamal's Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje, Toofan Aur Diya, Do Aankhen Baarah Haath, got released. Desai worked very hard for the music of these films. He gave all sort of music in these films, successfully. He used pure classical, folk and thematical music perfectly for these films. Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje was purely based on dance