| Rajan-Nagendra | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rajan and Nagendrappa (1933),(1935) Shivarampet,Mysore,Karnatka |
| Occupation | Music Director,Singer |
Rajan and Nagendra (Kannada: Kannada ರಾಜನ್ - ನಾಗೇಂದ್ರ ) were musicians who were prominent composer of film music in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.Rajan was born in Shivarampet of Mysore in a middle-class family. Rajan-Nagendra has given hundreds of melodious tunes for 375 films in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages. They composed innumerable hits in their career spanning four decades.
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Their Father Rajappa was a musician himself, well versed in playing harmonium and the flute. He was a playing artiste for the silent movies. But once the talkie movies came he got busy with his other music performances. This musical atmosphere had a profound effect on the two young minds. Within a short time, each of them attained proficiency in playing a different instrument – Rajan in violin and Nagendra in Jal tarang. Rajan used to listen to musical performances of eminent musicians at choudayya ramamandiram in mysore and hence got the opportunity to listen to music performances by hindusthani, karnatik and western music in the mysore palace. Later on Rajan came to Bangalore for his further educational studies.
At Bangalore Rajan studied in S.L.N. School in the K.R. Market area, Later in central high school. Rajan learnt the violin and appeared for the violin state level competition and had the distinction of passing in first rank.
Both Rajan and Nagendra participated in public performances through Jaya Maruthi Orchestra. In the meanwhile, Rajan got an offer to go to Madras. He took his brother along with him and they got an opportunity of learning the music trade under the aegis of H. R. Padmanabha Shastri who was known for producing talkie movies at that time. It gave them a lot of exposure to the movie industry.
In 1951, Nagendra returned to Mysore and completed his matriculation. Then he joined P. Kalinga Rao who at that time was a famous radio artiste. Within no time, Nagendra got an opportunity of singing for the movie ‘Srinivasa Kalyana’ along with Hindustani singer Ameer Bai.
Finally, Rajan-Nagendra became independent music directors when they scored music for the film ‘Sowbhagya Lakshmi’ in 1952. After this, they never looked back for more than four decades. This movie opened their doors of success.
Rajan used to compose the melodies and set the notations for the orchestra. nagendra used to dictate the lyrics and tune of the song to the singers.
The lyricists who wrote unforgettable lyrics for them are late Hunasur Krishna Murthy, Uday Shankar,Vijiya Narasimha, Geetha Priya, Dodda Range Gowda, Vyasa Rao and manny more. The prominent Telugu lyricists are Narayana Reddy, Dasarathi and late Vetoori Sundarama Murthy and many others. The most prominent Tamil lyricists are late Kanna Dasan and many more.
The main male vocalists who enriched the melody of their songs are late Gantasala, Kala Govindarajan, P.B.Srinivas, late Kishore Kumar, Balasubramanyam, Jesudas, Rajesh Krishna and many more. The popular female vocalists are Bala Saraswati, Soolamangalam sisters, P.Leela, S.Janaki, Vaani Jayaram, Rani, L.R.Easwari, P.Susheela, Jikki, Chitra and many more.
Their first award film in kannada was "Eradu Kanasu" in 1973-74 and "Parasangada Gende Thimma" in 1978-79, they were the first recipient of best music director award for the telugu film "Panthulamma" in 1979 and many more awards from private and public associations such as south Indian film fans association, Chitra Rasikara Sangha, Karnataka films directors association, kannada chalana chitra pathra karthara sanga, Madras telugu academy, ugadi puraskara award, Abhinandana film awards Hydrabad kalasagar, Madras etc, Throughout south India. Many of their films have celebrated hundred days and silver jubilees.
Naa Ninna Mareyalaare, Gandhada Gudi, Eradu Kanasu -- these huge musical hits of the Kannada screen featured the music of Rajan-Nagendra. Their team was exceptionally good at composing cheerful love duets, although they did come up with a couple of sombre numbers like Baadi hoda balliyinda (P B Srinivas, Eradu Kanasu)
Rajan-Nagendra were in the same class as Hindi cinema's popular composing duo Laxmikanth Pyarelal. They had the same flair for composing technically flawless and violin-rich orchestral interludes, and enjoyed an equally long innings in the industry.
Nagendra sang a couple of songs in his five-decade-long career. The most popular was Yaaru yaaru nee yaaru for the comedian Narasimharaju. He also sang Nammoora santheli in the Jai Jagadish-Lakshmi starrer Gaalimaatu. Somehow his voice was typecast for comic scenes.
Hundreds of Rajan-Nagendra songs were sung by Legendary singers P.B.Shreenivas, S. Janaki, SPB. Almost all of them remain etched as the unforgettable melodies of Kannada Cinema. The Love songs of SPB-SJ-Rajan-Nagendra combination is considered to be heavenly. Such a everlasting haunting melodies Rajan-Nagendra pair created. The duo is also reported to have introduced another illustrious playback singer K. S. Chitra to the Kannada cinema back in the early 1980s.
Rajan-Nagendra made delightful songs in the Rajkumar-Lakshmi starrer Naa Ninna Mareyalaare and Eradu Kanasu, which starred Rajkumar, Manjula and Kalpana.
The pair directed music for about 400 films in Tamil, Telugu, Tulu and Sinhalese including 200 in Kannada.
Hombisilu, starring Vishnuvardhan, was another big hit. In the '80s, they made the music for some Telugu films, including Maa Intayana Katha, Puli Bebbuli and Vayyari Bhamalu Vagalamari Bharathulu. They composed the music for about 35 Telugu films.
Rajan-Nagendra also did a series of films starring Anant Nag, and Lakshmi, notable among them being Benkiya Bale and Chandanada Gombe etc.
Some unforgettable Rajan-Nagendra numbers:
Kannada:
Telugu:
Nagendra, passed away in Bowring hospital at Bangalore on November 4, 2000.He is survived by his wife Nagarathna,who was a school teacher.At present Nagarathna stays with her brothers and sisters at Mysore.Another lady Jayalakshmi also claims to be Nagendra's wife.
Rajan is continuing his work along with his son R Ananth kumar. He has written a book titled "Haado suswara sangeetha" regarding an innovative notation system for music enthusiasts.