Born on February 28, 1944 in Aligarh, to Pandit Indramani Jain, a renowned Ayurvedacharya of his time and Kiran Devi, Ravindra Jain was blind since his birth. He had always taken a more than just keen interest in music since childhood, which prompted his parents to allow to learn music under Pandit G.L. Jain, Pandit Janardhan Sharma and Pandit Nathu Ram.
He learnt music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti and got a degree called Sangeet Prabhakar. He was also a poet and a lyricist.
Ravindra Jain got his break with N.N. Sippy’s “Silsila Hai Pyar Ka” in 1972 which, unfortunately, never saw the light of the day. His first released film was “Kaanch Aur Heera” in the same year. The next film was “Saudagar” (1973), in which the song “Sajnaa Hai Mujhe” remains etched in public memory. In 1974, came N.N.Sippy’s “Chor Machaye Shor” and the song “Ghungroo Ki Tarah” became immensely famous.
In 1976, with Rajshri Productions’ “Chitchor”, Ravindra Jain introduced a new voice to the Hindi film industry - that of Yesudas, who was already quite a well known name in the South. Ravindra Jain had been looking for a new voice for the character of Amol Palekar in the film and Yesudas’ mellifluous voice suited the bill, bringing to life songs like “Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara” or “Jab Deep Jale Aana.” Another feather was added to his cap in 1978, with the film “Akhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se” with the title song of the film making it to the top of the charts for quite some weeks. Up until now, Ravindra Jain was credited with songs that were difficult to sing, had a classical touch to them and were heavy on melody. With the coming of the film “Pati Patni Aur Woh” (1978) and with songs like “Thande Thande Pani Se”, he proved to the world that he could also compose songs that were hummable.
Somehow, most of the films that Ravindra Jain composed music for laid utmost stress on old world family values, which was often reflected in the kind of music he composed. Be it the song “Le Toh Aaye Ho Humey” from “Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaye” (1977), “Shyam Teri Bansi” from “Geet Gaata Chal” (1980), “Aaj In Nazaaron Ko” from “Sunayana” (1979) or even “Ek Radha Ek Meera” from “Ram Teri Ganga Maili”, which also won him his Filmfare Award for Best Music Direction.
During the later part of his tryst as a composer, he is credited with having composed title songs and music for long running and trendsetting T.V. Serials like “Ramayan” (1987-88), “Shrikrishna”, “Alif Laila” (1994-96), “Jai Hanuman”, “Satyavadi Harishchandra, Vansh etc. He has also composed for films in Malayalam, Haryanvi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Telugu. Ravindra Jain has composed music for ghazals too. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, he repeatedly got offers to compose music for several mythological films like “Gopal Krishna” (1979), Har Har Gange (1979), “Durgaa Ma” (1986) and many more. His latest assignments have been composing for “Vivaah” (2006) and “Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi” (2008).
Ravindra Jain has been awarded with honors from President of India, Governors of States.He won the Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1985 for Ram Teri Ganga Maili. He has been nominated for various films like Chitchor, Ankhiyon Ke Jharonkon Se, and Heena. He has won other prestigious awards like Youth National, Bengal Film Journalists Association, Lata Mangeshkar Award, Sangeet Gnaneshwar Award, Sangeet Samrat etc. He joined the Congress party in 2004.
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