Hridaynath Mangeshkar Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hridaynath Mangeshkar

• Hridaynath Mangeshkar is a renowned Indian music director, singer, music composer, and politician.

• He was born in the Gomantak Maratha Samaj family. ^[4]Bean Inspirer

• Since his childhood, he was inclined towards poetry. During an interview, while remembering his childhood days, he said,
  

  If I like music 100% then I like reading 101%. When I was 5 years old, I developed an infection in my leg. The pain was so bad that I would just be sitting at home. I could not walk, I could not play. It was not financially possible to have any formal education in school. To entertain myself, I would keep pestering my mother to tell me stories. She started off by telling me stories from her life in Thalner; then she moved on to tell about Baba’s life and stage experiences and when that was over she started reading from the books that we had at our home.”

  He continued,

  So she started reading from religious mythological books such as Hari Vijay, Ramayan, Mahabharat and Dnyaneshwari. Once that was over, we started reading Baba’s old plays like Gadkari’s Raj Sanyas, Veer Savarkar’s Sanyast Khadag and Veer Vamanrao Joshi’s Ran Dundubhi. Later I started reading on my own and was bowled over by the poetry of B.R. Tambe, Keshavsut and Kusumagraj. In the latter years, I started exploring what kind of spiritual poetry was written in other states and started reading the works of Meerabai, Kabir and Surdas.”

  

  Hridaynath Mangeshkar’s childhood photo with his sisters

• At the age of 17, he started working at All India Radio, but he was removed within 8 days as he recited some verses on the Indian politician Veer Savarkar. ^[5]NDTV During an interview, while talking about the incident, he said,
  

  I was working in All India Radio at that time. I was 17 years old and my salary was Rs 500 per month. It may be peanuts today but Rs 500 was considered a big fat salary during that time…but I was summarily fired from the All India Radio because I chose to create a musical composition for Veer Savarkar’s famous poem ‘Ne majsi ne parat matrubhoomila, sagara pran talmalala.”

• He got his first break as a music composer in 1955. While talking about his debut work, he said,
  

  I got my first break as a composer with HMV, when I composed my first song “Nis din barsat nain hamaare….” a Surdas pada, soulfully sung by Lata Didi, in 1955. This was a private record of HMV that broke all records of popularity. The same year I also debuted as a music director with the Marathi film “Akash Ganga.”

• He has worked in various Marathi films as a music composer such as ‘Ha Khel Savalyancha’ (1976), ‘Chaani’ (1977), ‘Janaki’ (1979), and ‘Sansar’ (1980).

• He has also worked as a music composer in the Hindi films like ‘Dhanwan’ (1981), ‘Ram Ki Ganga’ (1984), ‘Maya Memsaab’ (1993), and ‘Lal Salaam’ (2002). He is well known for his compositions like Saagara Pran Talamalala and Dnyaneshwar Mauli.

• Hridaynath has composed music for the Hindi musical drama ‘Phoolwanti’ aired on the Doordarshan channel.

• His composition for the Koli geets (folk songs of fisherman) became immensely popular.

• He has also worked as a singer in many Marathi and Hindi songs in the films like ‘Anantyatra’ (1985), ‘Maya’ (1993), and ‘Sail’ (2006).

• He has directed music for the films including ‘Nivdung’ (1989; Marathi) and ‘Lekin…’ (1990; Hindi).

• He has released music albums ‘Chala Vahi Des’ and ‘Meera Bhajans’ as a music composer which is based on the poems and songs of Meera (poet and saint), and he is considered as the first Indian to do so.

• Hridaynath has songs based on the poems of the Indian poets Meera, Kabir Das, and Surdas.

• One of his popular albums is based on the ghazals of Ghalib in which the songs have been sung by his sister Lata Mangeshkar.

• He has also worked with the ace Marathi poets Shanta Shelke and Suresh Bhat and released a few Marathi classical songs.

• He composed the music for 2 adhyaays (chapters) of Bhagavad Gita in 1967. During an interview, while talking about it, he said,
  

  Actually I wanted to set all 18 adhyaay of Geeta to music but the company allowed me to record only 2 of them. They were right in their own way. After all, as an idol, Sri Krishna is sold in the temples world over but tell me, who really wants to buy Sri Krishna’s philosophy?”

• His genres of music are pop, folk, and Indian classical music.

• In an interview, while talking about his inspiration for music, he said,
  

  I grew up listening to the riyaaz (music practice) of them all (family members), but my father passed away when I was hardly four-year-old. So, nobody actually initiated me into music, in the sense you have asked. Those were different days. Nobody used to take money to teach music. I mean there was no fashion of music tuition. I used to go to learned singers in the neighbourhood. I have learned from many people but they were not the famous singers (Woh Naam-cheen log nahin the). There were many ‘guni log’, who would sing and teach well. They would willingly give me ‘prasad’ of any composition I liked.”

• His father changed his last name from “Hardikar” to “Mangeshkar.” ^[6]Bean Inspirer

• He was given the title ‘Pandit’ by the legendary Indian vocalist Bhimsen Joshi and Jasraj.

• In an interview, he talked about working with the ace Indian singer Ustad Amir Khan. He said,
  

  It was just by chance and sheer luck. They were hunting for a boy who could play tanpura for Ustad Amir Khan, who was enacting Tansen in the phenomenal film “Baiju Bawra”. It was not only my first meeting with him, but also his first ever experience to sing for a film. I used to sing fairly well by that time (main theek-thaak gaa leta tha) He heard me singing the Puriya Dhanashri Bandish “Tori Jai Jai Kartar” for Baijnath (Baiju Bawra) in this very film and I could sense his instant liking for me. I was hardly 11 or 12 years old when he took me as his disciple and from then on, I lived and roamed about with him for next 22 years.”

• He has performed live at various stage shows and concerts.

• He is trained in playing various musical instruments like harmonium and tabla.

• In an interview, while talking about his relationship with his sister Lata Mangeshkar, he said,
  

  Didi is very much like my Baba. Her singing, speaking, smiling, thinking; even the softness and the shape of her hands- everything reminds me of Baba. I often feel that it is just fate that she was born a woman and became Lata Mangeshkar; had she been born as a man and had a beard and moustache; she would just be like Dinanath Mangeshkar!”

  He continued,

  Since I too have the similar mental make-up, we are like two sides of the same coin. The way we think, the way we analyze…it is very similar. It is as if we both are connected with an invisible string. Once we are convinced about doing one particular thing, then we do not bother what others would think and say about it. We just go ahead and do that thing.”

• He considers the Indian Indian songwriter Salil Choudhury his guru.

• He is well-versed in various languages like Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Urdu. During an interview, he shared how he learnt different languages. He said,
  

  I studied Urdu under Ustad Mohabbat Khan, who used to teach Urdu to Lata Didi and have read all the classical poets of Urdu. I composed the long playing record ‘Ghalib’ where Didi has sung my compositions of the ghazals by Ghalib. I studied Hindi under Pandit Narendra Sharma because before composing Meera, Sur or Kabir, you should understand what do they want to say, what is the essence of their poetry. I’m selective about my work choosing the appropriate raga tala according to the rasa-bava and chand of poetry. Ghazal, geet and bhajan need different kind of contemplation for composing. Bhajan may be open ended but you can not take liberty with the ‘beher’ of a ghazal.”

• Some of his favourite Indian poets are B.R. Tambe, Keshavsut, Kusumagraj, Meerabai, Kabir Das, and Surdas.