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His heart croons the music of his soul.
And when he sets them to tune, audiences across the length
and breadth of India listen enthralled. Bollywood music director
and singer Ravindra Jain has crossed all the hurdles in life
to build a place for himself in the tinsel town hall of fame.
“My visit to Guwahati is not that frequent, but every
time I come to the place, I feel like breaking into a song.
The city brings me closer to nature and has a great influence
on the kind of music I prefer to compose,” speaks Jain
like a perfect guest.
“This time I am here to serve the Lord of Mathura,
Sri Krishna. I am delighted to be able sing bhajans for my
lord on the occasion of Janmasthami,” he says. Ravindra
Jain’s recent bhajan programme on the eve of Janmasthami
at Fancy Bazaar won rich appreciation from his fans and Krishna
devotees.
Born and brought up in the cultural heart of India, Aligarh,
Jain’s lessons in music started early, when he was just
a kid of four. “I am blind from birth. My parents introduced
me to Indian classical music to help me cope with my handicap.
Today when I sing I pay my humble gratitude to them for showing
me a path where one can only encounter eternal bliss.”
He sheer strength of his will rings in his every word as
he stresses, “I do not consider myself physically-challenged.
I can clearly see with my soul. I have given blindness a tough
fight, and I do think I’ve won. Now nothing can deter
me from doing what I wish to do.”
“But my only complaint is not having any formal training
in academics. Schools then were reluctant to admit a blind
child. Generally regular schools have a notion that physically-challenged
persons are somehow less competent than the so-called normal
children. Unfortunately, that notion persists still this day,”
he rues. “But with the advancement of science and technology
and with some support from the general public the stigma attached
with a physical handicap can be easily eradicated,”
says a confident Jain.
“I believe that the word ‘handicap’ holds
no meaning at all in the present context. Every human being
suffers one form of ailments or other, whether physical or
mental. So everyone is fighting against odds to emerge triumphant
in life. Without challenges life would hold no meaning at
all.”
A student of Prag Sangeet Samiti of Aligarh, Jain has scored
music for over 200 Hindi and regional films. He has also composed
music for many a popular TV serials like Ramayan, Sri Hanuman
and other prime time shows.
A singer-composer who scaled such artistic heights, Jain,
however, remains firmly rooted to reality. “At present
I am not too prominent in the Hindi film scenario as I am
not someone to compromise on the quality of my music.”
To that he adds: “Today the western influence predominates
the Hindi film scenario. I am not against change per se, it
is only that I am averse to cheap carbon copies of an art
form.”
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