Dattatreya Shankar Davjekar (Born on 15 November 1917. died ), better known as Datta Davjekar or Datta Daujeker ( mr, दत्ता डावजेकर), was a veteran music
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
mainly associated with
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
and
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
movies. He is credited for giving a break to many singers who became extremely popular over a period of time, including the Mangeshkar siblings,
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...
,
Asha Bhosale
Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur
and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...
and
Usha Mangeshkar
Usha Mangeshkar (born 15 December 1935) is an Indian singer who has recorded many Marathi, Manipuri, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Assamese songs.
Personal life
Usha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer. She is the fou ...
as well as others such as
Anuradha Paudwal
Anuradha Paudwal (born 27 October 1954) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. She has been described in media as one of the most prominent Bhajan singer and also as one of the most successful playback singers ...
.
Career
Datta Davjekar's father Baburao used to play tabla for live folk musical plays as well as in
Shanta Apte
Shanta Apte (1916–1964) was an Indian actress-singer who worked in Marathi and Hindi cinema. Renowned for her roles in films like ''Duniya Na Mane/Kunku'' (1937) and '' Amar Jyoti'' (1936) under the Prabhat Films banner, she was active in In ...
to perform on her shows. Davjekar performed at places as far off as Allahabad and Lahore.
Davjekar assisted C. Ramachandra and Chitragupta for a while. His first break came in 1941 with a Marathi film called Municipality. It was followed by ''Sarkari Pahune'' in 1942. One of the film's songs ''Naache Sangeet Natwar'' was a big hit. Davjekar went on to work with big names in Marathi cinema, like
Raja Paranjape
Rajabhau Dattatraya Paranjpe (24 April 1910 – 9 February 1979), known as Raja Paranjape, was an Indian actor, director, producer and writer in the Marathi film and Hindi film
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and former ...
Raja Thakur
Raja Thakur (1923–1975) was an Indian film director predominantly working in the Marathi film industry. He is best known for his films ''Me Tulas Tujhya Angani'' (1960), ''Rangalya Ratree Ashya'' (1962), ''Ektee'' (1968), ''Mumbaicha Jawai'' (19 ...
.
His famous films include ''Rangalyaa Raatri Ashyaa'', ''Paathlaag'', ''Pahu Re Kitni Vaat'', ''Thoraataanchi Kamlaa'', ''Padchaaya'', ''Chimanrao Gundyabhau'', ''Pedgaonche Shahane'', ''Juna Te Sona'', ''Sant Vahate Krishna Mai'', ''Sukhaachi Sawali'', ''Viasakh Vanwaa'' and ''Yashoda''. His last film release was ''Pahaate Punyechi'' in 1992. His non-film song "''Sainik Ho Tumchyaa Saathi''" (translation: For you, oh Soldiers) was a big hit and its sales proceeds went to the Armed Forces.
In a career spanning fifty two years, Davjekar composed music in several languages for sixty films, twelve plays and several documentaries. He learnt German music for composing music for the play ''Thank you, Mr Glad''.
Introducing Lata Mangeshkar
The film Maazhe Baal, released in 1943, was Davjekar's first Marathi film with
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...
. He went on to introduce her to Hindi films with his song ''Paa Laagoo Kar Jori Re'' for the film
Aap Ki Sewa Mein
''Aap Ki Sewa Mein'' is a Bollywood film. It was released in 1946. Popular Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar started her Hindi playback singing
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for u ...
(1947).
Introducing Sudha Malhotra
Davjekar did two more Hindi films, Vasant Joglekar's Aap Ki Adalat and Premnath's English-Hindi bilingual, Prisoner of Golconda, in which he introduced Sudha Malhotra.
Death
On 19 September 2007 Davjekar died of a heart attack at his residence in
Andheri
Andheri ( n̪d̪ʱeɾiː is a locality in the western part of the city of Mumbai in India. Udayanagari, the name of a hill near the Mahakali caves, inspired the name Andheri. On the former islet of Versova, also known as Vasave, there was ano ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...