Nandu Bhende (27 November 1952 – 11 April 2014) was an Indian singer and actor.

Life

Sadanand (Nandu) Bhende was the son of the Marathi actor-director Atmaram Bhende and Dr Asha Bhende (Born Lily Ezekiel Talkar of The Jewish Indian

Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" () or " Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there ce ...

community). He was a theater artist, singer, music composer, music producer. He was one of the pioneers of

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

in India. Bhende sang with 1970s bands such as Velvette Fogg, Brief Encounter and then Savage Encounter. He later went on to perform the roles of

Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

Alyque Padamsee Alyque Padamsee (5 March 1928 – 17 November 2018) was an Indian theatre personality and ad film maker. He played Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1982 British period film ''Gandhi''. Besides being involved in Indian theatre as an actor and producer ...

's production of ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' and the role of Jesus in the Bangalore version of the same opera; this lead onto further roles in Tommy, Fantastiks and Jaya. He was also a

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

films, his most famous work being in the 1982 musical "

Disco Dancer ''Disco Dancer'' is a 1982 Indian dance film, written by Rahi Masoom Raza and directed by Babbar Subhash. It stars Mithun Chakraborty and Kim in leading roles, with Om Puri, Gita Siddharth and Karan Razdan in supporting roles with Rajesh Kh ...

", for which he received a

Gold Disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. His maternal uncle was the noted Indian Jewish poet

Nissim Ezekiel Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian Poetry in English. He was ...

(Talkar). He died on 11 April 2014 at

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- ...

. He was married and had 2 children.

Bands

He performed with various bands like Savage Encounter, The Brief Encounter, Velvette Fogg, Nandu Bhende Rock Revue, etc. His last venture was Nandu Bhende Encounter: Last performed on 27 March 2014 at

High Street Phoenix High Street Phoenix, formerly known as Phoenix Mall, is one of the largest shopping malls in India, situated in Lower Parel, Mumbai. Its gross floor area is . In addition to the mall, the compound hosts a five-star hotel, a multiplex, commercial ...

@ Tribute to

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Theatre Performances

Nandu's performance in "Superstar" as Judas made Dr Jabbar Patel cast him as "Mack the Knife" in "Teen Paischacha Tamasha", a Marathi Musical version of Brecht's "Three Penny Opera". This musical adapted by P.L. Deshpande went on to perform over 200 shows and is still remembered for its path-breaking music score which was partly composed by Nandu. Playing the title role of the deaf, dumb and blind boy in the Indian production of Pete Townsend's "Tommy" followed in 1982 for which Nandu scored the music, adding a couple of original compositions. Recently, Nandu sang and acted the main role in the BPL—Best of Theatre—series sponsored "Jaya" to great critical acclaim. This was India's first original Rock Opera and was performed in grand style with a cast of over 40 people. Nandu has also produced numerous Theater productions which have gone to stage thousands of shows throughout the country. Some of them are "The Fantastiks", "Double Trouble", "Hanky Panky", "Rashoman", "The Yours, Mine and Ours Show" etc. *

, as Judas. *

,(Bangalore) as Jesus. *Teen Paischacha Tamasha,(

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 * * ...

version of

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

), as Ankush. *Jaya as Yudhishtra *The Fantastiks, as El Gallo *Tommy (Indian production)

Theatre Productions

*Casanova *Double Trouble, *Hanky Panky, *Rashoman, *The Yours, Mine and Ours Show,

Singing

Bhende sang playback for Hindi films for music directors such as

R.D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work ...

, Laxmikant Pyarelal and

Bappi Lahiri Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...

for whose film "Disco Dancer" Nandu went on to fetch a Gold Disc. In 1980 Nandu teamed up with Music India to produce the very successful dance albums "Disco Duniya" and "Disco Nasha". HMV snapped up Nandu in 1986 and two lively disco albums followed "Disco Zamana" and "Disco Mazaa". Nandu then went on to record his first English album for HMV "GET ORGANIZED" which featured his original compositions as well as a few songs from a collection specially written for him by the Sahitya Academy Award-winning internationally acclaimed poet Nissim Ezekiel. The Hindi Pop Album "TERE LIYE" followed soon after. In 1997, the recording company Tips, released "Aaa Jaane Jaa", a Remix album with Nandu Bhende.In 2001, Nandu released another Remix album, this time for Universal and in Marathi. It was called "Spicy Mango-Raapchick Remix" and became a big hit among the youth of Maharashtra. These films include: *

Chamatkar ''Chamatkar'' () is a 1992 Indian Hindi-language fantasy comedy film directed by Rajiv Mehra. It featured Shah Rukh Khan (in his second film after '' Deewana'' and first in lead role), Naseeruddin Shah and Urmila Matondkar in pivotal roles. Raj ...

Zakhm ''Zakhm'' () is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Kunal Khemu, Pooja Bhatt, Sonali Bendre and Nagarjuna. ''Zakhm'' was awarded with the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature F ...

*Shankara Bharanam *

Shiva Ka Insaaf ''Shiva Ka Insaaf'' (English: ''Shiva's Justice'') is a 1985 Indian Hindi-language superhero film directed by Raj N. Sippy. The film stars Jackie Shroff, Poonam Dhillon, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover. The music was composed by R. D. Burman. The f ...

Albums

*Disco Vavtal *Aaa Jaane Jaa(TIPS) *Disco Duniya(Music India) *Disco Mazaa(HMV) *Disco Nasha(Music India) *Disco Zamana(HMV) *GET ORGANIZED(Solo English Album Songs by internationally acclaimed poet Nissim Ezekiel) *Kaun Hai Woh * Sensations *Spicy Mango-Raapchick Remix(Universal) *TERE LIYE(HMV The Hindi Pop Album)

TV serial composer credits

*Cats (Sony) *Chamatkar (Sony) *"Chandrakanta"(DD1) *Daayre (Zee TV) *Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai (Zee TV) *Kohra(StarPlus) *Maal hai to taal hain (Star Plus) *Mang Hai Rangachari (TVI) *Memsaab(TVI), *Parakh (DD1) *Chunav Chunauti 98 (Sony) *Tanha(Star Plus) *Yeh Hai Raaz (Star Plus) *Rang Hai Rangachari (TVI) *Yeh Hai Raaz (Star Plus)

Film credits

*"David Sassoon, The great philanthropist" for ORT INDIA *Rock...the alternate years

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhende, Nandu 2014 deaths Indian Jews Indian rock singers Indian rock musicians Jewish singers Place of birth missing 1956 births 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian composers Musicians from Mumbai Male actors from Mumbai Indian male stage actors Indian male musical theatre actors 20th-century Indian male singers 21st-century Indian male singers