Ramakrishna Shinde (English: Ramkrishna Shinde, born- 1918, Maharashtra, died- 14 September, 1985) was a famous music composer of English cinema. There are many names of talented musicians in the history of English cinema, who composed very melodious tunes whenever they got a chance; but despite having all the ability and a lot of knowledge of music, they did not get the place in the film industry, which they deserved. The only reason for this was that they did not have the quality of selling themselves, which is most important to sustain oneself in this dazzling world. Ramakrishna Shinde was also included among such musicians, who started his career with the film ‘Manager’ made in 1947.
Born in a Maratha family in the Malvan region of western Maharashtra, the exact date and year of Ramakrishna Shinde’s birth is not recorded anywhere, but according to his family’s estimation, he was born on the day of ‘Ramnavami’ in the year 1918 and that is why he was named Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna was the eldest among two brothers and two sisters. His father died when he was nine-ten years old. In such a situation, his maternal uncle and aunt moved to Mumbai with their widowed sister and her four children, where Ramakrishna spent his childhood in the Nanachowk area.[1]
Initially, Ramakrishna Shinde started composing music for Marathi plays. His compositions became very popular and very soon he became a well-known name among the audience of Marathi plays. It was because of his melodious tunes that he got the film ‘Manager’. Made in 1947 under the banner of ‘Tiwari Productions’, this film was directed by I.P. Tiwari and the main actors were – Jaiprakash, Poornima, Govind, Sarla, Aziz, Amina and Tiwari. During the same time, he also got the opportunity to compose music for the film ‘Bihari’, in which apart from him, another musician Naresh Bhattacharya was also working.
Made under the banner of ‘Samaj Chitra, Bombay’, this film was directed by the duo of K.D. Katkar and A.R. Zamindar, the actors were B. Nandrekar, Surekha, H. Prakash, Faiyazbai, Nimbalkar, Samson and Shabnam, and the song ‘Sabze ki Durfishani, Phoolon ka Shamiyana’ written by Munshi Farogh and sung by Lata became quite famous in that era. The remaining nine songs were sung by Amirbai Karnataki, N.C. Bhattacharya and A.R. Ojha. The film ‘Bihari’ was released in the year 1948. In the same year, another of her films ‘Kiski Jeet’ was released. This film was also produced under the banner of Tiwari Productions, the director was Safdar Mirza and the main actors were Sadiq, Indu Kulkarni, Pushpa, Maqbool, Amina Bai, Chandrika and Tiwari. The lyricist was Kumar Sharma. Six out of seven songs from the film ‘Manager’ were used in the film ‘Kiski Jeet’.
Ramakrishna Shinde also composed music for two Marathi films. These films were ‘Tochi Sadhu Olakhava’ made in 1966 and ‘Aai Ahe Shetat’ made in 1970, which were also produced by Shinde. Apart from this, he also composed music for some programs of All India Radio, among which ‘Honaji Bala’, ‘Billi Mausi Ki Fajihat’, ‘Sona Aur Saat Dwarne’, ‘Manasi’ and ‘Usha Muskai’ were highly appreciated.
English cinema may not have given Ramakrishna Shinde, i.e. Hemant Kedar, his due, but ballet music gave him tremendous recognition. When he died of a heart attack on 14 September 1985, he was still working on the music for Raja Dhale’s ballet ‘Chandalika’ and Ajit Sinha’s ballet ‘Rituchakra’ for Doordarshan. Many years have passed since Ramakrishna Shinde’s death. His wife and two daughters still live in Mumbai. This family’s relationship with the film world was never fully established, nor did they ever try to establish it. Whatever little relationship had formed on its own, that too broke completely after Ramakrishna Shinde’s death.