Jamnagar man’s musical ears made film songs immortal

Ahmedabad: In the words of legendary composer Pyarelal Sharma (of Laxmikant-Pyarelal fame), a sound recordist infuses life into a song; however beautifully composed, arranged or even written, it is this technician who makes it more melodious by ensuring a perfect mix of all musical instruments.

On Monday, the Hindi film music industry lost a man who infused life into thousands of songs. Durlabhdas Odhavjibhai Bhansali, the veteran sound recordist of the golden era of Hindi film songs, died at his hometown Jamnagar. He was 95.

Bhansali's name may not strike a chord with most people, as, like most members of film music department team, their credits roll away too quickly from the screen. But those who have worked with him swear by his sheer sense of music.

"He had great understanding of tone and rhythm while recording. We have done innumerable films together. He was man of few words who only believed in executing his work perfectly," Pyarelalji told TOI. He particularly remembers "Main Shayar Toh Nahi.." from Bobby recorded with him.

Lata Mangeshkar also expressed grief over his death. "I am saddened to hear about the demise of our industry's famous sound recordist Bhansaliji. Besides being a very good sound recordist, he was a very nice person too," she tweeted.

Bhansali recorded nearly 13,000 songs in his career spanning four decades, some of the most famous being Satyam Shivam Sundaram (Title tract), Dost Dost Na Raha (Sangam), Tere Mere Milan Ki Yeh Raina (Abhimaan), Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja (Caravan).

Leaving Jamnagar in search of work in Mumbai, Bhansali, happened to meet that era's ace recordist Minoo Katrak and trained under him at Famous Laboratory, Tardeo. Bhansali had studied only till Class IX, but absorbed the skill with so much perfection that in years to come India's all the top music directors - Shanker-Jaikishan, SD Burman, RD Burman and Madan Mohan, to name few -- wanted him as a permanent member in the recording studio.