Musician Ravindra Jain passes away

Mumbai, Oct 10: Veteran music director-singer-lyricist Ravindra Jain, the genius who overcame his blindness to render lilting melodies and soulful tunes in several films including 'Chitchor' and 'Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se', died today of multiple organ failure. He was 71.

Jain breathed his last at 4.10 pm at Lilavati hospital due to multiple organ failure, family sources said. He is survived by his wife Divya and son Ayush.

Jain was shifted from Wockhardt Hospital in Nagpur few days back to Mumbai by a chartered air ambulance for treatment at Lilavati Hospital in Bandra.

The music composer was suffering from an urinary infection causing a problem in his kidney, sources said.

He was in Nagpur for a concert on Sunday, but could not participate because of his ill-health and was subsequently airlifted to Mumbai. He was kept in the ICU at Lilavati and was on ventilator.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Jain, saying he will be remembered for his "versatile music and fighting spirit."

Jain was also credited for bringing south Indian singing legend K J Yesudas to Hindi movies. The duo collaborated together in giving melodies like 'Oo goriya re', 'Beeti hui raat ki', 'Gori tera gaon' and 'Jab deep jale aana.'

Jain, who remained undaunted by blindness to become one of the most successful composers, also gave music for hit films like 'Chor Machaye Shor' and 'Geet Gaata Chal'in the 70s.

He was given a big break by Raj Kapoor, for whom he composed super hit songs in movies such as 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili', 'Do Jasoos', and 'Henna', which was directed by Randhir Kapoor.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jain widely composed music for many mythological movies and television serials.

The Bollywood fraternity in their condolence message hailed Jain as a "genius composer". "R I P. Ravindra Jain "Daddu". Thank you for the lovely music. You did 'Henna' for me," said film star Rishi Kapoor.

Music composer Salim Merchant in a tweet called Jain as a "genius composer." Born to a well-known Sanskrit scholar Pandit Indramani Jain and mother Kiran Jain, he was the third child among seven brothers and a sister. He started singing bhajans and poetry at nearby temples at a very young age.

The blind singer started his film career as a composer with a Mohd Rafi song that never released.

Later he went on to compose music for hit films such as 'Chor Machaye Shor' (1974), 'Geet Gaata Chal' (1975), 'Chitchor' (1976) and 'Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se' (1978), 'Nadiya ke Paar'(1982) and 'Vivah'(2006).

He also wrote the lyrics for many of his famous songs along with composing them. Jain also recorded music to many of Rajshri Productions' features starting in the 1980s and continuing well into the 2000s.

Jain also composed music for many TV serials for Sagar Films. The popular serial that he composed music for was Ramanand Sagar's epic "Ramayan". His other popular works on the small screen include "Shri Krishna", "Alif Laila", "Jai Ganga Maiya", "Jai Mahalaxmi", "Sai Baba", "Jai Hanuman" and "Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithviraj Chauhan.