When Shekhar Ravjiani was a 10-year-old, he would sit in his room and play music for hours. He would listen to all kinds of music — from Panchamda to The Beatles. In the evenings there would be jam sessions, his dad on the accordion, his mother the singer and their friends helping on other instruments. Sometimes Shekhar would join them on the piano. He would tune in to Aakashwani and listen to the songs of Usha Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar, Lata Mangeshkar, everything that was on air. “There was music everywhere,” says the composer of the musical duo Vishal-Shekhar.
These memories inspired him to compose his first Marathi song, Saazni, also his first solo composition in a really long time. “It was a challenge that I wanted to take. I had this tune in my head for the longest time, but no lyrics. Ravi Jadhav, director of Natrang, offered to write the song, singer Bela helped with Marathi pronunciation and within two days the song was ready for release,” he says. The song has received over 30,000 hits on YouTube.
The proceeds from every song downloaded goes to the NGO Ma Niketan, a shelter home with around 250 kids.
Shekhar says if God be willing, there will be many such releases. “I have never planned anything in my life. I just go with the flow. God gives the tune to me and I pass it on to the listeners,” he says.