Remembering Bulo C. Rani, the legendary music director in Hindi Films on his 26th death anniversary today.

Remembering Bulo C. Rani, the legendary music director in Hindi Films on his 26th death anniversary today.

Bulo C Rani was a popular music director in Hindi cinema from the forties till sixties. He scored music for 71 films from 1943 -1972.

Bulo C Rani’s work is considered legendary in the industry. He made his mark with tracks like “Ja Parwane Ja Kahin Shama Jal Rahi Hai” from Rajputani and “Kaise Bataoon Tum Se Is Dil Ko Pyar Kyun Hai” from Anjuman, “Na Baaz Aaya Muqaddar Mujhe Mitaane Se” (Sunehre Kadam) and the hugely popular track “Armaan Bhara Dil Toot Gaya” from Wafa.

Bulo Chandiramani Ramchandani was born in Hyderabad, Sindh in modern-day Pakistan in a musical family. After completing his studies, Bulo worked as an assistant to music director Ghulam Haider in Lahore. In 1942, he came to Bombay and started working as an assistant to composer Khemchand Prakash. Khemchand gave him a break as a singer in the film Mehmaan (1942) and for some time his singing career flourished.

His first film as an independent music director was Pagli Duniya (1944). His other notable compositions were for the films Rajputani (1946), Jogan (1950), Wafa (1951, Bilwamangal (1954), Al Hilal (1958) and Sunhere Kadam (1966).

He is credited for giving singers Mukesh and Talat Mahmood their first hits with the songs “Badariya Baras Gayi” (Moorti — 1945) and “Sundarta Ke Sabhi Shikari” (Jogan — 1946) respectively. Other singers like Amirbai Karnataki, Zohrabai Ambalewali, and Geeta Dutt also gained much popularity with his compositions.

Although he composed for films till 1966, he could not replicate the success of his best-known work ‘Jogan’.

Depressed and lonely, Bulo C Rani committed suicide on May 24, 1993, at the age of 73.