I met music director Ravi  Sharma a few years ago as a WorldSpace RJ. He was a guest at a concert and was put up in a hotel where I went to interview him at the end of what had been a long day for him. He was a little watchful in the beginning and I was a little clumsy. Having interviewed people over a notebook and a furiously scribbling pen for over a decade, I took my time with the mike and recorder meant for a radio show and he watched me patiently as I fumbled. Few people know that Ravi saab was not just a prolific music director but an inspired poet too and I began the interview with one of his couplets that summed up his life and that of anyone who has survived storms, “halaat ke kadmon par sikandar nahin girta..toote bhi jo taara to zameen par nahin girta..girte hai bahut baar samandar mein dariya..kabhi koi samandar dariya mein  nahin girta” (A champion never falls at the feet of circumstances..a broken star never becomes a speck of dust..rivers fall into an ocean as a matter of course… but an ocean never falls into a river).” The ice kind of melted after that and we talked at length.

He remembered lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi whose birthday happens to fall  on March 8, the same day that Ravi  chose to pass on from this world to another.

Sahir and Ravi created some of the most memorable songs together for films like Humraz, Gumrah, Aadmi Aur Insaan, Dhund, Waqt, Aankhen, Kaajal.  The two hit it off because Sahir believed in writing his lyrics before a tune was composed and Ravi was one of the few music directors who respected a lyricist enough to wait for the poetry before tuning it. But Ravi stood tall on his own by creating masterful scores for films like Neel Kamal, Do Badan, Nikaah, Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke, Choudavin Ka Chand and many many more. Not to mention his award winning turn with Malayalam films.
Talking to Ravi was like peering through a window into a world that has passed into oblivion but not quite. He belonged to a generation that believed in letting a body of work speak for itself. He had a certain gentle incredulity around him. As if he could not believe that in his life time, he had progressed from the world of Sahir Ludhianvi and Mohammed Rafi to loud music, pedestrian lyrics and remixes. If for a listener like me, the change was painful, how much harder would it have been for a man who had been a part of the golden era of Hindi film music. Surprisingly, he did not sound bitter though he missed stalwarts like Rafi saab whose voice was one of the reasons why Ravi himself wanted to become a singer before destiny chose him to make music. He spoke of  Hemant Kumar who gave Ravi the break to sing as a back up singer in the classic Anand Math and then after Ravi created the sound of the ‘been’ on his harmonium for the film Naagin, asked him to start composing independently. Ravi expressed gratitude to everyone who had helped him, mentored him. Not once praising his own achievements though he did express regret that he had not won as many awards as he deserved.
And what a range he had. From velvet soft ballads like Neele Gagan Ke Tale to the rustic full bodied cadences of Na Munh Chupa Ke Jiyo..the Middle Eastern strains of Gairon Pe Karam to the folksy flavour of the title song of Aankhen. And his knack of creating classics is nothing if not legendary. How can you match the elegance of Waqt and Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen, Chehre Pe Khushi Chaa Jaati Hai and Kaun Aaaya Ke Nigahon Mein Chamak Jaag Uthi or the gem after gem in Choudhavin Ka Chand and Kaajal, the rollicking zest of Baar Baar Dekho and the honeyed grief of Chalo Ik Baar Phir Se and Aap Aaye Toh Khayale Dile Nashad Aaya? Imagine being part of a creative universe where Guru Dutt was still alive, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi were singing, Shakeel Badayuni was penning film songs and Naushad was your peer.

What he really missed was humility (the signature trait of great artists of the past) and the purity of unsynthesised music. He talked about colleagues who had passed on and memories that had not. Today he passed away in a Mumbai hospital and I am reliving a few moments I spent with a legend, longing for times that will never come back again. And perhaps never will be forgotten because a Ravi song is like a samandar, that timeless, uncompromised ocean in his couplet. I remember you Ravi saab with the lines I concluded your interview with, “Beete Hue Lamhon Ki Kasak Saath Toh Hogi..Khwabon Mein Hi Ho Chahe Mulaqat Toh Hogi.”

Here is to dreams ripe with music and the fragrance of  your memories.

Reema Moudgil is the author of Perfect Eight (http://www.flipkart.com/perfect-eight-9380032870/p/itmdf87fpkhszfkb?pid=9789380032870&_l=A0vO9n9FWsBsMJKAKw47rw–&_r=dyRavyz2qKxOF7YucnhfXw–&ref=4fe1efd1-de20-4a30-8eb8-ef81a99cb01f