Rajan–Nagendra

Childhood

Rajan (b. 1933) and Nagendrappa (b. 1935), born in Shivarampet of Mysore in a middle-class musical family. Their father Rajappa was a harmonium and flute player who played background music for silent movies.

Within a short time, each of them attained proficiency in playing a different instrument – Rajan in violin and Nagendra in Jal tarang. Rajan used to listen to musical performances of eminent musicians at Choudayya Ramamandira in Mysore and hence got the opportunity to listen to music performances by Hindusthani, Karnatik, and western music in the Mysore palace. Later on Rajan came to Bangalore for his further educational studies.

Early career

In Bangalore Rajan studied in S.L.N. School in the K.R. Market area, Later in central high school. Rajan learnt the violin and appeared for the violin state level competition and had the distinction of passing in first rank.

Both Rajan and Nagendra participated in public performances through Jaya Maruthi Orchestra. In the meanwhile, Rajan got an offer to go to Madras. He took his brother along with him and they got an opportunity of learning the music trade under the aegis of H. R. Padmanabha Shastri who was known for producing talkie movies at that time. It gave them a lot of exposure to the movie industry.

In 1951, Nagendra returned to Mysore and completed his matriculation. Then he joined P. Kalinga Rao who at that time was a famous radio artiste. Within no time, Nagendra got an opportunity of singing for the movie 'Srinivasa Kalyana' along with Hindustani singer Ameer Bai

Finally, Rajan–Nagendra became independent music directors when they scored music for the film Sowbhagya Lakshmi in 1952. After this, they never looked back for more than four decades. This movie opened their doors of success. After 'Sowbhagya Lakshmi' came Vittalacharya's 'Chanchalakumari', 'Rajalakshmi' and 'Mutthaide Bhagya' in a series to open the doors for these would-be melody kings.

Composers

Rajan used to compose the melodies and set the notations for the orchestra. Nagendra used to dictate the lyrics and tune of the song to the singers.

They had a successful stint in Kannada film industry from early 50s till late 90s, but they started shining from 1973 with Gandhada Gudi songs becoming popular throughout Karnataka and dimmed in early 90s, when new generation music took over thus covering a span of two decades of lilting melodies that has been hugely popular till date in Karnataka and other states of South India.

In the 70s came super hits in a row like Nyayave Devaru, Gandhada Gudi, Devara Gudi, Bhagyavantaru, Eradu Kanasu, Naa Ninna Mareyalaare, Naa Ninna Bidalaare, Hombisilu, Bayalu Daari, Paavana Ganga, Giri Kanye and the list goes on.

In the 80s, they made the music for some Telugu films, including Maa Intayana Katha, Puli Bebbuli and Vayyari Bhamalu Vagalamari Bharathulu. They composed the music for about 70 Telugu films.

Further, they kept scoring consistently good music through the 90s and in the course, produced for movies like Mathe Haditu Kogile, Marali Goodige and Suprabhaata. They also composed music for a TV serial 'Abhimaana' on Udaya TV.

Rajan–Nagendra made delightful songs in the Rajkumar-Lakshmi starrer Naa Ninna Mareyalaare and Eradu Kanasu, which starred Rajkumar, Manjula and Kalpana.

Hombisilu, starring Vishnuvardhan, was another big hit.

Rajan–Nagendra also did a series of films starring Anant Nag, and Lakshmi, notable among them being Benkiya Bale and Chandanada Gombe etc.

Naa Ninna Mareyalaare, Gandhada Gudi, Eradu Kanasu—these huge musical hits of the Kannada screen featured the music of Rajan–Nagendra. Their team was exceptionally good at composing cheerful love duets, although they did come up with a couple of sombre numbers like Baadi hoda balliyinda(P B Srinivas, Eradu Kanasu)

The lyricists who wrote unforgettable lyrics for them are late Hunasur Krishna Murthy, Uday Shankar, Vijiya Narasimha, Geetha Priya, Dodda Range Gowda, Vyasa Rao and many more. The prominent Telugu lyricists are Narayana Reddy, Dasarathi and late Vetoori Sundarama Murthy and many others. The most prominent Tamil lyricists are late Kanna Dasan and many more.

The main male vocalists who enriched the melody of their songs are late Ghantasala, Kala Govindarajan, P.B.Srinivas, late Kishore Kumar, Balasubrahmanyam, Jesudas, Rajesh Krishna and many more. The popular female vocalists are Bala Saraswati, Soolamangalam sisters, P.Leela, S.Janaki, Vaani Jayaram, Rani, L.R.Easwari, P.Susheela, Jikki, Chitra and many more.

Hundreds of Rajan–Nagendra songs were sung by Legendary singers P.B.Sreenivas, S. Janaki, SPB. Almost all of them remain etched as the unforgettable melodies of Kannada Cinema. The Love songs of SPB-SJ-Rajan–Nagendra combination is considered to be heavenly. Such an everlasting haunting melodies Rajan–Nagendra pair created. The duo is also reported to have introduced another illustrious playback singer K. S. Chitra to the Kannada cinema back in the early 1980s.

Nagendra sang a couple of songs in his five-decade-long career. The most popular was Yaaru yaaru née yaaru for the comedian Narasimharaju. He also sang Nammoora santheli in the Jai Jagadish-Lakshmi starrer Gaalimaatu. Neeliya baninda tareya oorinda from Tony. Somehow his voice was typecast for comic scenes.

The pair directed music for about 400 films, more than 200 in Kannada alone and rest in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam Tulu and Sinhalese.

Most of the hit songs from Kannada movies were remade in Telugu.

Composition

Some unforgettable Rajan–Nagendra numbers:

Kannada:

Telugu:

Awards and Recognition

Rajan–Nagendra are in the same class as Hindi cinema's popular composing duo Shankar-Jaikishen, Laxmikanth Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji. They excelled composing technically flawless and violin-rich orchestral interludes, and enjoyed an equally long innings in the industry. It is no exaggeration that these two brothers were called the Kalyanji – Anandji of Kannada film music.

Their first award film in Kannada was

They won many more awards from private and public associations such as south Indian film fans association, Chitra Rasikara Sangha, Karnataka films directors association, Kannada chalana chitra pathra karthara sanga, Madras Telugu academy, ugadi puraskara award, Abhinandana film awards Hydrabad kalasagar, Madras etc., Throughout south India. Many of their films have celebrated hundred days and silver jubilees.

Nagendra's death

Nagendra, the younger one of the two brothers who gave Kannada cinema some of its most memorable hits, died in Bowring hospital at Bangalore on 4 November 2000. Nagendra was admitted to Bowring Hospital for treatment of hernia. He later developed complications because of his high blood pressure and diabetes. He suffered a stroke.

Current status

Mr. Rajan is continuing his work along with his son R Ananth kumar. He has written a book titled "Haado suswara sangeetha" regarding an innovative notation system for music enthusiasts. They are also conducting music classes for vocal enthusiasts on Voice culturing & film singing.