Birth name Vishwanath Jadhav Died 1964, Pune Role Singer | Name Vishwanathbuwa Jadhav Occupation(s) Singer Music director Gangavataran | |
Born October 5, 1885
Hupari, Kolhapur district, Bombay Presidency, British India ( 1885-10-05 ) Genres Hindustani classical music Children Pandit R.V. Jadhav, Pandit P.V. Jadhav, Pandit B.V. Jadhav | ||
Vishwanathbuwa Jadhav (1885−1964), also referred as Proudh Gandharva or with title Pandit, was an Indian Hindustani classical khyal singer. He was a celebrated disciple of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, the founder of Kirana gharana. He learned under Ustad from 1906 until Ustad's death in 1937 under the gharanedaar style of teaching with one student at a time. He also took lessons from Ustad Nissar Hussein Khan of Gwalior gharana. Jadhav was appointed as the "darbar gayak" of the former princely state of Kolhapur by Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj in 1920s. He had also been invited to perform on various occasions by Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore State. In 1938, he was also bestowed with the title of "Proudh Gandharva" by Wadiyar. He used to also perform at the royal functions of Sangli State. Being friends with Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar, he also taught the veteran Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar in her childhood days at Sangli.
Jadhav composed music for films in the early talkie era. He was the music composer of the 1937 film Gangavataran. The film was written and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke, who is known as the "father of Indian cinema". It was the first sound film and the last film to be directed by Phalke. In 1938, he also composed music for the mythological film Dhurva Kumar based on Dhruva's story. The film starred actors Kumar Prabhakar and Raja Paranjape.
On 4 April 1952, Pandit Vishwanathbuwa Jadhav was honoured by the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad, at the golden jubilee celebrations of the 'Gandharva Mahavidyalaya' at Delhi.
Jadhav has three sons, Pandit B.V. Jadhav, Pandit R.V. Jadhav, Pandit P.V. Jadhav, who are also classical Hindustani singers. At Nashik, they have set up and look after the Pandit Vishwanathbuwa Jadhav Memorial Committee (PVJMC) which promotes Hindustani music. In May 2012, the committee submitted a collection of about 500 notations of various bandishes that Jadhav preserved of his learning from his gurus Ustad Nissar Hussein Khan and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, to a Pune-based group Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj (PBGS).