Thaindian News

Thane (Maharashtra), Sep 2 (IANS) Well-known Marathi composer and director Shrinivas Khale passed away at his residence in neighbouring Thane early Friday due to old age related ailments, a family source said. He was 85.

Apart from hundreds who paid their last tributes to the veteran musician, many well-known personalities including veteran Marathi poet Mangesh Padgaonkar, playback singer and music director Shankar Mahadevan and Bharatiya Janata Party leader and MLC Vinod Tawde paid their last tributes to Khale at his funeral.

Several other politicians also sent in their condolences to the bereaved family on the sad demise of Khale.

Expressing a deep sense of grief over Khale’s death, Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan said that the range and calibre of his compositions was simply astonishing.

“It has to be said that Khale-ji came from the kingdom of God to create such memorable music. I had the pleasure of meeting Khale-kaka, as he was fondly called, on a couple of occasions. His music is eternal,” Sankaranarayanan said in his condolence message.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Khale was one of the most respected names in the field of music industry.

“He was a fatherly figure for all. His songs were musically rich and uplifted musical taste of connoisseurs,” he said.

Congress leader and central minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said: “We have lost a doyen of music industry. Khale was an extremely humble person, known for his calm and loving nature. He introduced many talented singers to the music industry and his work will continue to resonate in many ears in years to come.”

Public Works Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said: “We have lost a legendary composer who blessed us with many bhakti and bhavgeet (devotional songs) with his unique style of melody.”

Khale breathed his last at his residence in Vasant Vihar area of Thane city early Friday.

Conferred with the presitigious Padmabhushan award last year, Khale has been one of the most respected artistes in the industry for over six decades. Apart from Marathi, he composed songs in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati and Sanskrit.

Khale has recorded 141 ‘bhavgeets’ and composed music for six Marathi films. He has also composed music for theatrical plays like “Paanigrahan” and “Vidushak”.

He was the only known musician to bring along two Bharat Ratna recipient singers, Lata Mangeshkar and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, for a Hindi bhajan (devotional song) album Ram Shyam Gungaan.

Khale is survived by his wife Surekha and three daughters - Shama, Sanjivani and Sonali. During their childhood, Shama and Sanjivani lent their voices in many ‘baalgeete’ (songs for children) composed by Khale.