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Award Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the Hindustani Classical music legend, of ‘Kirana’ gharana have been selected for India’s highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’. Before it, he had been awarded with Padma Shri (1972), Padma Bhushan (1985) and Padma Vibhushan (1999). Except he had been awarded by many state governments. It includes the Maharashtra Bhushan (2002) from the state government, the Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1975), Tansen Sanman award (1998) from the MP government and Karnataka Ratna (2005).  The 86 year old vocalist is renowned for his bhajans and khayals.

Early Life Born on February 4, 1922, in Gadag, Karnataka,he is a son of a schoolteacher who had left his home at the age of 11 to learn music. But he could not find a good guru. During his search he had stayed in Gwalior, Lucknow and Ramput and was later on traced by his father who brought him back to home. In 1936 Sawai Gandharva, who was a disciple of Abdul Karim Khan, accepted him as his disciple. He learnt music from him for four year and stayed with him according to the guru-shishya tradition. He had given his first performance when he was 19 years old. Next year, his debut album was released in which he had sung bhajans in Kannada and Hindi. 

Career Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is famous for his khayals, thumris and bhajans. Some of his famous numbers are ‘Piya Milan Ki Aas’, Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada’, ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ etc. He has also combined ragas to form new ragas and has adopted unique styles and singing characteristics from other gharanas also. By the year 1950 he had become very famous in the country and abroad and since then he had traveled extensively to perform in the music concerts. Every year a music festival is organized in Pune to mark his Guru’s death anniversary. In this festival, famous classical musicians participate every year. This festival is being held regularly for last three decades and is held in the month of December.

Contribution Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is considered to be one of the best alive classical singers of India. In the beginning of his music career he was very popular for his unique style and mastery over ragas. It won’t be wrong to call him as the king of Hindustani classical singing. He is living in Pune and teaching music for last three decades.

New Hope Though Nano’s departure from the state of West Bengal had dashed the hopes of bright future for the left government and the people, but a new ray of hope has shined for the troubled land. According to some news reports, representatives of a Chinese automobile major met the WB Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharaya on Tuesday, October 4 and have expressed their interest to set up a small car project in the state. It has been said that they need 600 acres of land to set up the unit that is equal to the ‘undisputed land’ in Singur. It must be borne in mind that state government had given almost 1000 acres of land to the Tata motors on lease but some farmers wanted their land back which was more than 300 acres.  Because of the violent agitation Tata motors have shifted the Nano plant from Singur to Ahmadabad (Gujarat).

Project Representatives of China’s largest manufacturing company, First Automobile Works (FAW), met the CM and Industries minister Nirupam Sen in the Writers’ Building. They want to invest Rs. 1500 crore in the state to set up a automobile manufacturing unit in the state. They, first will manufacture small cars and later on heavy vehicles, also will be manufactured in the unit. It is being expected that the first vehicle, that will be a small car priced around 1.6 lakh will roll out from the project by 2010. The project will be a joint venture between FAW and Ural India. Ural India is an Indo-Russian joint venture that produces trucks for the Indian military. Company official discussed about sites in Kalyani, Haldia, Kharagpur and Singur. But it is being perceived that Singur will be the hot favorite site as the land there has already been developed.

Process The company needs 600 acres of land and ancillary units will be setup in other parts of the state. If it  chooses Singur to set up the unit then it has the advantage of developed land but problem is that the land has been leased out to Tata Motors. Earlier Tata had said that they will give the Singur land back to the state government. If everything goes well with the proposed project then it will bring a new hope to the people of the state and will also attract foreign investment.

Death Famous Indian director and producer of Hindi films and TV serials, Baldev Raj Chopra popularly known as B R Chopra died on Wednesday, November 5 at his residence in suburban Juhu (Mumbai) after a prolonged illness. He was 94 years old and has been survived by his son Ravi Chopra and two daughters. His brother Yash Chopra, son Ravi Chopra and nephew Aditya Chopra are also directors in the entertainment industry.

Early Life He had received his post-graduation degree from the Lahore University in English Literature and had worked as a movie journalist for some time. During this period his interest in movies had started. It was because of a deep-rooted fascination for films that he had preferred film journalism instead of a higher education as his career. After the partition he had moved to Delhi and after some time to Mumbai.

Films In Mumai, he produced ‘Karwat’ in 1949 but it proved out to be a big flop. But he was discouraged by the failure and again produced and directed ‘Afsana in 1951 which proved out to be a big hit and celebrated its silver jubilee. From here he never looked back and produced and directed many hit movies. In all his films he touched the socially relevant issues. Some of his best known films are Ek Hi Raasta (1956), Naya Daur (1957), Sadhana (1958), Kanoon (1960), Gumrah (1963) and Humraaz (1967). In ‘Raasts he had touched the theme of widow remarriage while in ‘Naya Daur’ he had shown the conflict between traditional rural values and modernism and mechanism. The ‘Gumrah’ was a big hit which was the tale of a woman who indulges in an affair after her marriager. His brother Yash Chopra also worked with him and and produced more than four films for B R Films.

Small Screen Later on B R Films turned to small screen and made several successful TV serials. But one of the most famous TV serial was Mahabharat which was based on the Hindu Granth ‘ Mahabharat’. It is considered to be the most popular TV serial in the history of Indian Cinema. During this period sale of TV sets had zoomed manifolds in India. With it B R Chopra got recognition in every household of India. Besides producing and directing films and serials he had also tried his hand at acting and story writing.