This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
In those ” RADIO-ACTIVE” days, it was a pleasure to hear the bhajans of Paluskar.Though he was a well known classical singer, common people knew him for his wonderful Bhajans of Meerabai, Tulsidas etc during the 50s. His voice was quite familiar to the generations born after Indian independence..
The magic of Radio ended with the advent of Record Players, Tape recorders, VCRs, and later TV, CDs and VCDs/DVDs etc. As a result, the younger generation of the the post radio era hardly knew anything about the name Paluskar.
PANDIT DATTATREYA VISHNU PALUSKAR was born in Nashik on 28-5-1921. His father was the famous classical singer Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. Although their original Surname was GADGIL, they changed it to Paluskar as they belonged to Palus, a small village in Sangli District, Maharashtra.
His father died when he was just 10 year old. He was then trained in music by Vinayakrao Patwardhan (he is the one who sang Hindi Film’s First commercially recorded Song in Madhuri-1932. This song is posted on this Blog). Later Pandit Mirashi Buwa of Miraj and his uncle Pt.Chintaman Rao Paluskar also trained him.
His first public performance was at Punjab, when he was 14 year old. Though an expert in Gwalior Gharana of music, he was adept in all other Gharanas’ gayakee too. Besides classical singing he was well known as a Bhajan singer. He probably inherited this trait from his grandfather Digambar Paluskar, who was doing Keertans in temples.
His first record came out in 1944 in classical music.
In 1955 he visited China as a member of a Cultural delegation.
He died of Encephalitis on 26-10-1955, soon after he came back.
G.N.Joshi is another name many seniors may have heard. He was employed with HMV company as the Head of the Recording section. He has seen and interacted with almost all wellknown singers of Films, NFS and Classical etc. He has written his autobiography- ” Down Melody Lane”, which is full of anecdotes and descriptions of his interactions with famous singers.
He has written about D V Paluskar in the book and he also tells us about his film singing in ‘Baiju Bawra’
“I first saw Pandit D V Palukar as a little boy in the Shree Ram Mandir at Panchavati, Nasik in the year 1925. He was then about 5 or 6 years old and had come with his father, Sangeet Bhaskar Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. Vishnu Digambar was singing the bhajan Raghupati Raghav Rajaram. The atmosphere all around was intensely devotional. Looking at the boy who was staring at his father with rapt attention, I wondered whether the lad had inherited any of his
father’s gifts, and whether he would carry on the tradition of Vishnu Digambar. In due course he did become a very brilliant and accomplished singer in his own right; a worthy successor to his most illustrious father. At the time of his father’s death, D V was only 10 years old. He had studied music under the guidance of Pandit Vinayakrao Patwardhan and Pandit Narayanrao Vyas but he did not adopt or copy the peculiar gayaki of the Gandhrava Mahavidhyalaya. Instead he evolved and developed his own style. He had a clear and melodious voice, admirably suited to the type of music he favoured. His aalap clearly outlined the raga he sang; then followed the bandish embellished by beautiful taans in an effortless enchanting style. Both Pandit Vinayakrao Patwardhan and Pandit Narayan Vyas probably connived at his spirit of independence because he was the son of their guru. This was a blessing in disguise as it encouraged the young D V to develop his own independent style.
D V Paluskar was very, very modest. He was known to his intimates as ‘Bapurao’. He was fully aware of his talents but never boastful about them. He never spoke ill of anyone, was of a quiet disposition and completely free from any vice. He arrived for recordings punctually and fully prepared. Recording sessions with him were therefore most enjoyable and not in the least bothersome. He had complete mastery over his art and sang with perfection, ease and confidence, while we captured his magic artistry on our discs.
He cut his first disc in 1944. Like Pandit Narayanrao Vyas, Bapurao mastered the technique of presenting an attractive and complete picture of any raga in just 3 minutes and 15 seconds, for recording. For his first recording he chose to sing four khayals in the ragas Bahar, Tilak Kamod, Kedar and Bilaskhani Todi. He also rendered his father’s favourite bhajan Raghupati Raghav Rajaram along with another one by Sant Surdas. I got him for recording again in 1947 when he recorded ragas Gaud Malhar, Ramkali, Hans Kinkini and Marwa. This time also he recorded two bhajans – Chalo mana Ganga Jamuna tir and Lachiman dhire chalo. At my request he recorded two Marathi songs also but unfortunately they failed to click commercially. On account of his melodious voice, chaste style and attractive renderings, all the recordings of his classical music became immensely popular and still continue to sell in large numbers.
In 1952 Bapurao introduced me to a fair and handsome teenage boy who was his close relative and who played well on the violin. Bapurao requested me to take him on our music staff. Fortunately we needed a hand just then, so I got him the job. In our studio, recordings were made in different languages and styles. Ghazals and qawalis in Urdu, bhavgeets in Marathi, garba and ras in Gujarati, and Hindustani classical music – all these were often recorded in our studios. It was therefore the job of this youngster to provide accompaniment to all these types of music. This helped him extend his knowledge and constant practice brought polish to his play. I suggested to him that he should also learn and practise writing music. Within a short period he assiduosly mastered this too. It helped him very much later in life. Soon after he was offered a better job in the Films Division and I readily relieved him. The new job had better prospects – both financial and artistic. This young boy is now a man – the famous violinist D K Datar, popular all over India for his chaste and entertaining violin recitals. A scene in jugalbandi form between Tansen and Baiju is enacted in the film Baiju Bawra. My friend Naushad Ali who wrote the music for this picture had requested me to suggest classical singers for this duet. I suggested the names of Bapurao Paluskar and Ustad Amir Khan. Bapurao had to be cajoled into accepting the assignment. He was afraid that by singing in films he would spoil his style. I however reasoned with him that he would have absolute freedom to expound and present the composition in his own style without any interference. Thus assured, he sang in the jugalbandi form with Ustad Amir Khan. The two great artists matched in every respect and therefore this jugalbandi performance proved to be the most interesting and the highlight of the film.”
(with Thanks to RMIC and Shri Rajan Parrikar.)
Let us now enjoy his popular bhajan of Tulsidas- ” Thumak chalat Ramchandra”….
Song-Thumak chalat Raamchandra (D V Paluskar NFS)(1950) Singer-D V Paluskar, Lyrics-Tulsidas
Lyrics
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
thumak chalat Raamchandra
thumak chalat Raamchandra
baajat painjaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamchandra
kilaki kilaki uthat dhaay
kilaki kilaki uthat dhaay
girat bhoomi latpataay
Dhaay maat god let
Dashrath ki raniyaan
thumak chalat Raamachandra
baajat painjaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamachandra
anchal raj ang jhaari
anchal raj ang jhaari
vividh bhaanti so dulaari
vividh bhaanti so dulaari
tan man dhan vaari vaari
tan man dhan vaari
tan man dhan vaari vaari
kahat mridu bachaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamachandra
vidrum se arun adhar
vidrum se arun adhar
bolat mukh madhur madhur
bolat mukh madhur madhur
subhag naasikaa mein chaaru
subhag naasikaa mein chaaru
latakat latakaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamchandra
baajat painjaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamachandra
thumak chalat Raamachandra
thumak chalat Raamachandra
thumak chalat Raamachandra
baajat painjaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamachandra
Tulasidaas ati anand
Tulasiidaas ati anand
Tulasidaaaaas
daaaas
Tulasidaas ati anand
dekhi ke mukhaaravind
dekhi ke mukhaaravind
Raghuvar chhabi ke samaan
Raghuvar chhabi ke samaan
Raghuvar chhabi ke samaan
Raghuvar chhabi baniyaan
thumak chalat Raamachandra
baajat painjaniyaan
thumak chalat Raamchandra
What feelings in the voice!!! Like a true pujari singing in the mandir. Another Bhajan singer par excellence is Hari Om Sharan(HOS) . Anup Jalota popularised the Bhajan singing by wrongly resorting to gimmicks like sargam. Can a pujari be expected to know the nuances and nitty-gritty of sargam. Further his pronunciations were too refined unlike the real pujari. The later tend to pronounce prashad as parshad unlike Anup. HOS will invariably pronounce it as parshad. Anup further cannibalized ghazal singing by again resorting to sargam. Have we heard Talat ghazals with sargam? A BIG NO.
Thank you so so so much for putting this bhanjan up Deshmukhji! I have been in love with this bhajan for almost three years now. I have heard it being performed on live by Vidushi. Malvikka Sarrukai an amazing exponent of bharatnatyam and a padma shri and kalaimamani awardee. (not to be confused with vidushi malvika sarabhai). I have seen her perform it on three separate occasions over 3 years. She presents it in a longer format as scene of kaushalya the head queen being transformed into a mother in front of her child rama.The performance is so powerful that every time i can actually feel as if a child ram swayam prakat ho kar he is playing with his mother on stage. It leaves me with strange tears of unbounded joy and fills me with this ethereal light feeling every time.
I am huge huge fan of Malvikkaji and have been fortunate to meet her five times and escort her on three occasions. When a person sees her dancing only will they know the reasons the words beauty, grace, amazing and extraordinary were invented. Anyone who gets a chance should never miss her. She takes the audience to a different level altogether.
I am so glad i can now hear this song and relive those moments mentally every time i do. Thank you so much
This blog discusses Bollywood songs of yesteryears. Every song has a brief description, followed by a video link, and complete lyrics of the song. This is a labour of love, where “new” songs are added every day, and that has been the case for over SEVENTEEN years. This blog has over 20000 song posts by now. This blog is active and online for over 6000 days since its beginning on 19 July 2008.
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 4, 2013 at 8:15 pm
What feelings in the voice!!! Like a true pujari singing in the mandir. Another Bhajan singer par excellence is Hari Om Sharan(HOS) . Anup Jalota popularised the Bhajan singing by wrongly resorting to gimmicks like sargam. Can a pujari be expected to know the nuances and nitty-gritty of sargam. Further his pronunciations were too refined unlike the real pujari. The later tend to pronounce prashad as parshad unlike Anup. HOS will invariably pronounce it as parshad. Anup further cannibalized ghazal singing by again resorting to sargam. Have we heard Talat ghazals with sargam? A BIG NO.
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