Help national awardee Vanraj Bhatia, urges Kabir Bedi

The Blue actor requests friends to help the widely held music composer to overcome his crisis.

Mumbai: Following the news of Vanraj Bhatia went bankrupt surfaced on the internet, actor Kabir Bedi urged people to help the music composer in his tough times.

A couple of days back, the National Award-winning music composer confessed that he had "not one rupee left" in his account.

Kabir who paid a visit to the 92-year-old Bhatia on Monday said that he is still "lively and spirited as ever."

• I visited #VanrajBhatia yesterday. He is lively and spirited as ever. But, yes, ALL friends should help him at this difficult time. On his own, he has composed an opera on Girish Karnad’s play “Agni Matu Male” (The Fire and the Water). And he’s 92! https://t.co/rFAjqKsFdL

  — KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) September 16, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  I visited #VanrajBhatia yesterday. He is lively and spirited as ever. But, yes, ALL friends should help him at this difficult time. On his own, he has composed an opera on Girish Karnad’s play “Agni Matu Male” (The Fire and the Water). And he’s 92! https://t.co/rFAjqKsFdL

  — KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) September 16, 2019

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  I visited #VanrajBhatia yesterday. He is lively and spirited as ever. But, yes, ALL friends should help him at this difficult time. On his own, he has composed an opera on Girish Karnad’s play “Agni Matu Male” (The Fire and the Water). And he’s 92! https://t.co/rFAjqKsFdL

  — KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) September 16, 2019

  
  

Praising Bhatia for composing an opera on Girish Karnad's play, Kabir wrote on Twitter: "I visited Vanraj Bhatia yesterday. He is lively and spirited as ever. But, yes, ALL friends should help him at this difficult time. On his own, he has composed an opera on Girish Karnad's play "Agni Matu Male" (The Fire and the Water). And he's 92."

In 1988, the music composer won the National Film Award for Best Music for Govind Nihalani's 'Tamas'. He had also been bestowed with Padma Shri in 2012.

Bhatia's melodies including Kundan Shah's 'Jane Bhi Do Yaaro', Aparna Sen's '36 Chowringhee Lane', and Prakash Jha's 'Hip Hip Hooray' are still alive among the audience.

From 'Ankur' in 1974 to 'Sardari Begum' in 1996, he was the favourite composer of arthouse titan Shyam Benegal. The duo collaborated on several projects including 'Manthan', 'Bhumika', 'Junoon', 'Kalyug', 'Mandi', 'Trikaal' and 'Suraj Ka Saatvan Ghoda' among others.

A recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989, Bhatia studied western classical music at Royal Academy of Music, London.