Ace music director Shrinivas Khale no more

Mumbai: Renowned Marathi music director Shrinivas Khale passed away at his residence in neighbouring Thane early today following brief illness.

He was 85 and is survived by wife and three daughters. Sources said 'Khale Kaka' as he was fondly called was not keeping well for the last few days and breathed his last at his residence in Vasant Vihar at 1.10 am. The funeral will

take place later in the day.

One of the most respected artistes in the Marathi music industry for over six decades, his compositions include numerous songs in five languages - Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Sanskrit and mainly Marathi. He was recently conferred with the prestigious Padmabhushan award by the Central government.

Khale has worked with Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Vasantrao Deshpande, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Dr Balamurli Krishnan, Talat Mehmood, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Bhupender Singh, Mahendra Kapoor,

Suresh Wadkar, Arun Date.

He has recorded 141 'Bhavgeets' and composed music for 6 Marathi films (Yanda Kartavya Ahe, Bolki Bhauli, Palsala Pane Teen, Jivhala, Porki, and Sobati. 'Bheti lagi Jeeva', 'Ya chimnyano', 'Bhaglyanchi maal phule', Gori Gori pan phula sarkhi chaan' are some of his most famous compositions.

He has also given music to theatrical plays like 'Paanigrahan', 'Vidushak' and 'Devache paay' during his stint in Akashwani, Mumbai.

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.

Hailing from Parli village in Konkan-Raigad of Maharashtra, Khale's father Vinayak and mother Laxmi were not keen on his inclination towards music during younger days. It was his elder brother Kashinath Khale encouraged him on the

music path. He was later enormously supported by his wife Surekha Khale.

Kaka's father had to move to Baroda for work and that is where he begun his music lessons. He started with Kanchanlal, a Gujrati music teacher. He then continued with Pt. Bansilal Bharati, Gulam Rasood, Faiyaaz Khan Sahab and Madhusudan Joshi. It was from the latter two that he learned the 'Agra

gharana gayaki'.

After his lessons from Madhusudan Joshi, Khale started his journey as a music director in All India Radio (AIR) in 1945. He went on with his first Gujarati recording of Talat Mahmood in Gramaphone Company India Limited in 1950 and since

then there was no looking back.

In 1952-53, his first Marathi song (Gori Gori Pan Fula Sarkhi) was recorded for HMV. He went on with recording many milestone songs in Marathi.

Later in 1970, a book titled 'Shrinivas Khale - Ek Sankalan by Mauj Publishers was released in his honour on completion of 25 years as a successful music director, the reface of which was written by Shri Pu La Deshpande. In 2009,

Datta Marulkar wrote a book Antaryami Surr Gavasala portraying Kaka's music journey.