Histrionics is but one of the attainments of Ranjan, that man of many talents. He is an accomplished dancer and musician, playwright, journalist, critic, scholar, aviator and athlete, a competent painter and, to crown it all ,a magician.
How did Ranjan manage to acquire marked proficiency in so many fields? The secret of his many accomplishments is that he finds the time for everything except idleness. When he is not working in pictures, he occupies himself with one or other of his many interests. When he feels the need to relax he paints in the balcony of his quiet bungalow in Union Park, Bandra. In this sphere his forte is portrait-painting and the color schemes he uses are unusual.
Born in Madras on March 2, 1918, Ranjan is one of a family of ten—eight brothers and two sisters. Ranjan and an elder brother, Vaidyanathan, both showed an aptitude for music at an early age, and their father had them taught by some of the great music teachers of the South.
Vaidyanathan went to Cambridge and the young Ranjan was intended for a career at the same university. But while he was still at college war broke out and ruined his chances of going there. But he had already fared very well.
At fifteen he was classed as a virtuoso on the violin. He won a number of prizes at school for proficiency in music and was the youngest student at Madras University to be awarded a Diploma in Music.
Four years later Ranjan graduated from the Christian College, Madras, with Honors in Physics. The following year he won a research scholarship.
His thesis submitted for his Master’s degree in literature discussed European, Japanese and Chinese music. It was, in fact, a history of the world’s music and while working on his thesis, Ranjan studied Western music and passed some of the examinations of the Trinity College of Music. Skilled in the playing of the violin and many Indian musical instruments, he is also an accomplished pianist.
The art of dancing, too, attracted him and he crammed study of it into his already crowded schedule, soon acquiring remarkable proficiency in Bharata Natyam, Kathakali and Kathak.
He also sang over Madras Radio. His was a voice popular all over Southern India and his broadcasts included a series of talks on art.
The strong artistic urge in him then found expression in a new field. He acted in the Tamil films “Rishya Sringa” and “Narada,” playing the title role in both. These successes whetted his appetite and he went on to act in a third picture, playing the dual role in “Mangamma Sabattam.”
After this the world of scholarship again claimed Ranjan. He joined Madras University as a research fellow, with the Indian classical dance as his field of study. The thesis he wrote was titled “Varieties of Thirmanas and Jatis.”
The dormant urge to act in films again asserted itself. Ranjan was offered the villain’s role in “Chandralekha” (Tamil’) and he accepted it, playing the same role later in its Hindi version. He then featured in “Nishan” which followed almost immediately.
Meanwhile, he was conducting a school of music and dancing in Madras. The school has held five summer courses since it opened in 1941. In 1942 Ranjan married a talented dancer and musician, and both husband and wife went on a tour of South India giving dance recitals. For this tour he composed the dances and music, designed the costumes and led the ballet with his wife.
Ranjan’s work as a writer is also considerable. He has written books, plays (including a Tamil translation of Sheridan’s “Duenna”) and pamphlets on music. He is a regular contributor to magazines and ran his own art journal “Natyam” for some years.
Ranjan is an, aviator, holding a pilot’s “A” license. He is an athlete of no mean merit, riding, swimming, driving and playing cricket and soccer with the best of them, and is an excellent swordsman. Y.M.C.A. activities engage much of his attention as a voluntary worker.
In January Ranjan submitted a 1,500- page thesis. “Rhythmics In Music And Dancing” for a Doctorate in Music of Madras University.
In 1951, the Rockefeller Foundation of America awarded Ranjan a special scholarship to study American ballet, music and the theatre. But his assignment in “Mangala” detained him and he could not go.
At the end of the shooting of “Mangala” Ranjan went on a week’s holiday to Ceylon, where he met Sir Carol Reed who was then filming “An Outcast Of The Islands” there. He then came to Bombay which he has since made his home.
Ranjan has just returned from a tour of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia and the Orient. From Moscow he travelled to Peking on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the journey taking eleven and a half days, and went on to Hongkong and Bangkok before returning to Bombay. On this extensive tour he met representatives of about fifty music groups of different countries.
On behalf of the Sur Singar Samsad, Ranjan is now arranging an International Music Conference which will be held in Bombay at the end of this year, or early next year. Music and dance organizations from all over the world are expected to participate in it. He intends to attend the Moscow Festival of Music next year, leading an Indian contingent of musicians and dancers.
Ranjan is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians which has its headquarters in America, and is the President of the Bombay branch of the All-India Magicians’ Club, of which P. C. Sorcar is the President.
He is still a devoted social worker. The school he has built in Madras for Harijans will be formally opened this month by Mr. C. Rajagopalachari.
Among Ranjan’s forthcoming screen assignments are roles in “Inquilab,” “Sapera,” “Shaan-e-Hind,” “Taj Poshi,” “Kismet” and “Baghi Sipahi.” He is associated with a new production unit, and for the first time he will wield the megaphone in its maiden venture, “Kala_Ghoda”. He will also make a picture in the South—”Sinbad the Sailor” (Tamil). (This profile was written in 1956).
