- published: 11 May 2015
- views: 3967
Vanraj Bhatia (born 1927) is an Indian music composer, who is best known for providing music for most of Shyam Benegal's films, and for his private albums with Music Today. Although he gave good music to many art movies, he never came to main-stream commercial movies, therefore, his success was limited.
During the 1970s and 1980s he worked with many art film makers in India. In the 1990s he composed the music of Vijay Singh's international film Jaya Ganga (1996). He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Tamas in 1988, and was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989. Padmashree for 2012 has been conferred upon him in field of Art – Music.
Born in 1927 in Bombay, Vanraj Bhatia (Hindi: वनराज भाटिया) trained in Western classical music while studying at the Elphinstone College in Mumbai for M.A. (English Honours); after graduating in 1949 he left for the Royal Academy of Music, London, to study music composition, which he passed with a Royal Academy Gold Medal in 1954.