Snehal
Bhatkar's real name was V. G. Bhatkar - Vasudev G Bhatkar.
Snehal was his daughter's name. He had some other assignments
when Kidar Sharma's offer for the film Neel Kamal (1947)
came along. Raj Kapoor and Madhubala (as lead actors)
made their debut with this film. There may have been
a contract violation issue there. He probably decided
not to take any chances and took the name as "Snehal
Bhatkar" to compose the music for this film. (An year
before, he, alongwith Sudhir Phadke, had composed music
for Rukmani Swayamwar)
Snehal Bhatkar has a lot of beautiful songs to his credit
in Marathi film and non-film music. But consistent with
the story of his life, very few music lovers are aware
of it. One journalist had commented that if Snehal Bhatkar
had written his autobiography, ideal title would be
'No regrets'. The guy just came up with some incredible
tunes whenever he got any chance, and was very content
with himself even after most of the films flopped and
everybody forgot about them. |