Pandit Indra Chandra

PanditIndra Chandra or Indra Chandra Dadhich was an Indian lyricist and songwriter famous during the 1930s-1950s era. He was born in 1905 in Kolkata, West Bengal. He belonged to a family of business men who travelled from Rajasthan to Calcuttaand settled there. His father passed away when he was just 14 years old. He often wrote dialogues and Screenplays as well. With a career spanning over four decades, he wrote lyrics for more than 913 songs for over 132 films. He received a Gold Medal by Mahatma Gandhi for achieving first position in Matriculation. Chandra was fond of writing since a young age. In 1928, his uncle, a lawyer, called him to Mumbai. After shifting to Mumbai, his uncle introduced him to Writer Mohanlal and Filmmaker Baburao Patel. They encouraged him to continue writing and became his Mentors.

Mohanlal suggested him to write a script for a play which led Indrato write his first play ‘SamajikKranti’ for Marubhasha. He further wrote scripts for Baburao Patel’s Sati Mahananda (1933), Maharani (1934) and PardesiSaiyan (1935). Though he was a great screenplay writer, he became quite popular for the lyrics he wrote. His lyrics largely contributed to the success of films like Bambai Ki Sair, Chandan, Raj, Nartaki, Shobha, AdabArz, Bansari, Man ka Meet and many more. He also wrote dialogues and songs for landmark films like Chandralekha and Mangala. He later found his own studio named Kamal Kala Kendra under which he made various movies in Marubhasha. Chandra passed away in 1968.