Having known Aadesh Shrivastava and his devoted wife Vijayta for many years, I wondered how she was going to survive without him.
“Please come and see him. You may not get to do so later,” Vijayta had sobbed on the phone when Aadesh was seriously ill.
He passed away a few hours after his 51st birthday on September 4.
It was a tough and unequal battle with cancer. After he was first diagnosed and treated successfully in 2011 Aadesh had said to me, ‘Abhi bahot kaam karna hai.Bahot kuch baqi hai. I am glad I am back from the dead.I’ve realized how important my family is to me. I’ll now work towards my two sons’ future. Jai Mata di!”
Then the villainous disease returned.
Aadesh’s life-consuming cancer had struck him with a vengeful ferocity. God knows, what he was being punished for. An upright man who would never compromise with his conscience and work, Aadesh was the odd one out in the entertainment industry. Known as an outspoken firebrand he was specially known for his musical collaborations with the Big B that yielded an imperishable harvest of evergreen songs.
But there was much to Aadesh than the Big B. He was a ferociously individualistic and original composer and did not hide his contempt for the successful plagiarists of the music world.Aadesh was one of those rare Bollywood composers who knew how to do a background score. Unfairly, big producers would let mediocre but more successful music directors do the songs and rope in Aadesh to do the background score.
His masterly work as a background scorer J P Dutta’s Border , Refugee and LOC Kargil speaks for itself.
Ironically Aadesh’s last work as a background scorer in Welcome Back hit the screen hours before death whisked him away.
Laughter has been conspicuous by its absence in Aadesh’s life. His family has been stricken by one tragedy after another. A few years ago his elder brother Chitresh died in a road accident. Barely had the family begun to come to terms with this tragedy when his wife’s sister was murdered.
Aadesh took all the adversities on the chin. “I am born fighter.I guess God is putting me through all these tests to make me a stronger man. God is great. Jai Mata di,” he’d say.
The Best Of Aadesh Shrivastava:
1. Phool main bheju dil yeh kehta hai: Salma Pe Dil Aa Gaya(Lata Mangeshkar-Kumar Sanu)
2. Suno na suno na: Chalte Chalte(Abhijeet Bhattacharya)
3. Of dharti barse ambar trase: Baaghbaan(Amitabh Bachchan, Richa Sharma)
4. Alla hoo: Dev(Asha Bhosle,Aadesh Shrivastava)
5. Jab jab saiyyan: Chingari(Himani Kapoor)
Image Sources: YouTube:/SwatiChannel/T-Series/Amitabh Bachchan-Topic/Bharat Bhakti/Jason Lennon, Instagram/sysoon.findagrave.