Breaking it repeatedly as a disposable toy, Pt Ronu Majumdar began playing the instrument when his father mandated practice sessions as part of his punishment. Then he fell in love with it, says Suman Doonga
Pandit Ronu Majumdar never forgets this childhood memory. “When I was six years old, I used to play with flutes and broke a number of them. My father got so angry by the time I had broken the eighth that he made it mandatory for me to practise playing it for seven to eight hours a day. He thought that would wean me off permanently of my destructive habit. Instead, after my first lesson, I fell in love with the instrument,” he tells us.
That’s how we got our flautist in the Hindustani classical tradition with deep roots in the Maihar gharana. Panditji is also responsible for popularising the flute among the younger generation. He has been holding lecture demonstrations in many schools and colleges quite consistently.
Ranendranath Majumdar, popularly known as Ronu, was born in Varanasi and initially trained under his father, Dr Bhanu Majumdar, who was a homeopathic doctor by profession and disciple of Panna lal Ghosh. later Ronuda, as he is affectionately called, learnt vocal music from the late Pt laxman Prasad Jaipurwale and then Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao, a music scholar who groomed him into a concert flautist. He even trained under Pandit Ravi Shankar.
He narrates another memory. “I went to Moscow in 1988 with Pt Ravi Shankar ji and we were practising with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. The Russian conductor wanted Indian artists to play with him. I raised my hand and guruji could feel the confidence in me. I played the piece without any rehearsal and got a standing ovation from the whole auditorium.” Pt Ravi Shankar, expectedly, felt proud.
Panditji has invented a unique style of flute-playing and rendering a mixture of Drupad Gayaki with laykari. A concert, which was conducted by him, included 5,378 flautists on one stage called “Venu Naad” and was taken note of by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Panditji had never thought of playing in Bollywood. “When I got my first award at the All India Radio competition in 1981, the late Pancham da called me over to the studio and I played a number of memorable songs with him after that.” His albums like Bagala Mukhi Dhyana, Moksha, Banarasi Kajri and film songs like Jaan-E-jigar Jaaneman, Main Duniya Bhula Dunga, Tu Meri Zindagi Hai, Yaad Aa Rahi Hai andKuch Na Kaho gained public attention as well as enormous popularity.
Pt Majumdar gets emotional while sharing his memories with the greats. “In Varanasi, Pt Kishan Maharaj wanted to play tabla with me during Shivratri Mahotsav and I was not able to believe that he wanted me to play with him. I still cherish those moments.” This proves that in spite of the success he has got, he is still down-to-earth and is connected with his birthplace, devbhoomi Varanasi.
Few know that Pt Majumdar is a multi-talented personality. Apart from flute, he loves playing cricket and swings the bat now and then. He was a big fan of Kapil Dev and after that it has been Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He loves cooking and is a Hindi poet! His sense of humour and Hindi poetry have helped him win hearts at concerts.
Having been felicitated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2014 for his contribution to Hindustani instrumental music, the Films Division of India has made a documentary film on him called Bansuriwala.