He didn't believe in incidental music: Shyam Benegal on Vanraj Bhatia

Veteran composer Vanraj Bhatia, who died at the age of 93 on May 7, forged one of Indian cinema’s most enduring collaborations with filmmaker Shyam Benegal. The pair worked in 16 movies — starting with Ankur (1974) and including other classics such as Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976), Bhumika (1977), Mandi (1983) and Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992) — across nearly four decades. In a conversation with Ritwik Sharma, Benegal recalls their partnership and what made Bhatia a very special music director:

“We did a large number of advertising films before movies. First of all, he was very learned. He had studied