Hamsalekha and V Ravichandran end long-standing rift: ‘Time passes, memories don’t’

As the evening edged towards 6:00 PM on May 30, 2026, the J K Grand Arena in Kengeri steadily swelled with anticipation. The college students, who had once wooed their sweethearts with the evergreen songs from the Hamsalekha-V Ravichandran combination, had gathered at the venue as middle-aged adults, carrying decades of memories. The concert Crazy Brahma, organised by Vinay Na and Vishwas of Prastut and Dr. Chethana RS and Vishal RS of Kalaluha, brought back the golden partnership of Kannada cinema.

The veteran duo was candid about its much-talked-about rift, setting the tone for a feel-good, breezy musical night. “We might have got separated, but we continued to pursue what we love: music,” said veteran composer Hamsalekha, receiving instant applause from fans. During the promotional phase of the concert, actor-director Ravichandran had recalled the reactions to the breakup of the successful pair. “I felt industry insiders celebrated our split more than our success.

That said, when you taste success as a team, you are bound to witness a fall as well. It’s part of life. Time passes, but memories don’t.” The candid bonhomie between the two was apparent when Hamsalekha opened the programme with a memory that sparked their terrific journey with Premaloka in 1987. Holding a lunch box, the music maestro said, “Ravichandran has the practice of visiting Tirupati temple on his birthdays.

He gives us the famous laddu from the temple before beginning to compose. That’s how we first began creating the Premaloka album,” said Hamsalekha, celebrating the superstar’s birthday with the laddu on the concert stage. Premaloka, which sold a shocking 36 lakh cassettes, had 12 songs— all of them chartbusters — and signalled a glorious journey of two creative minds. Hamsalekha and Ravichandran recorded several evergreen numbers with 150 artistes at the Prasad Studios in Chennai. “His visuals from the movie would give me goosebumps, inspiring me to compose,” said Hamsalekha. “For me, his tunes challenged me to create quality visuals,” offered Ravichandran.

Helping the two become trend setters in the 90s was the gifted SP Balasubrahmanyam, who sang several hit songs in the Hamsalekha-Ravichandran projects. The trio was the central force of Kannada film music’s golden era. In a touching moment, the concert played a video of SPB from a reality show, in which the legendary singer requests Hamsalekha and Ravichandran to bury their differences. The supremely talented Mano, known for having a striking vocal resemblance to SPB, sang the famous ‘Yarivalu Yarivalu’ number from Ramachari (1991) as a tribute to his role model.

For Ravichandran, Ramachari brought back bitter-sweet memories. The film resurrected his career after his Shanthi Kranthi (1991), India’s most expensive film during that time, with a star cast of Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna, Juhi Chawla, Anant Nag, Khusboo, and Ramesh Aravind, bombed at the box office. “The costumes of Shanthi Kranthi cost ₹2 crore. For Ramachari, it was just ₹2000,” he said with a chuckle. Hamsalekha and Ravichandran also remembered KJ Yesudas’ contribution to their film albums.

At the packed concert, Yesudas’ son, Vijay Yesudas, sang two of his favourite Kannada songs, both originally sung by Yesudas under Hamsalekha’s composition for Ravichandran’s movies. Nostalgia peaked among the 7000 people when Vijay rendered ‘Sone Sone’ from Preethsod Thappa (1998), the duo’s last project. “I wasn’t happy with the pallavi of the song, and a frustrated Hamsalekha had given me 40 more options. Eventually, I chose the first one he had created. Hamsalekha was sportive enough to say he got 40 options for his other projects,” Ravichandran had recollected, during promotional interviews for the concert.

Yesudas’ other classic from Sipayi (1996), ‘Bangarada Bombe Nanna’, drew loud cheers when Vijay, Madhu Balakrishnan, and Anuradha Bhat performed the song. The concert paid tribute to the late Soundarya, the film’s female lead. “We had announced the release date of Sipayi. When I saw the final version of the movie, I wasn’t satisfied with the visuals of ‘Bangarada Bombe’. Soundarya was a busy actor.

I waited for her dates, re-shot the song, and then released the movie,” recollected Ravichandran, whose lavish filmmaking was the talk of Sandalwood back then. Seasoned Rajesh Krishnan and Aishwarya Rangarajan also sang hit songs while Sudharani, Umashree, and Khushboo were among the many noted actors who shared memories of working with Ravichandran, unanimously terming him the showman of Kannada cinema. Over the night, two of the greatest artistes of Sandalwood enthralled an entire generation of fans. The song from Premaloka, ‘Idu nanna ninna prema geethe chinna, idu yeshtu sari haadidaru channa’ (this is our love song, and it’s beautiful every time we sing), was the concert’s highlight and fittingly so.

These love songs are ever irresistible and never enough.