Ravi Shankar Sharma, often referred to mononymously as Ravi, was an Indian music director, who had composed music for several Hindi and Malayalam films. Ravi was born in Delhi on 3 March 1926. He had no formal training in classical music; instead he learned music from listening to his father sing bhajans. He taught himself to play harmonium and other classical instruments and worked as an electrician to support his family. In 1950 he decided to shift to Bombay and become a professional singer. At first Ravi was homeless, living on the streets and sleeping in Malad railway station at night.n 1952, Ravi was discovered by Hemant Kumar who hired him to sing backing vocals in Vande Mataram from the film Anand Math.Ravi's wife, whom he married in 1946, died in 1986. He had two daughters Veena and Chhaya and a son Ajay. His estranged son Ajay is married to Varsha Usgaonkar who is a Marathi and Hindi film actress.