Chandrakant Bhosle first noticed Shankarji, as Shankar was popularly known among his friends, in Mumbai in 1945 when Shankarji arrived in Mumbai with ballet troupe of guru Krishnankutty and dancer Hemawati. Bhosle was a 'tabla' player and had become closely associated with Shankarji. He used to play 'rhythm' in Shankarji's orchestra from 1945 until Shankarji's death. A night before Shankarji's death, i.e. on 25 April 1987 Shankarji dropped Bhosle near Charni Road railway station where Bhosle stayed and drove off to his own residence at Churchgate. On 26 April Bhosle was, as usual, waiting for Shankarji at around 10.00 a.m. to take him to the studio, but Shankarji did not turn up so Bhosle went to the studio by taxi. All the musicians waited the whole day for Shankarji in the studio but he did not turn up. The next day, Bhosle read the news of Shankarji's death. Unfortunately, family members with whom Shankarji was staying did not inform Bhosle, Raj Kapoor or anybody from the film fraternity about Shankarji's death.