Sudhir Phadke (born Ram Phadke), fondly known as Babuji, was a renowned singer, composer and music director in Marathi and Hindi cinema. He was particularly known for Marathi sugam sangeet (light music).

Sudhir Phadke received his early training in classical vocal music from Vamanrao Padhye. He started his music career with HMV records in 1941. He then joined Prabhat Film Company as music director after five years. Phadke married playback singer Lalita Deulkar in 1949. Their son Shridhar Phadke is also a Marathi singer and composer.

One of the more prominent works of Phadke is GD Madgulkar’s Geet Ramayan that has 56 Marathi songs chronologically describing events from the epic Ramayana. Phadke scored the music for all the songs which wererecorded in his voice as well as the voices of other popular singers of the time.

Phadke composed the music for 111 films, including 21 Hindi films. Some of the movies for which he scored the music are Rukmani Swayamvar (1946), Vande Mataram (1948), Nirupama Aani Parirani (1961), Dost Asava Tar Asa (1978), Shapit (1982), Chorachya Manat Chandane (1984), Maherchi Manse (1984), Resham Gathi (1988), Vishwa Vinayak (1994), Hriday Sarparshi (2000) and A Dot Com Mom (2016).

A follower of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Phadke was president of the Savarkar Darshan Pratishthan (trust). He produced and composed music for the biopic Veer Savarkar (2001). It is believed that this was the first film in the world to be financed by public donations. The movie, which had its muhurat shot taken way back in 1990, took a long time to be completed and released because of constant changes in the team of directors and scriptwriters. It was finally completed in 1998 and released in 2001. In 2012, a Gujarati version of the film was released by then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi.

Besides music direction, Sudhir Phadke sang in movies like Narvir Tanaji (1952), Postatil Mulgi (1954), Aandhala Magto Ek Dola (1956), Jagachya Pathivar (1960), Te Mazhe Ghar (1963), Aamhi Zato Aamuchya Gava (1968), Aadhar (1969), Bajiravanch Beta (1971), Zawai Vikat Ghene Aahe (1973), Anolkhi (1973), Kartiki (1974), Ya Sukhano Ya (1975), Jotibacha Navas (1975), Aaram Haram Ahe (1976), Aplech Daat Aplech Oth (1982), Thorali Zaau (1983), Pudhcha Paul (1986) and Dhakti Soon (1986).

As a composer, he is known for 'Jyoti Kalash Chhalake' (Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan, 1961) and 'Pehli Tareekh' (first day of the month) which was sung by Kishore Kumar and played on Radio Ceylon on the first of every month. He also composed and arranged for 'Maratha Sphurti Geet', the regimental song of the Maratha Light Infantry, a regiment of the Indian army.

Phadke won several awards, including National award for Best Feature Film in Marathi (1963) for Haa Mazha Marg Ekla, Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1991) and Sahyadri Swara Ratna Puraskar (2002).

Sudhir Phadke was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for most of his life. He was a prominent member of the United Front and was actively involved with the Goa freedom movement. He was also a founder member of the India Heritage Foundation in the United States.

Phadke died of brain haemorrhage in Mumbai on 29 July 2002. A flyover between Borivali and Dahisar in northwestern Mumbai is named after him.