In the memory of R D Burman…
The magician of tunes Rahul Dev Burman, also known by his fans as R D Burman and Pancham. It is said about the name Pancham that once in his childhood he was repeatedly stuck on “P” while singing a song, then actor Ashok Kumar named him Pancham. By the way, it is also said that in childhood he used to cry in the fifth tone, so he came to be called Pancham. Whatever it is, this name is absolutely correct. What can be a better name for a person who has music in his veins, who has lived music!
Born on 27 June 1939 in Kolkata, R D Burman belonged to the royal family of Tripura. He got the atmosphere of music since childhood because his father Sachin Dev Burman himself was a great musician. Perhaps that is why at the young age of 9, he composed a tune which his father used for the song “Ae Meri Topi Palt Ke Aa Na Apne Funtoosh Ko Sata” from the movie “Funtoosh”.
Since childhood, R D Burman was very fond of playing the mouth organ (harmonica), the wonder of his mouth organ (harmonica) was shown in many films. A song from the movie “Sixteenth Saal” is “Hai Apna Dil To Awara Na Jaane Kis Pe Aayega” in which R D Burman played the mouth organ. He played the mouth organ for Laxmikant Pyarelal in the movie “Dosti”.
The way R D Burman experimented with instruments like drums, saxophone, electric organ and guitar in the film “Teesri Manzil” brought a revolution in Hindi film music. In this R D Burman also brought rock n roll. The freshness of the music of this film and the magic of departure touched everyone’s head.
After Teesri Manzil, producer-director Nasir Hussain signed the pair of lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri and composer R D Burman for the next six films. And then came the musical hits like “Bahar Ke Sapne”, “Pyaar Ka Mausam”, “Yaadon Ki Baaraat”, “Padosan”. Not only Nasir Hussain, but the hit music of R D Burman was heard in the films of many directors like Shakti Samanta, Rahul Rawail and Raj Sippy.
R D Burman understood western harmony as well as Indian melody and technique, as well as he understood the mood of the new generation. Perhaps this is the reason why even the youth is able to associate himself with his music. He was a trend-setter in many ways. The whole landscape of film music changed when he introduced Latin sounds, cabaret, retro and funky sounds to film music.
While R D Burman made songs that dance, dance, dance, soulful music like Amar Prem is also his gift. Classical music and folk tunes have also been extensively used in his compositions. Although this aspect of his music has often been overlooked, it is a fact that his soft romantic numbers are still the most hummed for today.
Apart from lyricist Gulzar, he worked extensively with Majrooh Sultanpuri, Gulshan Bawra and Anand Bakshi. R D Burman composed his music in around 330 films, including Hindi as well as Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Oriya films. Pancham also gave music in five TV serials in Hindi and Marathi. He had a Latin rock album out — “PENTERA” which was a one-of-a-kind experiment, an internationally acclaimed album. He also composed many non-filmi songs in Bengali which were later adapted into Hindi films as well.
Talking about his personal life, R D Burman’s first marriage was with Rita Patel but this love marriage did not last long and both of them separated in 1971. After this, Asha Bhosle became Pancham’s life partner. There was a time in the life of Pancham, who stunned the world on his beats, when his films were constantly flopping, so even those in the industry started shunning him, whom Pancham had given many musical hits. Pancham’s heart was broken by this attitude of the people.
In 1988, R D Burman had his first heart attack, later he also had bypass surgery. But even during this period of illness, he did not break ties with music. Pancham’s last film was Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s “1942: A Love Story”, although the music company wanted a new composer to give the music of the film, but Vidhu Vinod Chopra wanted to give this responsibility to RD Burman because in his film “Parinda”. Pancham’s music was also there. In this way, he got this film only and only because of Vidhu Vinod Chopra. And everyone knows how popular the music of the film became. But sadly Pancham could not see this round.
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AUTHOR
(NEETU SHARMA)