Rahul Dev Burman

Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work with his wife, Asha Bhosle, and Kishore Kumar and scored many of the songs that made these singers famous. He also worked extensively and scored approximately 331 songs including some of the most memorable numbers in his career for his sister-in-law, Lata Mangeshkar. Nicknamed Pancham, he was the only son of the composer Sachin Dev Burman.

He was mainly active in the Hindi film industry as a composer, and also provided vocals for a few compositions. He served as an influence to the next generation of Indian music directors, and his songs continue to be popular in India and overseas.

Biography

Early life

Burman was born to the Hindi film composer and singer, Sachin Dev Burman, and his lyricist wife Meera Dev Burman (née Dasgupta), in Calcutta. Initially, he was nicknamed Tublu by his maternal grandmother, although he later became known by the nickname Pancham. According to some stories, he was nicknamed ''Pancham'' because, as a child, whenever he cried, it sounded in the fifth note (''Pa''), G scale, of music notation; in Hindustani Classical Music, '' Pancham'' is the name of the fifth scale degree: (IAST: Ṣaḍja, Ṛṣabha, Gandhāra, Madhyama, Pañcama, Dhaivata, Niṣāda). Another theory says that the baby was nicknamed Pancham because he could cry in five different notes. Yet another version is that when the veteran Indian actor Ashok Kumar saw a newborn Rahul uttering the syllable ''Pa'' repeatedly, he nicknamed the boy ''Pancham''.

Burman received his early education in West Bengal from Tirthapati Institution in Kolkata. His father S. D. Burman was a noted music director in Hindi language films, the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry. When he was seventeen years old, R. D. Burman composed his first song, ''Aye meri topi palat ke aa'', which his father used in the film ''Funtoosh'' (1956). The tune of the song ''Sar jo tera chakraaye'' was also composed by him as a child; his father included it in the soundtrack of Guru Dutt's ''Pyaasa'' (1957).

In Mumbai, Burman was trained by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and Samta Prasad (tabla). He also considered Salil Chowdhury his guru. He served as an assistant to his father and often played harmonica in his orchestras.

Some of the notable films in which Burman is credited as the music assistant include ''Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi'' (1958), ''Kaagaz Ke Phool'' (1959), '' Tere Ghar Ke Samne'' (1963), '' Bandini'' (1963), '' Ziddi'' (1964), ''Guide'' (1965) and ''Teen Devian'' (1965). Burman also played mouth organ for his father's hit composition "Hai Apna Dil To Aawara", which was featured in the film '' Solva Saal'', and sung by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay.

In 1959, Burman signed up as a music director for the film ''Raaz'', directed by Guru Dutt's assistant Niranjan. However, the film was never completed. The lyrics of this Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman-starrer film were written by Shailendra. Burman recorded two songs for the film before it was shelved. The first song was sung by Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, and the second one had vocals by Shamshad Begum.

Burman's first released film as an independent music director was ''Chhote Nawab'' (1961). When the noted Hindi film comedian Mehmood decided to produce ''Chhote Nawab'', he first approached Burman's father Sachin Dev Burman for the music. However, S. D. Burman declined the offer, advising he was unavailable. At this meeting, Mehmood noticed Rahul playing tabla, and signed him as the music director for ''Chhote Nawab''. Burman later developed a close association with Mehmood, and made a cameo in Mehmood's ''Bhoot Bangla'' (1965).

Initial successes

Burman's first hit film as a film music director was ''Teesri Manzil'' (1966). Burman gave credit to lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri for recommending him to Nasir Hussain, the producer and writer of the film. Vijay Anand also said that he had arranged a music session for Burman before Nasir Hussain. ''Teesri Manzil'' had six songs, all of which were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, and sung by Mohammed Rafi. Four of these were duets with Asha Bhosle, whom Burman later married. Nasir Hussain went on to sign Burman and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri for six of his films including '' Baharon Ke Sapne'' (1967), '' Pyar Ka Mausam'' (1969) and ''Yaadon Ki Baaraat'' (1973). Burman's score for '' Padosan'' (1968) was well received. Meanwhile, he continued to work as his father's assistant for films including ''Jewel Thief'' (1967) and '' Prem Pujari'' (1970).

Marriage

Burman's first wife was Rita Patel, whom he had met in Darjeeling. Rita, a fan, had bet her friends that she would be able to get a film-date with Burman. The two married in 1966, and divorced in 1971. The song ''Musafir Hoon Yaaron'' ("I'm a Traveller") from '' Parichay'' (1972) was composed while he was at a hotel after the separation.

Burman married Asha Bhosle in 1980. Together, they recorded many hit songs and also staged many live performances. However, towards the end of his life, they did not live together. Burman had financial difficulties, particularly later in his life. His mother Meera died in 2007, thirteen years after his death. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's even before her son's death. Just before her death she had been moved to an old age home, and moved back to her son's residence after the issue became a controversy.

Rise to popularity

In the 1970s, Burman became highly popular with the Kishore Kumar songs in Rajesh Khanna-starrer films. ''Kati Patang'' (1970), a musical hit, was the beginning of a series of the 1970s films directed by Shakti Samanta of ''Aradhana'' fame. Its songs "Yeh Shaam Mastani" and "Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai", sung by Kishore Kumar, became instant hits. Apart from Kishore Kumar, Burman also composed several of the popular songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle.

In 1970, Burman composed the music for Dev Anand's '' Hare Rama Hare Krishna'' (1971). The Asha Bhosle song " Dum Maro Dum" from this film proved to be a seminal rock number in Hindi film music. The filmmaker Dev Anand did not include the complete version of "Dum Maro Dum" in the film, because he was worried that the song would overshadow the film. In the same year, Burman composed the music for '' Amar Prem''. The Lata Mangeshkar song "Raina Beeti Jaaye" from this soundtrack is regarded as a classical music gem in Hindi film music. Burman's other hits in 1971 included the romantic song "Raat kali ek khwab mein" from '' Buddha Mil Gaya'' and the Helen-starrer cabaret song "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" from ''Caravan''. He received his first Filmfare Award nomination for ''Caravan''.

In 1972, Burman composed music for several films, including ''Seeta Aur Geeta'', ''Rampur Ka Lakshman'', '' Mere Jeevan Saathi'', '' Bombay To Goa'', ''Apna Desh'' and '' Parichay''. His success continued with hits such as ''Yaadon Ki Baaraat'' (1973), ''Aap Ki Kasam'' (1974), ''Sholay'' (1975) and '' Aandhi'' (1975). He also composed a song for a small documentary film called ''Maa Ki Pukaar'', in 1975. After his father S. D. Burman went into coma, Burman also completed the music of '' Mili'' (1975).

Mohammed Rafi received the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Kya Hua Tera Wada" from '' Hum Kisise Kum Naheen '' (1977), composed by Burman. He continued to compose several popular songs for films such as ''Kasme Vaade'' (1978), '' Ghar'' (1978), ''Gol Maal'' (1979) and '' Khubsoorat'' (1980). He received his first Filmfare Best Music Director Award for '' Sanam Teri Kasam'' (1981). In 1981, he also composed hit music for ''Rocky'', '' Satte Pe Satta'' and ''Love Story''.

Abhijeet was given his major break by Burman in ''Anand Aur Anand'' (1984). Although he made his debut a long time ago, Hariharan was first noticed in a duet with Kavita Krishnamurthy in ''Hai Mubarak Aaj ka Din'' from '' Boxer'' (1984), which was composed by Burman. In 1985, Mohammed Aziz made his debut with ''Shiva Ka Insaaf'' (1985) under Burman.

The trio Kishore Kumar-Rajesh Khanna-R.D.Burman have worked together in 32 films, and these films and songs continue to be popular till date. The trio were close friends. R.D.Burman composed for 40 films for Rajesh Khanna.

Later career

During the late 1980s, he was overshadowed by Bappi Lahiri and other disco music composers. Many filmmakers stopped patronizing him, as films featuring his compositions flopped at the box office one after the other. Nasir Hussain, who had signed him up for every single one of his productions since ''Teesri Manzil'' (1966), did not sign him up for '' Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak'' (1988). Hussain defended Burman in the press, saying that the latter did not give weak music in ''Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai'' (1982) and ''Manzil Manzil'' (1984). He also said that the composer was going through a lean phase during the recording of ''Zabardast'' (1985). But after these three films flopped, Hussain stepped down as a director, and his son and successor Mansoor Khan switched to other composers. The filmmaker Subhash Ghai promised Burman ''Ram Lakhan'' (1989), but gave it instead to Laxmikant–Pyarelal.
In 1986, Burman composed songs for ''Ijaazat''; the score is regarded as one of his best. However, the film belonged to the Parallel Cinema genre of ( art films), so it did not stop the decline of Burman's commercial film career. All four songs in ''Ijaazat'' were sung by Asha Bhosle and written by Gulzar. Burman was greatly appreciated by the critics for setting the non-rhyming lyrics of the song "Mera Kuchh Saamaan" to music. While both Asha Bhosle ( Best Female Playback) and Gulzar (Best Lyrics) received National Awards for the score, Burman received none.
Burman suffered from a heart attack in 1988, and underwent heart bypass surgery a year later at The Princess Grace Hospital in London. During this period, he composed many tunes, which were never released. He composed music for Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film '' Parinda'' in 1989. He composed one song called "Chhod Ke Na Jaana" which was sung by Asha Bhosle for the film ''Gang''. But since the film took too long to release and due to his untimely death, director Mazhar Khan signed in the then little known Anu Malik for the music of the film. The film got released later in 2000, even after Mazhar Khan died.''Thenmavin Kombath'', a Malayalam film by Priyadarshan was the last film he signed, but he died before he could score for the film. The music of '' 1942: A Love Story'' (1994), which was released after his death, was highly successful. It posthumously won him the third and last of his Filmfare Awards. As per Lata Mangeshkar, he died too young and unhappy.

Durga Puja songs

R. D. Burman was a prolific contributor to the Bengali tradition of composing songs for the Durga Puja festival, many of which he later adapted for Hindi films. This includes hit songs such as "Meri bheegi bheegi si" from the film Anamika, "Pyar diwaana hota hai" from Kati Patang and "Tere bina zindagi se koi" from Aandhi. Even there was a sequel to the song "Phire eso Anuradha" sung by himself. However, the sequel had Asha Bhosle's vocals too "Phire Elam Dure Giye". Both versions were superhits.

Style

Burman has been credited with revolutionizing Hindi film music. He incorporated a wide range of influences from several genres in his scores though his primary inspiration was Bengali folk. Burman's career coincided with the rise of Rajesh Khanna-starrer youth love stories. He made electronic rock popular in these popular love stories. He often mixed disco and rock elements with Bengali folk music. He also used jazz elements, which had been introduced to him by the studio pianist Kersi Lord.

According to Douglas Wolk, Burman "wrapped sugary string swoops around as many ideas as he could squeeze in at once". Biswarup Sen describes his popular music as one featuring multicultural influences, and characterized by "frenetic pacing, youthful exuberance and upbeat rhythms".

Burman was influenced by Western, Latin, Oriental and Arabic music, and incorporated elements from these in his own music. He also experimented with different musical sounds produced from methods such as rubbing sandpaper and knocking bamboo sticks together. He blew into beer bottles to produce the opening beats of "Mehbooba, Mehbooba". Similarly, he used cups and saucers to create the tinkling sound for the song "Chura Liya Hai" from the film ''Yaadon Ki Baaraat'' (1973). For '' Satte Pe Satta'' (1982), he made the singer Annette Pinto gargle to produce a background sound. He also rubbed a comb on a rough surface to produce a whooshing sound in the song "Meri Samne Wali Khidki Main" from the film ''Padosan'' (1968)

On multiple occasions, Burman experimented with recording the same song with different singers. For ''Kudrat'' (1981), he recorded the light semi-classical version of the song "Hume tumse pyar kitna" in the voice of Kishore Kumar, while the classical version was recorded in the voice of Parveen Sultana.

Burman sometimes used Western dance music as a source of inspiration for his compositions. As was common in Hindi films, some of his songs featured the tunes of popular foreign songs. Often, the filmmakers forced him to copy these tunes for the soundtracks, resulting in allegations of plagiarism. For example, Ramesh Sippy insisted that the tune of the traditional Cyprus song "Say You Love Me" (arranged and sung by Demis Roussos) be used for "Mehbooba Mehbooba" (''Sholay'', 1975), and Nasir Hussain wanted to use ABBA's " Mamma Mia" for ''Mil gaya hum ko sathi''. Other examples of Burman songs inspired by foreign songs including "Aao twist karein" from ''Bhoot Bangla'' (Chubby Checker's "Let's twist again"), "Tumse milke" (Leo Sayer's " When I Need You"), and "Zindagi milke bitaayenge" (Paul Anka's "The Longest Day") and "Jahan teri yeh nazar hai" (Persian artist Zia Atabi's "Heleh maali") and "Dilbar mere" (Alexandra's "Zigeunerjunge").

Band members

Burman often collaborated with the same film directors and worked with the same musicians.

Music Assistants
*Manohari Singh
*Basudev Chakraborty
*Maruti Rao Keer
*Sapan Chakraborty
*Babloo Chakraborty
*Deepan Chatterjee

String Instruments
*Guitar: Bhanu Gupta, Ramesh Iyer, Dilip Naik, Sunil Kaushik, Bonny D'Costa, RK Das, Gorakh Sharma, Soumitra Chatterjee, Bhupinder Singh, Anibal Castro, Binoy Singh, Tushar Parte, Bipin Panchal
*Lap Steel Guitar: Bhupinder Singh
*Bass Guitar: Tony Vaz, Charanjit Singh, Ramesh Iyer, Raju Singh, Gorakh Sharma, Emil Isaac
*Santoor: Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ulhas Bapat
*Sarangi: Sultan Khan
*Sarod: Zarine Daruwalla, Aashish Khan
*Sitar: Kartik Kumar, Arvind Mayekar, J.V Acharya, Ashok Sharma
*Tar Shehnai: Dakshina Mohan Tagore
*Song Violin: Gajanan Karnad, Sapre, Prabhakar Jog, Harishchandra Narwekar, Rajendra Singh Sodha
*Violin: Nanekar, Nandu Chavathe, Uttam Singh, Ernest Menezes, Jerry Fernandes, Dorado, Ganesh Sharma, Bablu Chakraborty, Narbade, Puranmohan Singh, Buddhadev Singh, Bahadur Singh, Kishore Singh Jawda, Ashok Jagtap, Surendra Singh, Neville Franco, Prakash Verma, Manoj Shailendra, Amrit Singh, Kenny, Subhash, Debaprasad Chakraborty, Stanley Gomes, Ashish Roy, Franco Vaz, Abhijit Majumdar
*Viola: Terrence Fernandes
*Cello: Basudev Chakraborty, Benito Gracias, Sanjay Chakraborty
*Swarolin: Rajendra Sodha
*Mandolin: Kishore Desai, Ravi Sundaram, Mustafa Sajjad, Pradipto Sengupta, Shailu Sundaram, Mahendra Bhavsar, Arvind Haldipur
*Bulbul Tarang: Rashid Khan

Percussion Instruments
*Tabla: Shashikant Kudalkar, Amrutrao Katkar, Deepak Naik, Indranath Mukherjee, Vijay Katkar, Janardan Abhyankar, Marutirao Keer, Rijram, Brajen Biswas, Devi Chakraborty, Pramod Sane, Ramakant Hapsekar, Sharafat, Pt. Samta Prasad, Iqbal Khan
*Dholak: Shashikant Kudalkar, UK Dubey, Iqbal Khan, Roshan Ali, Devichand Chauhan, Girish Vishwa, Abdul Karim, Sudarshan Adhikari, Sattar, Pramod Sane, Chandrakant Satnak
*Drums: Buji Lord, Franco Vaz, Leslie Godinho, Wency D'Souza, Trilok Gurtu, Aadesh Shrivastav, Ranjit Barot, Kersi Lord
*Bongo: Cawas Lord, Manya Barwe, Marutirao Keer, Francis Vaz
*Congas: Babla Shah, Ravi Gurtu, Nitin Shankar, Manya Barve, Paparao Parsatwar, Nirmal Mukherjee, Marutirao Keer, Devichand Chauhan, Ashok Patki, Anup Shankar, Vijay Katkar
*Percussion: Devichand Chauhan, Amrutrao Katkar, Homi Mullan, Marutirao Keer, Franco Vaz, Manya Barwe, Vijay Indorkar, Devi Chakraborty, Anup Shankar, Chandrakant Satnak, Cawas Lord
*Khol: Sudarshan Adhikari
*Bangla Dhol: Abani Das Gupta
*Halgi/Dhol/Chenda: Ganpatrao Jadhav
*Tabla Tarang/Jal Tarang: Janardan Abhyankar
*Matka: Indra Atma, Paparao Parsatwar, Manya Barve
*Mridangam: Jairaman, Rijram
*Madal: Ranjit Gazmer (Kancha), Homi Mullan
*Pakhawaj: Bhavani Shankar
*Octapad: Nitin Shankar, Anup Shankar, Franco Vaz

Keyboard Instruments
*Piano: Louis Banks, Charanjit Singh, Ronnie Monsorate, Vipin Reshammiya, Jackie Vanjari, Charanjit Singh, Deepak Walke
*Transicord: Charanjit Singh
*Accordion: Kersi Lord, Suraj Sathe, Homi Mullan, Jackie Vanjari, Chitty Pillai
*Harmonium: Babu Singh
*Electric Organ: Ronnie Monsorate
*Xylophone: Bahadur Singh
*Vibraphone: Buji Lord

Wind Instruments
*Bansuri: Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ronu Majumdar, Sumant Raj
*Concert Flute: Manohari Singh, Raj Sodha, Shyamraj
*Mouth Organ: Bhanu Gupta, R. D. Burman
*Saxophone: Manohari Singh, Shyamraj, Raj Sodha, Suresh Yadav, Umesh Chipkar, Rao Kyao
*Trumpet: George Fernandes, Joseph Monsorate, Bosco Monsorate, Kishore Sodha, Chris Perry
*Trombone: Blasco Monsorate, Ivan Muns, Anibal Castro
*Bass Trombone: Bhur Singh
*Tuba: Munna Khan
*Flugelhorn: Joseph Monsorate
*Clarinet: Mirajuddin, Hussain Darbar
*Shehnaai: Sharad Kumar

Legacy

Several Hindi films made after Burman's death contain his original songs or their remixed versions. ''Dil Vil Pyar Vyar'' (2002), which contains several re-arranged hit songs of Burman, was made as a tribute to him. ''Jhankaar Beats'' (2003), which catapulted the music director duo Vishal–Shekhar into the limelight, is also a tribute to him. In ''Khwahish'' (2003), Mallika Sherawat's character is a Burman fan; the film features repeated references to him. In 2010, Brahmanand Singh released a 113-minute documentary titled ''Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai'', which received critical acclaim. The music of '' Lootera'' (2013) is a tribute to Burman. Other films which credit R. D. Burman include ''Gang'' (2000) and '' Monsoon Wedding'' (2001), for ''Chura liya hai''.

A number of Indian remix albums feature Burman's songs, which are also popular in the country's pubs and discos. Several of his compositions were re-mixed by the South Asian DJs in the United Kingdom and North America, and feature in popular albums such as Bally Sagoo's ''Bollywood Flashback''. Kronos Quartet's ''You've Stolen My Heart'' (2005) contains Burman's compositions sung by his wife Asha Bhosle. In the 2012 film ''Khiladi 786'', Himesh Reshammiya-composed song ''Balma'' is also a tribute to R.D. Burman.

In 1995, Filmfare Awards constituted the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent in his memory. The award is given to upcoming music talent in Hindi cinema. In 2009, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation named a public square in Santa Cruz after Burman.

Burman inspired many later Hindi film music composers, such as Vishal–Shekhar. Jatin–Lalit are considered to have carried on Burman's legacy through the 1990s. Notable musical assistants to Burman include Manohari Singh and Sapan Chakraborty. His instrumentalists included Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Louis Banks

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