RD Burman was born to the Bollywood
composer/singer Sachin Dev Burman and
his lyricist wife Meera Dev Burman (née Dasgupta), in Kolkata. Initially,
he was nicknamed Tublu by his maternal grandmother although he later became
known by the nickname of Pancham. According to some stories, he was nicknamed
as Pancham because, as a child, whenever he cried, it sounded
in the fifth note (Pa), G scale, of music notation. The word Pancham means
five (or fifth) in Bengali, his mother's native language, as well
as the language of court of the royal family to which his father belongs.
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.
RD
Burman received his early education in Kolkata. His father SD Burman was a
noted music director in Bollywood, the Mumbai-based
Hindi film industry. When he was nine years old, RD 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 Payaasa (1957).
In Mumbai, RD
Burman was trained by Ustad Ali Akbar
Khan (sarod)
and Samta Prasad (tabla). He also
considered Salil Chowdhury as
his guru. He served as an assistant to his father, and often played harmonica in
his orchestras. Some of the notable films in which RD 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).
RD Burman also played mouth organ for his father's hit composition Hai
Apna Dil to Aawara which was featured in the movie Solva Saal (1958).
In
1959, RD 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. R D Burman recorded two songs
for the film, before it was shelved. The first song was sung by Geeta Duttand Asha Bhosle,
and the second one had vocals by Shamshad
Begum.
RD
Burman's first released film as an independent music director was Chhote
Nawab (1961). When the noted Bollywood comedian Mehmood decided
to produce Chhote Nawab, he first approached RD Burman's father
Sachin Dev Burman for the music. However, SD Burman turned down the offer,
saying that he did not have any free dates. At this meeting, Mehmood noticed
Rahul playing tabla,
and signed him up as the music director for Chhote Nawab. RD
Burman later developed a close association with Mehmood, and did a cameo (apart
from composing the music) in Mehmood's Bhoot Bangla (1965).
Burman's
first hit movie 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 RD 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 forzsos Padosan(1968)
was well received. Meanwhile, he continued to work as his father's assistant
for movies like Jewel Thief (1967) and Prem Pujari (1970).
The
superhit Kishore Kumar song Mere Sapnon ki
Raani from Aradhana (1969), though credited
to his father, is rumoured to have been RD Burman's composition. Kora
Kagaz tha Yeh Man Mera from the same film was also his tune. It
is believed that when SD Burman fell ill during the recording of the film's
music, RD Burman took over and completed the music. He was credited as an
associate composer for the film.
In
the 1970s, RD Burman became highly popular with the Kishore Kumar songs
in Rajesh Khanna-starrer movies. 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, RD Burman
also composed several of the popular songs sung by Mohammed Rafi,
Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar.
In
1970, RD 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 the Hindi film music. The
filmmaker Dev Anand did not include the complete
version of Dum Maro Dum in the movie, because he was worried
that the song would overshadow the film. In the same
year, RD 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. RD 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, R D Burman composed hit 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 SD
Burman went into coma, R D 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 RD Burman. RD Burman continued to
compose several popular songs for films such as Kasme Vaade (1978), Ghar (1978), Gol Maal (1979), Khubsoorat (1980).
He received his firstFilmfare Best Music Director Award for Sanam Teri
Kasam (1981). In 1981, he also composed hit music for Rocky, Satte Pe
Satta and Love Story.
The
playback singer Kumar Sanu was given his first break by R
D Burman in Yeh Desh (1984) as voice of Kamal Haasan. Abhijeet was given his major break by
R D Burman inAnand 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 R D Burman. In 1985, Mohammed Aziz,
made his debut with Shiva Ka Insaaf (1985) under R D Burman.
RD
Burman has been credited with revolutionizing the Bollywood music. He
incorporated a wide range of influences from several genres in his scores.
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,
RD 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".
RD
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 sand paper 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 Churaliya 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.
On
multiple occasions, RD Burman experimented with recording the same song with
different singers. For Kudrat (1981), he recorded the light 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. In Pyar Ka
Mausam (1969), he recorded the song Tum bin jaun
kahan in the voices of Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi separately.
RD
Burman sometimes used the Western dance music as a source of inspiration for
his compositions. As was common in Bollywood, 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 RD Burman songs inspired by foreign numbers include Aao twist karein from Bhoot
Bangla (Chubby Checker's
"Let's Twist"), 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).
A number of Indian
remix albums feature RD 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 RD Burman's compositions sung by his wife Asha Bhosle. In the 2012 film Khiladi 786, the 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 chowk (public square) in Santa Cruz after RD Burman.
RD Burman inspired
many later Bollywood music composers, such as Vishal-Shekhar. Notable musical assistants to RD
Burman include Manohari Singh and Sapan Chakraborty. His instrumentalists
included Hari Prasad
Chaurasia, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Louis Banks, Bhupinder and Kersy Lord. He is also noted for his partnership
with the lyricist Gulzar, who wrote the words for several of his finest
compositions.
RD Burman married Asha Bhosle in 1980. Together, they recorded many
hit songs and also staged many live performances. Thought towards then 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
was suffering from Alzheimer's and was not in her senses 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.
Pancham's non-filmi
music comprises few albums, including Pantera (1987), a Latin Rock album produced by Pete Gavankar
(father of Janina Gavankar). The album was an
international collaboration, for which RD Burman partnered with Jose Flores in
San Francisco. In 1987, RD
Burman, Gulzar and
Asha Bhosle worked on an album titled Dil Padosi Hai, which was released on 8
September 1987, Asha Bhosle's birthday. RD Burman and Asha Bhosle also recorded
a song with Boy George. In addition, he scored a large number
of non-film songs in Bengali, which are available in different albums, and from
which many numbers were later adapted in Hindi films. Burman also did playback singing in eighteen movies for which he
himself composed the scores
Though
Burman laid the foundation for numerous Bollywood music directors to pave the
path for the future of music in Bollywood cinema, he was awarded a total of
only threeFilmfare Awards, one of
which was awarded posthumously (for 1942: A Love Story).
Wins
Nominations
·
1985 - Best Music Director - Jawani
R.D. Burman, Rahul Dev Burman, r.d. Burman song, r.d. Burman biography,
ReplyDelete