R. D. Burman
R. D. Burman | |
---|---|
Years active | 1961–1994 |
Spouses |
|
Parents | |
Family | See Manikya dynasty and Mangeshkar family (in-laws) |
Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director and actor, who is considered to be one of the greatest and most successful music directors of the Hindi film music industry. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films, bringing a new level of music ensemble with his compositions.[1] Burman did his major work with legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and Kishore Kumar.[2] He also worked extensively with lyricist Gulzar, with whom he has some of the most memorable numbers in his career. 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.[3] He served as an influence to the next generation of Indian music directors,[3] and his songs continue to be popular in India and overseas. Many years after his death, his songs continue to be inspiration for new singers and composers.[4]
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 note on c major 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.[5]
Burman received his early education in West Bengal from Tirthapati Institution in Kolkata. His father S. D. Burman was a noted music director in
In Mumbai, Burman was trained by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and Samta Prasad (tabla).[7] He also considered Salil Chowdhury his guru.[8] He served as an assistant to his father and often played harmonica in his orchestras.[3]
Some of the notable films in which Burman is credited as the music assistant include
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.[10]
Burman's first released film as an independent music director was Chhote Nawab (1961). When the noted Hindi film comedian
Initial successes
Burman's first hit film as a music director was
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. They two married in 1966, and divorced in 1971.[13] The song Musafir Hoon Yaaron ("I'm a Traveller") from Parichay (1972) was composed while he was at a hotel after the separation.[14]
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.[15] Burman had financial difficulties, particularly later in his life. His mother Meera died in 2007, thirteen years after his death.[16] 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.[17]
Rise to popularity
In the 1970s, Burman became highly popular with the Kishore Kumar songs in Rajesh Khanna-starrer films.[6] 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
In 1972, Burman composed music for several films, including
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.[19] The trio were close friends. R.D.Burman composed for 40 films for Rajesh Khanna.[20]
Later career
During the late 1980s, he was overshadowed by
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 (Bengali version: Mone Pore Rubi Roy), "Pyar Diwana Hota Hai" from Kati Patang (Bengali version: Aaj Gun Gun Gun Kunje Amar),"Diye Jalte Hain Phool Khilte Hain" from Namak Haraam (Bengali version: Deke Deke Kato), "Do Nainon Mein Ansoo Bhare Hai" from Khushboo (Bengali version: Tomate Amate Dekha Hoyechhilo) and "Tere Bina Zindagi Se Koi" from Aandhi (Bengali version: Jete Jete Pathe Holo).[citation needed] 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.[25] 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.[3] He often mixed disco and rock elements with Bengali folk music.[26] He also used jazz elements, which had been introduced to him by the studio pianist Kersi Lord.[27]
According to Douglas Wolk, Burman "wrapped sugary string swoops around as many ideas as he could squeeze in at once".[1] Biswarup Sen describes his popular music as one featuring multicultural influences, and characterized by "frenetic pacing, youthful exuberance and upbeat rhythms".[28]
Burman was influenced by Western, Latin, Oriental and Arabic music, and incorporated elements from these in his own music.[29] He also experimented with different musical sounds produced from methods such as rubbing sandpaper and knocking bamboo sticks together.[9] 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).[30] For Satte Pe Satta (1982), he made the singer Annette Pinto gargle to produce a background sound.[9] 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
Burman sometimes used Western dance music as a source of inspiration for his compositions.[31] 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/team members
Burman often collaborated with the same film directors and worked with the same set of musicians.
Music Assistants
- Manohari Singh[32]
- Basudev Chakraborty[33]
- 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, Nepal Shaw, Benu Chatterjee, Honey Satamkar, Sameer Phaterpekar
- Lap Steel Guitar: Bhupinder Singh
- Bass Guitar: Tony Vaz, Charanjit Singh, Ramesh Iyer, Raju Singh, Gorakh Sharma, Emil Isaac, Tutun Roy
- Santoor: Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ulhas Bapat
- Sarangi: Sultan Khan, Iqbal
- Sarod: Zarine Daruwalla, Aashish Khan
- Sitar: Kartik Kumar, Arvind Mayekar, J.V Acharya, Ashok Sharma, Rahul Chatterjee, Shujaat Khan
- 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, Isaac David, Arvind Haldipur, Jayanti Gosher, Parshuram Haldipur
- Bulbul Tarang: Rashid Khan
Percussion Instruments
- Tabla: Shashikant, Amrutrao Katkar, Deepak Naik, Indranath Mukherjee, Vijay Katkar, Janardan Abhyankar, Marutirao Keer, Rijram, Brajen Biswas, Devi Chakraborty, Pramod Sane, Ramakant Mhapsekar, Sharafat, Pt. Samta Prasad, Iqbal Khan
- Dholak: Shashikant, UK Dubey, Iqbal Khan, Roshan Ali, Devichand Chauhan, Girish Vishwa, Abdul Karim, Sudarshan Adhikari, Sattar, Pramod Sane, Chandrakant Satnak, Lala Gangavane, Hafeez Khan
- Drums: Buji Lord, Franco Vaz, Leslie Godinho, Wency D'Souza, Aadesh Shrivastav, Ranjit Barot, Kersi Lord
- Bongo: Cawas Lord, Marutirao Keer, Francis Vaz
- Congo: Babla Shah, Nirmal Mukherjee, Marutirao Keer, Devichand Chauhan, Ashok Patki, Vijay Katkar
- Tumba: Ravi Gurtu, Nitin Shankar, Manya Barve, Paparao Parsatwar, Devichand Chauhan, Anup Shankar, Vijay Katkar
- Percussion: Devichand Chauhan, Amrutrao Katkar, Homi Mullan, Marutirao Keer, Franco Vaz, Vijay Indorkar, Devi Chakraborty, Anup Shankar, Chandrakant Satnak, Sadik, Johar, Suresh Soni
- 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, Sameer Sen
- Octapad: Nitin Shankar, Anup Shankar, Franco Vaz
Keyboard Instruments
- Piano: Louis Banks, Mike Machado, Lucille Pacheco, Tony Pinto, Y.S. Moolky
- Synthesizer: Louis Banks, Kersi Lord, Charanjit Singh, Ronnie Monsorate, Vipin Reshammiya, Jackie Vanjari, Deepak Walke, Chitty Pillai
- Transicord: Charanjit Singh
- Accordion: Kersi Lord, Suraj Sathe, Homi Mullan, Jackie Vanjari, Chitty Pillai, Sumit Mitra
- 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, Prem Sodha
- 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.[34] Jhankaar Beats (2003), which catapulted the music director duo Vishal–Shekhar into the limelight, is also a tribute to him.[35] In Khwahish (2003), Mallika Sherawat's character is a Burman fan; the film features repeated references to him.[36] In 2010, Brahmanand Singh released a 113-minute documentary titled Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai, which received critical acclaim.[9] Pancham Unmixed won 2 National Awards and was premiered at IFFLA, Los Angeles. The film is considered a landmark in documentary biopics in India and set a trend. A coffee-table book, co-authored by Brahmanand Siingh and Gaurav Sharma titled "Strings of Eternity" was released with Pancham Unmixed by Shemaroo. Mobius films, the producers of Pancham Unmixed, then went on to release an extended 5 hours version titled "Knowing Pancham". The launch was at prestigious venue Blue Frog in Mumbai and was graced by Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Gowariker, Dolly Thakore, Sachin, Atul Tiwari, Ketan Mehta, Deepa Sahi amongst others. Brahmanand and Gaurav Sharma authored another coffee-table book with the extended version, titled "Diamonds and Rust". The music of Lootera (2013) is a tribute to Burman.[37] 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.[5] 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.[3] Kronos Quartet's You've Stolen My Heart (2005) contains Burman's compositions sung by his wife Asha Bhosle.[38] In the 2012 film Khiladi 786, Himesh Reshammiya-composed song Balma is also a tribute to R.D. Burman.[39]
In 1995,
Burman inspired many later Hindi film music composers, such as
Pancham Unmixed, a winner of 2 National Awards, is a 113-minute biopic on Burman, directed by Brahmanand Singh. A postage stamp, bearing Burman's likeness was released by India Post to honour him on 3 May 2013.
In India, Pancham Magic from Pune and Euphony from Kolkata hosts shows most likely on 4th Jan and 27 June every year with musicians, artists or otherwise worked with Burman every year. Besides this many events are celebrated in various parts of India every now or then with new talents or people who worked with Burman.
Discography
Out of Burman's 331 released film scores, 292 were in Hindi, 31 in Bengali, 3 in Telugu, 2 each in Tamil and Oriya, and 1 in Marathi. Burman also composed for 5 TV Serials in Hindi and Marathi.
Pancham's non-film music comprises a few albums, including Pantera (1987), a
Awards and recognitions
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/RD_Burman_2013_stamp_of_India.jpg/250px-RD_Burman_2013_stamp_of_India.jpg)
Burman laid the foundation for numerous Hindi film music directors to pave the path for the future of music in Hindi language cinema.
- Wins
- 1983 – Best Music Director – Sanam Teri Kasam
- 1984 – Best Music Director – Masoom
- 1995 – Best Music Director – 1942: A Love Story -posthumously awarded
- Nominations
- 1972 – Best Music Director – Caravan
- 1973 – Best Music Director – Amar Prem
- 1974 – Best Music Director – Yaadon Ki Baaraat
- 1975 – Best Music Director – Aap Ki Kasam
- 1976 – Best Music Director – Khel Khel Mein
- 1976 – Best Music Director – Sholay
- 1976 – Best Male Playback Singer – "Mehbooba Mehbooba" from Sholay
- 1977 – Best Music Director – Mehbooba
- 1978 – Best Music Director – Hum Kisise Kum Naheen
- 1978 – Best Music Director – Kinara
- 1979 – Best Music Director – Shalimar
- 1981 – Best Music Director – Shaan
- 1982 – Best Music Director – Love Story
- 1984 – Best Music Director – Betaab
- 1985 – Best Music Director – Jawaani
- 1986 – Best Music Director – Saagar
- Google Doodle
- On the anniversary of his 77th birthday on 27 June 2016, Google had a Doodle of R.D Burman on its Indian Home Page.[44]
References
- ^ ISSN 0886-3032.
- ^ a b "Lata Mangeshkar on R D Burman: Pancham Died Too Young, Unhappy". The Indian Express.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-28854-5.
- ^ "Nelly Furtado's 'Say it Right' samples Asha Bhonsle and RD Burman's Duniya Mein Logon Ko".
- ^ a b c d e Mini Anthikad-Chhibber (1 July 2003). "Beat poet". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7508-007-2.
- ^ Deepa Ganesh (18 August 2010). "Backbones take centre stage". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Rajan Das Gupta (3 January 2012). "Dad's the spirit!". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g Avijit Ghosh (3 April 2010). "RDX unplugged". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7991-213-3.
- ^ "R D Burman – My God, That's My Tune" (PDF). Panchamonline.com. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ "The Business Of Entertainment-Films-Nostalgia". Screen. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- DNA. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "Revealed: Unknown facts about RD Burman!". rediff.com. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Ajitabh Menon. "when the beats stopped". Panchamonline.
- ^ "S.D. Burman's wife dead". The Hindu. 17 October 2007. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "A Bungalow, A Ma-In-Law". Outlookindia.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ "It was Lata versus Asha over Dum Maro Dum! This created a barrier between both singers". rediff.com. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Eight lesser known facts about Rajesh Khanna on his death anniversary. Hindustantimes.com (22 April 2016). Retrieved on 2018-11-08.
- ^ 11 things you don't know about Rajesh Khanna. M.indiatoday.in (18 July 2012). Retrieved on 2018-11-08.
- ISBN 978-81-241-0344-9.
- ^ Adieu. screenindia.com (22 March 2002)
- ^ "Asha Bhosle wins the Padma Vibhushan – IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ "Rajesh Khanna-RD Burman's 'Amar Prem'". MiD DAY. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
- ^ "RD Burman". Outlook. 46 (26–38). Hathway Investments. 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-19-537087-4.
- ISBN 978-1-57806-609-4.
- ISBN 978-0-8166-4579-4.
- ^ "Pulsating Pancham". The Hindu. 2 July 2007. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Savitha Gautam (26 February 2010). "Melodies and memories". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ISBN 978-81-85002-64-4.
- ^ "Pancham's team member no more". HindustanTimes. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
- ^ "assistants". Panchammagic. 29 June 2001. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
- ^ Radhika Bhirani (19 October 2011). "Sur, saaz and rockstar: When music is Bollywood's muse". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 March 2012.[dead link]
- IBNLive. 29 February 2012. Archived from the originalon 9 October 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Saibal Chatterjee (7 June 2003). "Khwahish". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "'Lootera' songs – Amit Trivedi's tribute to R. D. Burman". Zee News. 8 June 2013.
- ^ Allan Kozinn (11 April 2006). "Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle Make Not-So-Strange Bedfellows". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "KHILADI 786: RD Burman features with Akshay in new song". Hindustan Times. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- ^ Clara Lewis (2 January 2009). "R D Burman gets a chowk in Mumbai". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "Chilling with Bollywood's new songsters". rediff.com. 8 September 2005. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-4634-1941-7. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "Tinseltown Talk". Independent Online. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Google pays tribute to legendary composer R D Burman on his 77th birth anniversary. The Indian Express (27 June 2016). Retrieved on 2018-11-08.
Further reading
- Anirudha Bhattacharjee; Balaji Vittal (2011). R.D. Burman: the man, the music. Harper Collins India. ISBN 978-93-5029-049-1.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)