From the 1960s to the 1990s, R. D. Burman composed musical scores for 331 films.
[2] He was mainly active in the
Hindi film industry as a composer, and also provided vocals for a few of compositions.
[3] R. D. Burman did major work with
Asha Bhosle (his wife) and
Kishore Kumar, and scored many of the songs that made these singers famous.
[3] He also scored many songs sung by
Lata Mangeshkar. He served as an influence to the next generation of Indian music directors,
[3] and his songs continue to be popular in India even after his death.
[4]
Early life[edit]
R. D. Burman was born to the Bollywood composer/singer [Sachin Dev Burman] and his lyricist wife Meera Dev Burman (née Dasgupta), in Kolkata.
[5] 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 tongue. 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.
[6]
R. D. Burman received his early education in Kolkata. His father S. D. Burman was a noted music director in
Bollywood, the
Mumbai-based Hindi film industry. When he was nine 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).
[7]
In 1959, R. D. 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.
[11]
R. D. 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 R. D. Burman's father Sachin Dev Burman for the music. However, S. D. 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.
[11] R. D. Burman later developed a close association with Mehmood, and did a
cameo (apart from composing the music) in Mehmood's
Bhoot Bangla (1965).
[11]
Initial successes[edit]
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.
[12] Vijay Anand also said that he had arranged a music session for Burman before Nasir Hussain.
[13] 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 R. D. 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).
The superhit
Kishore Kumar song
Mere Sapnon ki Raani from
Aradhana (1969), though credited to his father, is rumoured to have been R. D. Burman's composition.
[7] Kora Kagaz tha Yeh Man Mera from the same film was also his tune.
[10] It is believed that when S. D. Burman fell ill during the recording of the film's music, R. D. Burman took over and completed the music. He was credited as an associate composer for the film.
Rise to popularity[edit]
In the 1970s, R. D. Burman became highly popular with the
Kishore Kumar songs in
Rajesh Khanna-starrer films.
[7] 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, R. D. Burman also composed several of the popular songs sung by
Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle and
Lata Mangeshkar.
In 1970, R. D. Burman composed the music for
Dev Anand's
Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).
[14] The Asha Bhosle song
Dum Maro Dum from this film proved to be a seminal rock number in the Hindi film music.
[7] 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.
[6] In the same year, R. D. 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.
[7] R. D. 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 S. D. Burman went into coma, R. D. Burman also completed the music of
Mili (1975).
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 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 R. D. Burman. In 1985,
Mohammed Aziz, made his debut with
Shiva Ka Insaaf (1985) under R. D. Burman.
The trio Rajesh Khanna-Kishore-R.D.Burman have worked together in 32 films together and these films and its songs continue to be popular till date.
[15]The trio were close friends. R.D.Burman composed for Rajesh Khanna in totality for 40 films till Sautela Bhai released in 1996.
[16]
Last days[edit]
During the late 1980s, R. D. Burman was overshadowed by
Bappi Lahiri and other
disco music composers.
[17] Many filmmakers stopped patronizing him, as films featuring his compositions flopped at the box office one after the other.
[6][10] Nasir Hussain, who had signed him up for every single of his productions since
Teesri Manzil (1966), did not sign him up for
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988).
[6] Hussain defended R. D. Burman in 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).
[18] 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 R. D. Burman
Ram Lakhan (1989), but gave it instead to
Laxmikant-Pyarelal, who had earlier played in Burman's orchestra.
[6]
In 1986, R. D. 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 R. D. Burman's commercial film career. All four of the songs in
Ijaazat were sung by Asha Bhosle and written by Gulzar. R. D. Burman was greatly appreciated by the critics for setting the non-rhyming lyrics of the song
Mera Kuchh Saamaan to the music. While both Asha Bhosle (
Best Female Playback) and Gulzar (
Best Lyrics) received National Awards for the score, R. D. Burman received none.
[19]
R. D. Burman has been credited with revolutionizing the Bollywood music.
[22] 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.
[3] He often mixed disco and rock elements with Bengali folk music.
[23] He also used jazz elements, which had been introduced to him by the studio pianist Kersi Lord.
[24]
According to
Douglas Wolk, R. D. Burman "wrapped sugary string swoops around as many ideas as he could squeeze in at once".
[2] Biswarup Sen describes his popular music as one featuring multicultural influences, and characterized by "frenetic pacing, youthful exuberance and upbeat rhythms".
[25]
R. D. Burman was influenced by Western, Latin, Oriental and Arabic music, and incorporated elements from these in his own music.
[26] He also experimented with different musical sounds produced from methods such as rubbing
sand paper and knocking
bamboo sticks together.
[10] 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).
[27] For
Satte Pe Satta(1982), he made the singer Annette Pinto gargle to produce a background sound.
[10] He also used a 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, R. D. 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.
R. D. Burman sometimes used the Western dance music as a source of inspiration for his compositions.
[28] 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.
[29] Other examples of R. D. 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).
