'Rahul Dev Burman,the researcher of music'

'Rahul Dev Burman,the researcher of music'by Nilanjan Nandy

by Kaushik Bandyopadhyay

one one and half years ago (middle of 1992) in a winter noon,I was in  Rahul Dev Burman’s flat at Bombay for a long five hours.Only gossiping in a homely atmosphere.He knew that I came to guitar and singing  only after learning mainly percussion instruments from my childhood.So he used to teach me many kinds of rhythm with different techniques.In fact,during that noon,I learnt a lot by spending  those lots of hours with that wizard of music.He told me,”Nilanjan,never make chords  above the fifth frame in guitar.And try to use all the strings of guitar as many times as possible”.

He used to like stentorian voice very much.He also liked to listen to ‘Jazz’ and of course Latin American music.Rhythm was in his blood.Hence,in his almost all compositions we get extraordinarily distinctive and mesmerizing pattern of Taal.In so many fields of music he was the pioneer.The marvelous mixing of Indian and Western musics that he had done will not be seen any more.Starting from Teesri Manzil,then Kati patang,Mere jeevan saathi,Mehbooba,Aajnabi,Khusboo,Parichoy,Seeta aur Geeta,Joshilaa,Hare rama hare Krishna,Heera Panna,Sholay,Golmaal,Shaan,Aapna Desh,The Train,Rampur ka luxman,Jheel ke uspaar…how many more films should I mention?In every film there are perfect ‘fusion’ of melody.Of course he didn’t give us less number of pure classical musical songs.’Raina biti jaye’ in Amar Prem or ‘Gori teri pehjaaniya’ in Mehbooba etc remind us that Rahul Dev Burman was a quite competent disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
By the way,I should mention here that he was an excellent musician also.He used to play tabla(Allarakha was his guru),mouth organ and Sarod with equal competence.RD’s sarod-recitals were in so many songs of ‘Dil Padosi Hai’,the album having lyrics of Gulzar.In the film ‘Dost’ of his friend Lakshmikaant (Lakshmikaant Pyarelal) he played mouth organ in music floor just like a common musician.He had no egos.He was a  very amiable person….innocent and simple.He used to spend 10-12 hours in a day in his music room.Once,during making of Hare rama hare Krishna,he returned home around midnight.Suddenly he woke up from sleep.Immediately he came downstairs in his music room because he got a superb tune in his dream.He often used to get tunes  in his dreams.Same way music composer Madanmohan also got so many tunes in his dreams.Rahul Dev Burman recorded that got-from-dream tune in his music room.Next morning,in Filmcenter’s rehearsal room,Dev Anand liked the tune very much hearing that from Rahul’s humming.The song was recorded…can you forget that great song  ‘Kanchi re kaanchi re’ in Hare rama hare Krishna…no,you can’t…he composed this tune on Nepali folk.
In his long musical journey,Rahul had made so many impossible possible.In the beginning of 80’s,he recorded an album with a very new concept in collaboration with negro music-personalities in USA and named that as ‘Pantera’…composed the full album on the base of Latin American and African mindblowing  rock musical structure.Nowadays  some insane’s deliriums are heard of called ‘Rap’.In fact,it’s  only Rahul who first  brought  Rap in India.Till then internationally famous Rap singers like M C Hammer or Vanila Ice didn’t took birth even.Just this time breaking all the rules of music,in fact by revolutionizing,he composed a Rap in the film Kati Patang called as ‘Mera naam hai shabnam’…on listening to this song sung by Asha Bhosle,many Rap artists will bow down their heads.
Not only in songs,Rahul Dev was a real genious in composing background music also.In the film Sholay,the unparallel background music  he composed,by creating full ‘Title’of guitar(country style) or making consecutive pitches by recording a marvelous short brass note as the ‘que music’  for Gabbar Singh,was simply exemplary till date.In the film Arjun,he used his own voice  in a murder scene with African rhythm music played in a different style of Bosanova.During the scene anybody will realize that something  aweful is going to happen on the scene even if he closes his eyes also.That was the speciality of Rahul akka Panchamda’s musical thoughts.(End)

RAHUL DEV BURMAN .."The BOSS "

 RAHUL DEV BURMAN....The BOSS

PANCHAM as Remembered by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

PANCHAM as Remembered by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

by Kaushik Bandyopadhyay 

Hrishikesh Mukherjee tells….

Shachinda used to call me as ‘Hrishi’…bhabi called me as ‘thakurpo’…I had seen Pancham,I mean Rahul, from his childhood…Shachinda,me,boudi(bhabi),Pancham…we remained like a family.
Inspite of getting the news of Rahul Dev Burman’s demise,Hrishida didn’t go to his house.Why?Hrishida told,”I didn’t go because what should I see there?Shall I go there to see deadbody of Pancham?Shall I go there to see lamentation of Meera boudi?Shall I go there to see Asha’s weeping?I can’t tolerate these deaths and wailings…moreover,can a father see his son’s  still body?Although Amitabh,Jaya,Shakti Samanta and many others went there to visit Rahul for the last time,I couldn’t go”.
The relation between Shachin Dev Burman and Hrishikesh Mukherjee was for a long time.Their familiarity grew up from the time when Hrishida used to stay at Calcutta.Gradually the relation grew  up deeper and took shape of a family.Hrishida told,”Shachinda used to sing and I used to play sitar.Our relation grew up focusing mainly with music.Those are the stories of 45-46 years ago.I used to reminisce about  those of our hobnobs and heave a deep sigh.I’ve seen Pancham from his early childhood and took him on my lap so many times”.
During conversation,Hrishida was becoming absent-minded very frequently.Most of people used to call him ‘Hrishida’…he was the common’dada’ in film industry…told,”I don’t know why,Rahul too used to call me as Hrishida…I used to call Shachinda as dada…for this,Rahul should have called me as ‘kaku’,is it not?”.
Hrishida told,”Pancham composed music in most of my films…eleven films..he didn’t compose more films for any other single film-director…telling the names of films which I can recall now..Buddha mil gaya,Namakharam,Bemishal,Jurmana,Naramgaram,Golmaal,Khoobsurat…except these four more..Pancham scored superb melodious songs in Buddha mil gaya,Namakharam,Bemishal and Jurmana…his music sense was extraordinary…to see whose son he was…but in my opinion,Shakti’s film Amar prem was Pancham’s best music composition…what magnificent tunes were those,aha…humming  in my ears till now “.

Hrishida  dipped into the depth of remembrance…during his first stroke,Shachinda was admitted in Bombay Hospital…during the early few days,doctors were very tensed with him….later on one day Rahul phoned me from hospital,”Hrishida,dad wants to meet you”…”getting this message,I ran to hospital…he was only saying that plz bring Hrishi to me…he used to talk with his ailed physique…I was at that hospital  that day for a long time…Shachinda told me that hrishi  you are like a guardian to Pancham…plz look after him…after being  fully cured,Shachinda told,” See Hrishi,now I want to settle my dwelling…I don’t feel  comfortable with roaming here and there…from now on,I ‘ll compose all of your films”.

When I used to sit with Pancham  with the music of the film,I used to tell him,”See,I don’t want foreign tune…neither the hit songs..I only want songs according to the characters in whose lips songs are there and should match with the story …Pancham did give me what I exactly wanted”…

I came to know from Hrishida that Rahul Dev Burman has a tremendous habit of playing chess.Whenever getting time he used to come to the Karter Road’s bunglow of Hrishida to play chess with Hrishida..during hours after hours both used to play chess…as per Hrishida,Pancham was an extremely jolly person…
Hrishida continued telling,”A few months ago Pancham  came to my house and told,’Hrishida,my left leg is not healing fully…not healing in any case’….during his bypass,portion of a vein from his left leg was taken..I told him,”Don’t worry,Pancham,all will be well”…then I told Pancham,”One day I’ll go to your place and we’ll gossip”….that couldn’t happen any more.

The relation between ShacinDev Burman and Dev Anand was very sweet.ShachinDev was music director of so many Dev Anand-films.Once upon a time contribution of ShachinDev Burman was very much behind all Dev Anand’s films being hit.Dev Anand himself also recalled this with much reverence.He used to call ShachinDev as ‘Dada’.

Dev Anand had a very beautiful relation with Rahul Dev Burman also.This evergreen hero of hindi film became prostrated getting the news of RD’s sad demise.Dev Anand told,”It’s Pancham who first introduced modern rhythm in Indian film.He was the first who brought Pop songs in hindi films.You’ll perhaps recall the song ‘Dum maro dum’ in the film Hare ram hare Krishna…what a magnificent tune it was..I’ve not  seen  such a talented composer any more…he also used to sing brilliantly as good as he used to compose..possessed a tremendously stentorian voice…used to rise to a high scale from a bottommost scale…Pancham made me heard many Bengali songs…all the good qualities of Dada were there in his son also…one scene I can clearly recall…I’ve sat with Dada for a sitting…Shachinda was composing in a concentrated mood…suddenly I saw a kid entering that room playing mouth-organ..nooneelse but Pancham..he used to play mouth-organ brilliantly from his childhood”. 
Dev Anand continued,”My association with Pancham started from ‘hare rama hare krishna’.After that he composed in Heera Panna,Anand aur anand,Swamidada and Ishq ishq ishq.The song ‘Kisiko is jagah me nehi aana hai’ from Heera Panna is my hot favourite.After Ishq ishq ishq,I didn’t do music by Pancham.Actually I didn’t repeat Pancham because I always wanted to experiment with new ones.During music composition of Hare rama hare Krishna,Pancham completed six songs confining himself in a room for two weeks at a stretch.I was also with him in that room.He was composing tunes one after another and if he disliked any of them he was discarding that and starting composing another tune in place of that.He used to compose tunes  with very hard toil and imagination…such a worship is rarely seen”.
Producer-director-lyricist Gulzar also had an intimacy with Rahul Dev Burman.At first,Gulzar was known as poet and lyricist.Later on,he started directing films and serials and also started producing films.Gulzar used to write lyrics and R D Burman used to compose music in those.Gulzar  had broken in deep mourn due to demise of his dear friend.He told,”I can’t still now believe that Pancham has passed away.It seems just now he’ll ring me up and tell me,’How’re you Gulzarbhai?Can you come to my place now?I’ve got a tune in my mind and you’ll have to write a few lines on that.Please do come’.”
Gulzar was very soft-spoken person.He was becoming emotional repeatedly in telling about his dear friend.He told,”I can’t express in some talkings about the deep relation between us.Its better not to talk anything.I can recollect that Pancham used to compose tunes and I used to write lyrics.If he didn’t like any lyric of me he used to tell me.Similarly if I disliked any of his tune I used to tell him.The tuning between us was perfect.When I decided to  make Parichoy,Pancham told me,’I will surely compose music in your film.Please don’t take any other’.Pancham collected my promise that he would compose in every film of me.Now I remain living here and he passed away leaving everything”.
Is there any similarity between the matrimonial  lives of both Rahul Dev Burman and Gulzar?Are the two friends unhappy in their matrimonial lives?Gulzar didn’t want to give any reply to this.It seemed Gulzar became displeased with this question.He only told,”Pancham was companionless very  much”.  (End)

Yearwise R D Burman's hindi released Filmography

Yearwise R D Burman's hindi released Filmography 

by Kaushik Bandyopadhyay

1961 -- Chhote Nawaab
1965 -- Bhoot Bangla,Teesra Kaun
1966 -- Pati Patni,Teesri Manzil
1967 -- Baharon ke swapne,Chandan ka palna
1968 -- Abhilasha,Padosan
1969 -- Pyar ka mousam,Waaris
1970 -- Ehsaan,Kati Patang,Puraskar,Shash bhi kabhi bahu thi,The Train,Raton ka raja
1971 -- Adhikaar,Amar Prem,Buddha mil gaya,Caravan,Hungama,Hare ram hare krishna,Hulchul,Lakhon me ek,Mela,
             Paraya Dhan,Pyar ki kahani
1972 -- Apna desh,Bombay to Goa,Dil ka raja,Do chor,Garam Mashala,Gomati ki kinare,Jawaani Deewaani,Mere Jeevan
            Saathi,Parchhaiya,Parichoy, Rakhi aur haatkadi,Rampur ka Luxman,Rani mera naam,Samadhi,Songjog,Savera,
             Seeta aur Geeta,Shehjaada
1973 -- Aa gale laag ja,Anamika,Bada Kabutar,Bandhe Haat,Chhalia,Do Phool,Double Cross,Hira Panna,Hifajat,Jaise ko
             taisa,Jhil ke uspaar,Rickshawaala,Joshilaa,Mr Romeo,Nafrat,Namakharam,Paanch Dushman(Daulat ke  
              Dushman),Raja Rani,Shareef Budmaash,Yadon ki Baraat
1974 -- Aap ki kasam,Aajnabi,Benaam,Charitraheen,Dil Diwaana,Doosri Sita,Gunj,Humshakal,Imaan,Ishq ishq ishq,
              Khote Sikke,Mudhosh,Manoranjan,Phir kab milogi,Shaitan,Trimurty,Ujala hi ujala,Zehreela Insaan
1975 -- Aandhi,Deewaar,Dharam karam,Kalasona,Kehte hai mujhko raja,Khel khel me,Khusboo,Majaq,Raja,Sholay,
              Warrent

1976 -- Balika Badhu,Bhanwaar,Bullet,Bundlebaaz,Mehbooba,Nehle pe dehla,Biswaasghat,Dhongi,Khalifa,Mahachor
1977 -- Chala murari hero banne,Chalta Purja,Chandisona,Darling Darling,Hum kissise kum nehi,Jeevan Mukti,Karam,
             Kinara,Kitaab,Mukti
1978 -- Azaad,Bholabhala,Chor ho to aisa,Devta,Hiralal Pannalal,Kasme Waade,Naukri,Naya Daur,Phandebaaz,
             Shalimaar,Ghar
1979 -- Bhala Manush,Golmaal,Humare Tumhare,Jhoota kahi ka,Jurmaana,Manzil,Naukar,Ratnadeep,Salaam Memsahaab,
             The Great Gambler
1980 -- Aanchal,Aabdulla,Aalibaaba aur chalish chor,Bulandi,Dhan Daulat,Gunhegaar,Jalmahal,Katil Kaun,Khubsoorat,
             Phir Wohi Raat,Red Rose,Shaan,Sitaara,Takkar,The Burning Train
1981 -- Angoor,Barsaat ki ek raat,Basera,Biwi o biwi,Daulat,Dhunwaa,Gehra Jakham,Ghungroo ki Awaaz,Harjayee,
             Jailyatra,Kaalia,Kachhe Hire,Kudrat,Lovestory,Mangalsutra,Naramgaram,Rakhshaa,Rocky,Satte pe satta,
              Zamaane ko dikhane hai
1982 -- Aamne saamne,Adhura Aadmi,Ashanti,Bemishaal,Dard ka rista,Daulat ke dushman,Ganga meri maa,Numkeen,
             Sanam teri kasam,Shakti,Shoukeen,Swamidada,Teri kasam,Ye to kamaal ho gaya,Yeh Waada Raha

1983 -- Aan aur shaan,Agar tum na hote,Bade Dilwaala,Betaab,Bindiya chamkegi,Boxer,Chor police,Farista,Jaane jaan,
             Kaun?Kaise?,Lovers,Mahaan,Mashoom,Mazdoor,Mai Awaara Hoon,Pukaar,Qyamat,Rang Birangi,Romance,
              Shubhkaamana
1984 -- Anand aur Anand,Andar Bahar,Aawaaz,Bhima,Duniya,Hum Dono,Hum hai laajawaab,Jagir,Jawaani,Jhoonta
             Saanch,Karishma,Mati mange khoon,Manzil Manzil,Musafir,Sunny,Yeh Desh,Zameen Aasmaan
1985 -- Arpaar,Alag Alag,Aamir Aadmi Garib Aadmi,Arjun,Aawaara Baap,Bond 303,Ek se bhale do,Hum Naujawaan,
             Lava,Oonche Log,Rahi badal gaye,Ram tere kitne naam,Rusbayee,Saagar,Saverewaali Gadi,Shiva ka insaaf,
             Sitamgarh,Jabardast
1986 -- Aanokha rista,Ek main ek aur tu,Jeeva,Palay Khan,Samundar,Shatru,Zindagani
1987 -- Apne Apne,Belagaam,Dakait,Hifajat,Izaazat,Inaam dus hazaar,Itihaas,Jalianwaala Bag,Mardonwaali Baat
1988 -- Chatran,Faisala,Kharidaar,Mil gaya manzil mujhe,Namumkin,Rama o Rama,Jaljala
1989 -- Aag se khelenge,Bahuraani,Dost,Joshilay,Jurrat,Parinda
1990 -- Chor pe Mor,Dushman,Jeene Do
1991 -- Gunhegaar Kaun,Indrajit,Jhoonti Shaan,Libus(not released in halls)
1992 -- Drohi,Jai Shiv Shankar,Janam se pahele,Khule Aam,Sarphira,Siyasat
1993 -- Gardish,Gurudev,Professor ki Padosan,Tum karo waada
1994 -- 1942 A Love Story
1996 -- Ghatak,Soutela Bhai,Yaar meri zindegi
1997 -- Anyay hi Anyay
2000 -- Gang                                                                                                                                                            (End)