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)