Article by Actor Rajesh Khanna about R D Burman in Aajkaal Ravibaasar on 25th March,1990

Article by Actor Rajesh Khanna about R D Burman in Aajkaal Ravibaasar on 25th March,1990 translated by Kaushik Bandyopadhyay

MY  NIGHT-COMPANION

                                                           By
                                                   Rajesh Khanna

Credit of more than 50% of the success I got in my acting life goes to two persons…incidentally both were Bengalis…both were magnanimous and jolly…one of them is Kishorekumar and the other is Rahul Dev  Burman… I always tell that if one is the ‘body’,the other is the ‘soul’…such was the understanding between the two…its our bad luck that Kishorekumar had gone away much before…my introduction with Pancham started from the time of Nasir Hussain’s film ‘Baharo ka swapne'…about 25 years have passed…that friendship is still now intact…none of us perhaps can tell about how many films we have done together…after his heart problem,I no more instigate him to do any irregularity…but once upon a time he,myself and Anand Bakshi  used to loaf about in so many sleepless nights…all on a sudden tunes used to come in his mind… and immediately he used to sit with the harmonium…Anand  used to extract his pen…songs used to be composed…I found very minutely that most of the tunes used to come in his mind during midnight only…as music composer,could  Pancham surpass his father also?...in my opinion,no,he couldn’t…but he is separate in his place…especially,he is unparallel in semi-classical songs…our profession has always its ups and downs…cricketer like Bradman had also undergone bad patches…but talents cannot be obstructed…his position will always remain on top…this time in London,I again got proof that music is in his blood…I went to visit him after his bypass surgery…he was still inside the intensive care unit…unconscious…suddenly I watched his fingers were moving…as if he was matching the rhythm of the beats with an unlistened tune….in that critical condition also…I bowed down in reverence…                                    (End)

Abhijit Mukherjee imagine!!! his fingers were moving even at the stage of unconsciousne ss... to a beat!! a man who devoted his life to music... and his music sure does live on... Kaushikda thanks for bringing the words of a humble and talented friend of boss to us.....

Kaushik Bandyopadhyay Yah,Abhijit,Kaka(Rajesh) was his very close friend...