IMMORTAL SD BURMAN - Page 4

SD BURMAN Dada and I..
Remembering S.D. Burman
on his 25th death anniversary,
which fell on October 31...

Dada Burman's music for me was like a peg of liquor that hits you gradually, but rises to total intoxication due to its sheer potency. My initiation into film music was through the songs of Naushad's Mughal-e-Azam and Mere Mehboob, Shanker-Jaikishan's Junglee, Sasural and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, and Ravi's Gharana, and initially I had little inclination for the exotica that was Dada's true metier.

Not that I was unaffected by Dada's music even then - I never knew that it was a Sachin Dev Burman delight that I was savouring when I heard the haunting Na tum hamein jaano (Baat Ek Raat Ki), Khanke kangana (Dr Vidya), Dil ka bhanwar (Tere Ghar Ke Saamne), Mora gora ang lai le (Bandini) and a little later, Pyar mein aag mein (Ziddi). On a lesser note, there was also Jaanu jaanu ri (Insaan Jaag Utha), but the two songs that really affected me, haunted me and did things I did not understand then to my sense were Roshan's Parda uthe salaam ho jaaye (Dil Hi To Hai) and SD Burman's Na tum hamein jaano (Baat Ek Raat Ki).

On reflection today, I realise why I did not identify these songs as Burman beauties, and that fact alone does wonders for SD's standing. And the answer is, that while a certain similarity encompassed the compositions of the others, the music of Dada Burman was infinitely varied, each song being as fresh as a newly-fallen dew-drop. I was later to read somewhere that SD Burman once told his son Pancham to completely and consciously forget a song once it was recorded. And what a positive difference that would have made to Pancham's already-fabulous ouevre had he headed this priceless advice!

While agreeing generally with the view that his son was far more gifted than him, I would still say that he lacked the greatest qualities of the senior Burman. This was just one of them. There were others, and had Dada lived on and not died on October 31, 1975, I dare say that he would have eclipsed his own son in the 1980s. His earlier struggles (Dada almost packed his bags and went back to Calcutta in 1949-50 as he was disillusioned with Mumbai) and final success with Mashaal, Baazi, Naujawan, Sazaa (1950-51) had armed Dada Burman with impregnable steel - he became and to the end he remained a fighter.

He brooked no compromise in his music. Pancham often left some work to his assistants who cared a hoot for RD's interests. It is part of filmlore that Dada waited for a Nepalese drum for Honton pe aisi baat (Jewel Thief) and had a no-nonsense approach. Lata did not sing for him for six long years, years that saw him present music buffs with scores as precious as Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Pyaasa and Kala Pani. He was a man who simply did not believe in surrendering.

It is this doughtiness that was not only missing in Junior Burman, but also the courage in refusing to bow to trends that he did not agree with. If he did not want a 100-piece orchestra, it did not matter if everyone else did. He never believed in the holier-than-thou castigation and dismissal of junior composers. I remember the summer of 1974 when S.D. Burman's Yeh laal rang kab mujhe chhodega (Premnagar) vied for the top slot of the charts with his son R.D. Burman's Jai jai Shiv Shanker (Aap Ki Kasam), Kalyanji-Anandji's Mera jeevan kora kagaz (Kora Kagaz) and Laxmikant-Pyarelal's Gaadi bula rahi hai (Dost). That was Sachin Dev Burman. His music sparkled with joie de vivre because he had no insecurity or vitriol in his system. That is why he did not need to change with the times - he remained himself, forever young-at-heart, and his music always sounded state-of-the-art.

As a kid, I remember the craze for his songs in Guide and later for Jewel Thief. I cannot forget the magic that was Aradhana - the omnipresence of those songs on radio and loudspeakers was matched only by Bobby later - and never again. And I loved that quaint voice singing Wahaan kaun hai tera and Safal hogi teri aradhana, and a few months later, Prem ke pujari (Prem Pujari).
For me, as an evolving music lover, the discovery of Dada Burman and his wondrous and aromatic music came as a reverse journey from this era (and the wonderful scores of Gambler, Talash, Tere Mere Sapne, Ishq Par Zor Nahin, Naya Zamana and Sharmeelee that followed), on to Yeh Gulistan Hamara, Abhimaan and Premnagar. It was later that I went back into the Dada era of Kaagaz Ke Phool, Pyaasa, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Sujata, Funtoosh, Nau Do Gyarah, Kala Pani, Kala Bazar and the other peaks of that master's creativity. In retrospect probably this was the best thing that could have happened, for it enabled me to understand that sheer genius and his extraordinary modernity. Place Dukhi man mere (Funtoosh) in the voice of either Kumar Sanu or Vinod Rathod, on someone as contemporary as Anil Kapoor, and it will not sound the least incongruous. And the same held true for countless other Burman spell-binders - they simply lacked the handicap of sounded dated. Amazingly, these timeless gems sound as apt in any decade.

And interestingly, his newest numbers seemed classic and solid enough to fit into the less market-driven era of film music - the '50s and '60s. What else could you term lovelies like Mera man tera pyaasa (Gambler/1971), Ab to hai tumse (Abhimaan/1973), Khilte hai gul yahan (Sharmeelee/1971) and O mere bairaagi bhanwara (Ishq Par Zor Nahin/1970) but solid, substantial and yet mass-friendly? Men and women, wine and concrete, age with the years. S.D.Burman never did so, and neither will his melodies.

Songless Indian Films

by S.D Burman

Occasionally Dada would put his baton down and pickup the pen. This article on the role and indispensability of music in Indian films was one such instance. This piece was written in 1966 and appeared in the 8th September issue of the Cine Advance film journal.

(Circa 1966, Cine Advance)

A cliping from an interview of Anuradha Paudwal.

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You got married at a very young age in 1972 to Arun Paudwal who was a music arranger for S.D Burman. Did that open doors for you?
On the contrary he was very strict. Lataji and Ashaji were at the top and they were such stalwarts. It's not like it is today, where any body and every body just gets up and sings. You had to have exceptional talent to even be noticed and you were compared directly to the Mangeshkars and they were the epitome of perfection. So Arunji said just because someone thinks they can sing doesn't mean they have to! He said that even after I had been singing professionally for 4-5 years, and had won so many awards. I myself had no interest in singing professionally. Even when people used to approach me and ask me to sing, I used to get so nervous.
It was my in-laws especially my father in law who was very fond of me and would keep telling Arunji, make her sing, and he would say, to his father, "It's not so easy, look at the competition." My father in law said you wait and see one of these days she will sing a duet with Asha Bhosle.

So how did the turning point come?
I used to take lunch every day for Arunji at music director S.D. Burman's place. Often Arunji would put together some music, record it on a tape recorder and play it for Burman da. When the movie Abhimaan was ready for release, Burman da wanted to record a shiv sholka to open the film. Arunji asked me to sing it, recorded it and took it as a demo tape to Burman da. He heard it and said who sang this?
Arunji said my wife, and Burman da said, you have been married for a while now and she has been coming here so often and you didn't tell me she sings. He then said let her sing the shloka, why bother Lataji for it. That is how I started. I do have to tell you a strange story connected to my musical beginnings in the industry. One day I was going in a cab and I was humming. The cab was driven by a Sikh gentleman and he said to me you seem to be very fond of singing. Who do you pray to for music? I said, traditionally we pray to goddess Saraswati.
He said well as you know the celestial instrument Nada came from Lord Shiva, so pray to him and see how things take off for you. It was strange hearing this from a Sikh cab driver. I did and strangely I started my film career by reciting that Shiv shloka and I have always felt the impact of Shiva's blessing in my musical career.

A lot of people thought that shloka from Abhimaan was sung by Lata Mangeshkar.
That's true. In fact it was funny because a lot of people congratulated her and said the best piece of musical rendering was the shiva shloka.

Originally posted by: Barnali

We all know that it was S.D. Burman who made Kishore, the superstar singer of the seventies, when he chose him to sing 'Roop tera mastana, pyar mera diwana' for Rajesh Khanna in the superhit Aradhana.

Do yu know the The last song Kishore sang for S D Burman was during the time when S D was in a deep coma, and R D had to complete the recording. It was the song Badi suni suni hai from the film Mili. S D Burman went into coma while recording the song Badi sooni sooni hai.

Really, i did not know that...

his songs were brilliant.."mere sapno ki rani" - is still a favourite. the movie aradhana has so many diffrent''genre"of songs..amazing.. too good.

there was this songs of his :dheere se jaana bagiyan mein--o bhomra"..I think he was our first nasal king..but what arange of songs...Kishorda owns majority of his fame to the baap beta jodi of SDB & RDB..

He is a legend in Tripura...

Originally posted by: Barnali

We all know that it was S.D. Burman who made Kishore, the superstar singer of the seventies, when he chose him to sing 'Roop tera mastana, pyar mera diwana' for Rajesh Khanna in the superhit Aradhana.

Do yu know the The last song Kishore sang for S D Burman was during the time when S D was in a deep coma, and R D had to complete the recording. It was the song Badi suni suni hai from the film Mili. S D Burman went into coma while recording the song Badi sooni sooni hai.