Tribute to R.D.Burman

June 27th 2009

Today is one of my most favourite Music Composer R.D.Burman's 70th Birth Anniversary. Though he's not alive, his Birthday is celebrated by almost all Hindi music lovers of India.
Rahul Dev Burman, who was called Pancham da created a wave in Hindi Film Music. Though is father S.D Burman was a renowned Music Director, RDB created a special identity for himself.Still his music is loved by all. Before Ilayaraja's entry, even Tamil people liked listening to Hindi songs.My mom and dad are lovers of Old Hindi Music esp Aradhana, Yadon Ki Baarat, Bobby, Caravan, Kati Patang, Tere Mere Sapne, etc. Almost all are RDB songs.Even Ilayaraja has told that RDB was one of his mentors. But I became his fan without knowing about him and his other. The first Hindi album I loved is 1942, A Love Story. (Courtesy: My neighbour Savitha Akka). I was crazy about "Oh ek ladki ko dekha to...."; "Kuch na kaho.." songs.It was in 1994 and I was in my 5th std. The satellite channels were at their initial stage. I started learning Hindi from Vasantha Maami.She advised us to watch Hindi channels. Our favourite was Top Ten Songs in Zee TV or Star TV.The songs from 1942 A Love Story were on Top. It made me a gr8 fan of Anil Kapoor, Kumar Sanu and the composer (but I didn't know abt his previous compositions).Unfortunately it was his last movie. Later I started listening to other Hindi songs.
But I became an ardent fan in 2007 when I was in Kolkata where I became a fan of Kishore Kumar first.The song "Yeh jo Mohabbat hai.." from Kati Patang was played in the office and suddenly it attracted me.I got the other songs of Kishore from Ritwik. Then regularly, I used to watch the program K for Kishore in Sony TV without fail. Most of the songs sung were Kishore Kumar's songs in RDB's composition. I started loving RDB's Music.The songs of "Teesri Manzil" (Original version of Kalaignan) made me a big fan of the legend. I was taken aback by the Orchestrization of the songs.It was released in 70s but the music was a decade ahead. The songs "O Haseena zulfonwali..", "Aaja aaja...", etc are still Listener's choice.Then the songs of "Hum Kisi se Kum Nahin", "Aandhi", "Jawani Diwani", etc made me idolize him. He extracted the best from every singer.I love his melodies in Kishore-Lata combination and foot-tapping numbers in Kishore-Asha combo.He's the only Composer who made three legendary singers sing a song.That's my most fav "Tum bin jaaoon kahan..." from Pyar Ka Mausam. He made Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar sing the song.Asha Bhonsle has sung many songs for him. Though she was used for Peppy n Cabaret type songs like "Churaliya hai..","Dum maro dum..", "Piya tu ab to aaja...", "Aaja Aaja...", "Jaane jaan...", "Aa dekhen zara...",she got her national award for the soul stirring "Mera kuch saamaan.." from Ijaazat.They got married though she is elder than him and a widow. The movie "JHANKAAR BEATS" and "DIL VIL PYAR VYAR" are tributes to the Legend. His songs were remade in those movies. (I also think to name my child "Rahul" like Sanjay Suri in Jhankaar Beats.)Though he ruled Bollywood, he had composed for only one Tamil movie.That's Sathyaraj-Gouthami starrer "Ulagam Pirandhadhu Enakkaga". But the songs didnt become hits. Even when the Madhavan starrer Dil Vil Pyar Vyar" was remade in Tamil as "Kaettavarellam Paadalam", both the movie and the songs got unnoticed.

Almost all of my colleagues belong to my generation and are in their 20s. But when we went for a Picnic, we all were singing RDB songs.A set of friends go to bar every Friday. Some of us booze and some dont. But we have never sung songs in the Bar.But this Friday (26th Jun), I started singing "Tum bin jaaon kahan..." and Ganesh and Vinayak joined me.I sang the full song 4 stanzas (2 of Rafi's version and 2 of Kishore's version). Vinayak was surprised to see me singing the whole song and praised me.The we sang "Tere bina zindgi se.." and "Pal pal dil ke pas...". It all happened after 12am. Something made me sing the songs and to give tribute to Pancham da. What's that? That's the magic of Music.