SD Burman: The World of his music
Author: Khagesh Dev Burman
Publisher: Rupa, Rs 295
SD Burman gave the world a form of music that could be both the boatman’s and the ustad’s own. In his long journey he shaped the career of several legends from Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhonsle to Manna Dey and Gulzar. A new book tells us more. Excerpts
Sachin Dev Burman has written about how he introduced Kishore Kumar to the Hindi film music scene: “I was then with Filmistan, working on Ashok Kumar’s own production, Eight Days. The year was 1946. Kishore used to visit his elder brother’s film studio occasionally after his matriculation examination. Once, Dadamoni asked me to listen to Kishore’s singing. Kishore was never a regular practitioner of music, never rehearsed regularly. I was charmed with his natural God-given voice. Then and there, I made him sing a song for the film. I had to okay him at the first take. I told Dadamoni, ‘Better not send him to college for further studies. let him take up music.’”
In Kishore’s own words: “I came to Bombay to act in and produce films. I never dreamt of singing. But the old man just wouldn’t give up, kept chasing me. I felt quite annoyed. I used to keep away from him. It so happened one day that I was travelling by car. It halted at a traffic signal. All of a sudden, I heard, in chaste Bangla, ‘Ah! Is it not KishoiraIJ’ Before I could say anything the old man simply opened the door of my car and entered. He asked the driver to drive out of town. We drove for quite some time till we reached some green meadows on the outskirts of the city. The fellow alighted and proceeded on foot towards the fields. He lifted his dhoti and started walking along the earthen boundary. He went on singing one song after another. I felt as if it was all a dream. I don’t remember being in my senses. Only then did I realise that this was the man I had been looking for all along. I decided that from that day on I would always do his bidding.”
The Making of Asha
Sachin’s choice of Asha Bhonsle between 1957 and 1962 owed itself to a rift with lata Mangeshkar. As a music director, Sachin could be quite demanding about how he wanted a singer to render his compositions. It so happened that after lata had recorded a song for Sitaron Se Aage, Sachin thought it would be better to record it again. But lata was a busy singer. Busy as she was completing jobs she had on hand, she could not assign any date to Sachin despite his repeated calls. Probably piqued at this behaviour by someone he had given his finest compositions to sing to, Sachin dropped lata altogether and called upon Asha.
Around this period, Asha was struggling to make a name for herself, largely unsuccessfully, getting to render only cabarets or leftovers that lata would not sing. Sachin’s call gave Asha the big break she was looking for and she grabbed the opportunity. Over the next four to five years, Asha, thanks to Sachin, emerged out of lata’s shadow, rendering popular numbers in films like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Kala Pani, Insaan Jaag Utha, Sujata, Bambai Ka Babu, Kala Bazaar, Manzil, among others.
Gulzar gets a chance
The tiff between SD and lata continued till 1962. Rahul was instrumental in bringing them together again. Rahul told his father, “I am going to ring up lata didi to sing my first song as a music director.” RD Burman wanted no one but her to sing his first composition for the movie Chhote Nawab. lata’s singing of ‘Ghar aaja’ had initiated the process of their reunion.
letting bygones be bygones, lata returned to her favourite music director Sachin-da in Bandini. Gulzar, who debuted as a lyricist in Bandini with ‘Mora gora ang lai le’, remembers: “Sachin-da was upset with Shailendra at the time. It worked to my advantage. Bimal-da (Roy) advised me to go to Sachin-da to work on the songs for Bandini. That was how I also got to meet my lifelong friend Pancham. After meeting Sachin-da I wrote the songs all right. But who would sing themIJ Sachin-da was not on speaking terms with lata. But things changed in the interest of the film. lata sang the songs. What was amusing about Sachin-da getting annoyed with someone was that the reason was never substantial. He would get upset on some insignificant issue. He was unusually childlike in this, as well as in many other respects. Perhaps highly talented people have this kind of childishness. Nachiketa Ghosh once narrated an incident. It was during the Second World War. The two of them were returning to Howrah by train. Some time before they reached Howrah, a few British soldiers boarded the train. At the sight of the soldiers Sachin-da pulled his chadar over himself and stayed absolutely still. Shortly before the train was to reach its destination, Nachiketa Ghosh asked Sachin-da to pack his belongings. Sachin-da whispered from under the sheet, ‘Have they goneIJ’ Nachiketa replied in the negative. In a trembling voice Sachin-da said, ‘Please tell them I am not Japanese.’ That is why I used to address Pancham as Gorkha.”
Manna’s saviour
The year 1969 saw the release of two more films — Talash and Jyoti. Among the several popular numbers of Talash, the most remarkable is probably Manna Dey’s ‘Tere naina talaash kare jise’. It is one of those ironies of fate that despite a string of immensely popular songs, he was never the first choice of either producers or composers.
According to Bengali lyricist Pulak Bandyopadhyay: “The director of the film also came to listen to the song. Sachin-da asked Manna Dey to sing the song for the director. In the presence of Manna Dey, the director told Sachin-da, ‘Will Manna sing this songIJ What about MukeshIJ’ Sachin-da replied, ‘Mukesh cannot sing this song.’ The director asked Sachin, ‘Why have you composed a song that Mukesh cannot singIJ’ But Sachin-da remained firm. ‘If you want SD Burman’s music for Talash, this song will have this tune and it is Manna who will sing it. If you don’t like this, you better look for another music director.’”
‘lifting’ RD’s tune
In 1956, Funtoosh was released. Rahul found his tune had been lifted by his father. The song ‘Ae meri topi palat ke aa’ had already been stamped in print as SD Burman’s creation as a music director of Funtoosh. The son did not take it favourably and asked him, ‘Why have you lifted my tune without my permissionIJ’ Appreciating the sensitiveness of his son, SD replied, ‘Tell me who has borrowed your tuneIJ It’s me, SD Burman, your father. Don’t you consider yourself fortunateIJ’ Pancham was not a boy to give up ground without a fight. He said, ‘It’s alright. But please admit that I too am a good composer’. Father hugged his son affectionately and said, ‘This is what I expect from you.’
Pancham has quoted SD as saying: ‘I was testing your tune on the public! Now that ‘Ae meri topi’ has proved a hit, I know you’ll make it as a composer when your time comes’.