This chronicle of the life of S.D. Burman tells his story through a kaleidoscope of montages from the inner and outer worlds he inhabited.
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Sathya Saran
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 258; Price: Rs 499[/alert]
The author of this memoir Sathya Saran—her earlier book on Guru Dutt was warmly received – explains that she has presented it as a mosaic — interviews, letters, articles, material from Moti Lalwani and S.D Burman’s autobiography (Sargamer Nikhad). This has affected the smooth flow of the narrative and has a jarring effect sometimes.
SD Burman was singer, musician, composer and teacher all rolled into one. He strode on the Bollywood scene like a Colossus for three decades, composing successfully for generations of stars.
He was born October 1, 1906 as one of the nine children of Prince Komilla of Tripura. His father Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman, was a sitarist and dhrupad singer and his first Guru. He continued with Ustad Badal Khan and Bhishmadev Chattopadhyay, and this laid firm foundation for his classicism. It would be true to assert that his rambles in the jungles of Assam and Tripura endowed him with a native touch and a rich repertoire of folk music.
Burman became a student of Ustad Aftabuddin Khan and mastered the “flute”. He established his own music school, “Sur Mandir” in Calcutta in the 1930s. Soon he became a popular singer and came under the umbrella of the highly acclaimed K. C. Dey. He started his musical career in Bengal as a singer of folk and light classical music and also composed music for the radio, which bore prominent traces of East Bengali and north-eastern folk music. His debut song was for Pankaj Mullick in Yahudi Ki Ladki but the songs were scrapped and re-sung by Pahari Sanyal. His first film as singer was Tinkari Chakraborthy’s Sanjher Pidim. His film compositions are influenced by the Bengali Bhatiali, Sari and Dhamail traditions of the North East. Dada started work as a music director in Calcutta in 1939. He tried to compose music for New Theatre movies but failed. He moved five years later to Bombay. His first breakthrough came with Filmistan’s Do Bhai , Aath Din and Sabnam and Munimji .
The crass commercialism of Bombay film world disgusted Burman who packed his bags to return to Calcutta – half way through composing music for Mashaal, Ashok Kumar convinced him to stay and complete that movie and what a change it wrought on Burman. Manna Dey sang for him “Upar Gagan Vishal” which established Manna Dey as a singer, Atlast Dada had finally arrived.
This book is replete with interesting anecdotes. While setting a song for Bimal Roy’s “Sujata”, Burman asked the director who demurred at the idea of a song sung by Sunil Dutt over the telephone to express his love for Nutan, “Have you never been in love?” And pushing aside Roy’s doubts, Burman went on to compose the song that would make cinematic history as one of his most romantic compositions – ‘Jalte hain jiske liye’.
One more incident is that among Burman’s assistants for “Do Bhai” was a musical-minded ex-army man, who would later blaze his own trail as a composer of evergreen melodies – Madan Mohan.
Burman was so devoted to his music that he would spend hours doing riyaaz .One of the young boys who used to stand outside Burman’s home in Calcutta and listen to his riyaaz was Hemant Mukherjee. Burman was a man of immense integrity, beguiling simplicity and generosity. The man who, though he had hiked his rates by then, offered to compose for Shakti Samanta’s film for much, much less than the director had set aside because he — Burman — realised that Samanta was not flush with fund and the film was Aradhana.
He was a man who was not just highly respected but so loved by his contemporaries that the Anands, Waheeda Rehman and others of the crew of Guide had decided to boycott the Filmfare Awards function when they found that while the film had won seven awards Burman had not been given the Best Music Director Award.
Majrooh Sultanpuri said that Dada did not like too many instruments, he would try and use as few as possible. Burman was very choosy in selecting films for scoring music. He never took too many assignments at a time. Likewise, he was very choosy in selecting the singers. It is said that he used to telephone to the singers early in the morning, study their voice indirectly while making conversation and then select. He used to blend Indian classical ragas with Western and make the tune most appealing in melody by his golden touch. He has used the flute very effectively in most of his compositions. His career never flagged till 1974 when he quit signing films from ill health. He is remembered even today, through his great compositions.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan called Burman an “unmatchable artiste. He was one of the musical greats of our country, his thinking and creativity was unique. The range of music he gave from ‘Bandini’ to ‘Pyaasa’ to ‘Guide’ was amazing. His melodies had a different appeal..One of the best things about him was that he brought folk music in film tunes,” Some of the Burman great songs are – Thandi hawaayein lehraake aayein, Hum bekhudi mein tumko pukaare chale gaye, O re maajhi, Dekhi zamaane ki yaari, Yeh mahalon yeh takhton yeh taajon ki duniya, each more wonderful than the last. He will be remembered for his immortal songs in Guide, Pyaasa,Bandini, Kagaz Khe Phool, Abhimaan and Aradhana. He had also made his son R.D.Burman a successful composer.
P.P. Ramachandran
