To Panchamda....with love!

Punchamda turns 68 today!

I have been a colossal fan of R. D. Burman since eternity as I grew up listening to his enchanting music! It was an inherited talent. Music was a gift bequeathed to Rahul Dev Burman, by his father, Sachin Dev Burman.

According to stories, Rahul Dev Burman was nicknamed Pancham because, as a child, whenever he cried, it sounded in the fifth note (Pa) of the Indian musical scale! Pancham was born in Calcutta.

After coming to Mumbai, he learnt sarod from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. When he was nine years old, he composed his first song, Aye meri topi palat ke aa, which his father used in the film Funtoosh (1956). The tune of the song Sar jo tera chakraaye was composed by him as a child. His father loved the tune and included it in the soundtrack of Guru Dutt's Pyaasa. As a child, Pancham also played the mouth organ in the famous song Hai apna dil to aawara (from film Solva saal - 1958, starring Dev Anand). Pancham began his music career as an assistant to his father. His first film as a music director was Chhote nawaab. He started independent music composing in 1961 with Chhote Nawaab and did 331 Films and 4 Non-Film Albums. Before coming onto his own, he assisted his father S.D. Burman for long. Out of his 331 released movies 292 were in Hindi, 31 in Bangla, 3 in Telugu, 2 each in Tamil & Oriya and 1 in Marathi. RD also composed for 5 TV Serials in Hindi and Marathi. He also scored a large number of non-film songs in Bangla (also known as Pooja songs or modern songs), which are available in different albums. He did a song for a small documentary film called Maa Ki Pukaar too, in 1975.

Pancham was magical. He got the “Groove” and “Soul” in Hindi Film Music. There is not a spatula of doubt that he was monstrously influenced by western music, but he brought rhythm in Indian music in its true sense. Pancham was comfortable with all types of music, be it the romantic Raat kali from Buddha mil gaya (1971), the sexy cabaret Piya tu ab to aaja from Caravan (1971), the ultimate hippie anthem Dum Maro Dum from Hare Krishna Hare Rama (1972) or the classical Raina beeti jaaye. It is said that Dev Anand did not include the complete version of Dum Maro Dum in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, as he was worried the song would overshadow the film. At times, R D doubled up as a singer too. His most famous song as a singer was Mehbooba from Sholay. This song is a copy of the song "Say You Love Me" by Demis Rusos.

With Love Story (1981), R.D. became the first choice for teenage love stories like Betaab (1983) which owe a great deal of their success to his music.Towards the mid-1980s however R.D. began going through a rough patch as his films started collapsing at the box-office. Bhappi Lahiri and the Disco age had overtaken him and R.D's producers just disappeared. Even a fine score like Saagar (1985) and a brilliant one like Ijaazat (1987) could not stem the flow of R.D.'s decline.
The music of Ijaazat reiterated that at his best, R.D. was simply matchless. Each of the four songs was a masterpiece - Choti si Kahani Hai, Khaali Haath Shyam Aayi Hai, Katra Katra and the icing on the cake Mera Kuch Samaan which won Asha Bhosle the National Award.

Parinda (1989) had its moments with songs like Tumse Milke but perhaps his last score to stand out was 1942 - A Love Story (1993). Compositions like Ek Ladki ko Dekha, Kuch na Kaho, Pyaar Hua Chupke Se, Rhimjhim Rhimjhim prove that R.D. still had enough brilliant music left in him given the chance.

Pancham was a very creative musician. His percussion included a spoon against a glass (Chura liya hai from Yaadon Ki baraat), desks (Masterji ki aa gayee chitthee from Kitaab) a bamboo whistle with a balloon (Abdullah) and bottles filled with water at different levels (O maajhi re from Khushboo). Pancham also adapted folk music from eastern Europe in some of his tunes, such as the songe in movie Satte Pe Satta. There have been discussions regarding the influence of the communist block of the eastern Europe on Pancham's music. The solos and duets that R.D. Burman sang in the '70s asserted his growing reputation as a rock-`n'-roll renegade. Somehow the serious songs sung by Pancham (such as the manjhi number in Aar Paar) never got their due. The hits that Pancham sang were almost invariably gimmicky. Even today, contemporary hindi film musicians are consciously or unconsciously influenced by Pancham's music!

And how can we forget the immortal pair of Panchamda and Gulzar! The duo created immortal compositions and although sometimes Panchamda used to get annoyed by Gulzar’s novel lyrics (Like Mera Kuchh Samaan!) the twosome were awesome! Recalls Gulzar, "Pancham was an excellent singer. He knew the nuances of classical singing. For my films, he sang only a couple of songs. But he lent his voice even so often. For instance, in Jabbar Patel's Musafir, the boatman's voice-over, is Pancham! As a singer, he would perfect a tune by singing it repeatedly. In the album that I did with him in 1994, listen to how well he has sang the numbers Raah pe rahte hain and Koi diya jale kahin (later rendered by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, respectively).

Panchamda now belongs to ages! His revolutionary music will remain with us till the music endures its existence.