Diminished Chords strike: Death of R.D Burman

R.D Burman is the man behind the melodies to which people in the 1970-80s danced to or sat in their beds reminiscing imaginary events with their to-be loved ones. Today marks the day of his death.

R.D. Burman (Source: Times of India)

While we talk about the significance of the day, 4th of January, in the year of 1994 was a solemn one. This day marks the death anniversary of one of the best music directors and composers to ever grace the melodies in India. Rahul Dev Burman, remembered as R.D. Burman, fondly nicknamed as ‘Pancham Da’ was one the most celebrated and successful Indian music directors, composing widely popular musical scores for 331 films in the 30 years that he had been a part of the Hindi film industry.

Nicknamed 'Tablu' by his maternal grandmother, he later came to be known as ‘Pancham,’ meaning five in his birth tongue Bengali, the inspiration being one of the several stories shared over the years. Some say it was because it was the scale that he cried in or rather the number of scales that he could cry in.

One riotously popular theory says that the term of endearment was in fact coined by the Indian actor Ashok Kumar, who when once visited the newborn repeatedly heard him mumble the syllable ‘pa’ and hence the name.

Trained under Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and Samta Prasad (table), Burman also regarded Salil Chowdhury as his guru. He worked as an assistant in some notable films like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963) and more. Finally, in 1961 when the film ‘Chhote Nawab’ was released, Burman’s first film as an independent music director, but his first successful film as a music director was Teesri Manzil (1966). It was only in 1966, that he married his first wife, Rita Patel, but the couple divorced soon after in 1971.

The 1970s were R.D. Burman's breakout phase, becoming highly popular with his Kishore Kumar songs starring Rajesh Khanna. Songs like "Yeh Shaam Mastani" and "Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai", sung by Kishore Kumar, were instantly popular. Rajesh Khanna, Kishore Kumar and R.D.Burman worked in 32 films together, with both films and songs proving to be absolute 'bangers.' Apart from Kishore Kumar, Burman also composed several of the popular songs sung by Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar.