Bengal remembers R D Burman on his death anniversary
Wednesday, 4 January 2023 (12:48 IST)
Kolkata: Legendary Bollywood's music maverick Rahul Dev Burman, popularly known as 'Panchamada, whose music has mesmerised generations of listeners, was paid tribute by a large number of fans here in Kolkata on his 29th death anniversary on Wednesday.
One of the most versatile music composer of the Indian film industry, R D Burman left this world on this day in 1994 at the age of 54 in Mumbai.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid heartfelt tribute the legendary musician director on the occasion.
“Heartfelt tribute to the legendary musician Rahul Dev Burman on his birth anniversary,” Banerjee posted on her social networking page.
Born on this day in 1939, a creative genius and a celebrated music composer Burman changed the sound of music in Indian cinema, leaving behind a rich legacy for generations to come.
R.D. Burman was born in Calcutta on June 27, 1939, in Kolkata. His father was the legendary music director S.D. Burman and his mother was named Meera.
His professional career began in 1958. He began assisting his father on films such as "Solva Saal" (1958), "Chalti Ka Naaam Gaadi" (1958), and "Kaagaz ka Phool" (1957). His first film as music director was Guru Dutt's film "Raaz" (1959); unfortunately, this film was shelved in the middle of the project.
His first released film as a music director was Mehmood's "Chote Nawaab" (1961.
Burman is known to have introduced electronic rock genre and jazz music in Bollywood. He was a musical prodigy who would pound music even out of ordinary.
Burman's collaborations with Kishore Kumar and lyricist Anand Bakshi are probably the most successful in Bollywood. The trio frequently delivered hit tracks for Rajesh Khanna movies.
In fact, RD Burman composed music for 32 of Rajesh Khanna movies, including ‘Kati Patang’, ‘Amar Prem’, ‘Namak Haraam’, ‘Aap Ki Kasam’, ‘Mere Jeevan Saathi’, ‘Mehbooba’ and ‘Kudrat’.
His songs for films like "Kati Patang," "Hare Rama Hare Krishna", "Caravan", "Sholay" and "Yaadon Ki Baaraat" among other were major hits and became an inspiration for new-age music composers.
Burman also produced an array of spell-binding melodies and semi-classicals for films like "Aandhi", "Parichay", "Ijaazat", "Kinara", and "Khushboo".
"Tesri Manzil" marked a major milestone in his career. From this point on, he was well establish, and was able to be the music director for a number of major films. This brought him a number of successful films such as "Padosan" (1968) and "Waris" (1969). The dawn of the 70s saw, RD Burman become Bollywood's most sought after music director. This was represented by such immortal hits as "Amar Prem" (1971), "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" (1971), "Seetha Aur Geeta" (1972), and "Sholay" (1975).
The last movie he worked on was "1942: A Love Story". (UNI)
