Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director and actor, who is considered one of the greatest and most successful music directors of Hindi Music Industry. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films, bringing a new level of music ensemble with his compositions. Burman did his major work with legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and Kishore Kumar. He also worked extensively with lyricist Gulzar, with whom he has some of the most memorable numbers in his career. Nicknamed Pancham, he was the only son of the composer Sachin Dev Burman and Bengali singer-lyricist Meera Dev Burman.
He was mainly active in the Hindi film industry as a composer, and also provided vocals for a few compositions.He served as an influence to the next generation of Indian music directors, and his songs continue to be popular in India and overseas.
Biography
Early life
Burman was born to the Hindi film composer and singer, Sachin Dev Burman, and his lyricist wife Meera Dev Burman (née Dasgupta), in Calcutta. Initially, he was nicknamed Tublu by his maternal grandmother, although he later became known by the nickname Pancham. According to some stories, he was nicknamed Pancham because, as a child, whenever he cried, it sounded in the fifth note (Pa), G note on c major scale, of music notation; in Hindustani Classical Music, Pancham is the name of the fifth scale degree: (IAST: Ṣaḍja, Ṛṣabha, Gandhāra, Madhyama, Pañcama, Dhaivata, Niṣāda). Another theory says that the baby was nicknamed Pancham because he could cry in five different notes. Yet another version is that when the veteran Indian actor Ashok Kumar saw a newborn Rahul uttering the syllable Pa repeatedly, he nicknamed the boy Pancham.
Burman received his early education in West Bengal from Tirthapati Institution in Kolkata. His father S. D. Burman was a noted music director in Hindi language films, the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry. When he was seventeen years old, R. D. Burman 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 also composed by him as a child; his father included it in the soundtrack of Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa (1957).
In Mumbai, Burman was trained by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and Samta Prasad (tabla). He also considered Salil Chowdhury his guru. He served as an assistant to his father and often played harmonica in his orchestras.
Some of the notable films in which Burman is credited as the music assistant include Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963), Bandini (1963), Ziddi (1964), Guide (1965) and Teen Devian (1965). Burman also played mouth organ for his father’s hit composition “Hai Apna Dil To Aawara”, which was featured in the film Solva Saal, and sung by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay.
In 1959, Burman signed up as a music director for the film Raaz, directed by Guru Dutt’s assistant Niranjan. However, the film was never completed. The lyrics of this Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman-starrer film were written by Shailendra. Burman recorded two songs for the film before it was shelved. The first song was sung by Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, and the second one had vocals by Shamshad Begum.
Burman’s first released film as an independent music director was Chhote Nawab (1961). When the noted Hindi film comedian Mehmood decided to produce Chhote Nawab, he first approached Burman’s father Sachin Dev Burman for the music. However, S. D. Burman declined the offer, advising he was unavailable. At this meeting, Mehmood noticed Rahul playing tabla, and signed him as the music director for Chhote Nawab. Burman later developed a close association with Mehmood, and made a cameo in Mehmood’s Bhoot Bangla (1965).
Band/Team Members
Burman often collaborated with the same film directors and worked with the same set of musicians.
Music Assistants
Manohari Singh
Basudev Chakraborty
Maruti Rao Keer
Sapan Chakraborty
Babloo Chakraborty
Deepan Chatterjee
String Instruments
Guitar: Bhanu Gupta, Ramesh Iyer, Dilip Naik, Sunil Kaushik, Bonny D’Costa, RK Das, Gorakh Sharma, Soumitra Chatterjee, Bhupinder Singh, Anibal Castro, Binoy Singh, Tushar Parte, Bipin Panchal, Nepal Shaw
Lap Steel Guitar: Bhupinder Singh
Bass Guitar: Tony Vaz, Charanjit Singh, Ramesh Iyer, Raju Singh, Gorakh Sharma, Emil Isaac, Tutun Roy
Santoor: Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ulhas Bapat
Sarangi: Sultan Khan, Iqbal
Sarod: Zarine Daruwalla, Aashish Khan
Sitar: Kartik Kumar, Arvind Mayekar, J.V Acharya, Ashok Sharma, Rahul Chatterjee, Shujaat Khan
Tar Shehnai: Dakshina Mohan Tagore
Song Violin: Gajanan Karnad, Sapre, Prabhakar Jog, Harishchandra Narwekar, Rajendra Singh Sodha
Violin: Nanekar, Nandu Chavathe, Uttam Singh, Ernest Menezes, Jerry Fernandes, Dorado, Ganesh Sharma, Bablu Chakraborty, Narbade, Puranmohan Singh, Buddhadev Singh, Bahadur Singh, Kishore Singh Jawda, Ashok Jagtap, Surendra Singh, Neville Franco, Prakash Verma, Manoj Shailendra, Amrit Singh, Kenny, Subhash, Debaprasad Chakraborty, Stanley Gomes, Ashish Roy, Franco Vaz, Abhijit Majumdar
Viola: Terrence Fernandes
Cello: Basudev Chakraborty, Benito Gracias, Sanjay Chakraborty
Swarolin: Rajendra Sodha
Mandolin: Kishore Desai, Ravi Sundaram, Mustafa Sajjad, Pradipto Sengupta, Shailu Sundaram, Mahendra Bhavsar, Isaac David, Arvind Haldipur, Jayanti Gosher, Parshuram Haldipur
Bulbul Tarang: Rashid Khan
Percussion Instruments
Tabla: Shashikant, Amrutrao Katkar, Deepak Naik, Indranath Mukherjee, Vijay Katkar, Janardan Abhyankar, Marutirao Keer, Rijram, Brajen Biswas, Devi Chakraborty, Pramod Sane, Ramakant Hapsekar, Sharafat, Pt. Samta Prasad, Iqbal Khan, Lala Gangavane
Dholak: Shashikant, UK Dubey, Iqbal Khan, Roshan Ali, Devichand Chauhan, Girish Vishwa, Abdul Karim, Sudarshan Adhikari, Sattar, Pramod Sane, Chandrakant Satnak, Lala Gangavane
Drums: Buji Lord, Franco Vaz, Leslie Godinho, Wency D’Souza, Trilok Gurtu, Aadesh Shrivastav, Ranjit Barot, Kersi Lord, Suresh Soni
Bongo: Cawas Lord, Marutirao Keer, Francis Vaz
Congo: Babla Shah, Nirmal Mukherjee, Marutirao Keer, Devichand Chauhan, Ashok Patki, Vijay Katkar
Tumba: Ravi Gurtu, Nitin Shankar, Manya Barve, Paparao Parsatwar, Devichand Chauhan, Anup Shankar, Vijay Katkar, Dewan Ganguly
Percussion: Devichand Chauhan, Amrutrao Katkar, Homi Mullan, Marutirao Keer, Franco Vaz, Manya Barwe, Vijay Indorkar, Devi Chakraborty, Anup Shankar, Chandrakant Satnak, Cawas Lord, Santosh, Sadik, Johar, Narendra Vakil, Abhijit Koli, Vijay Jadhav, Pradeep Lad
Khol: Sudarshan Adhikari
Bangla Dhol: Abani Das Gupta
Halgi/Dhol/Chenda: Ganpatrao Jadhav
Tabla Tarang/Jal Tarang: Janardan Abhyankar
Matka: Indra Atma, Paparao Parsatwar, Manya Barve
Mridangam: Jairaman, Rijram
Madal: Ranjit Gazmer (Kancha), Homi Mullan
Pakhawaj: Bhavani Shankar, Sameer Sen
Octapad: Nitin Shankar, Anup Shankar, Franco Vaz
Keyboard Instruments
Piano: Louis Banks, Mike Machado, Lucille Pacheco, Tony Pinto
Synthesizer: Louis Banks, Kersi Lord, Charanjit Singh, Ronnie Monsorate, Vipin Reshammiya, Jackie Vanjari, Deepak Walke, Chitty Pillai
Transicord: Charanjit Singh
Accordion: Kersi Lord, Suraj Sathe, Homi Mullan, Jackie Vanjari, Chitty Pillai, Sumit Mitra
Harmonium: Babu Singh
Electric Organ: Ronnie Monsorate
Xylophone: Bahadur Singh
Vibraphone: Buji Lord
Wind Instruments
Bansuri: Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ronu Majumdar, Sumant Raj
Concert Flute: Manohari Singh, Raj Sodha, Shyamraj
Mouth Organ: Bhanu Gupta, R. D. Burman
Saxophone: Manohari Singh, Shyamraj, Raj Sodha, Suresh Yadav, Umesh Chipkar, Rao Kyao
Trumpet: George Fernandes, Joseph Monsorate, Bosco Monsorate, Kishore Sodha, Chris Perry, Prem Sodha
Trombone: Blasco Monsorate, Ivan Muns, Anibal Castro
Bass Trombone: Bhur Singh
Tuba: Munna Khan
Flugelhorn: Joseph Monsorate
Clarinet: Mirajuddin, Hussain Darbar
Shehnaai: Sharad Kumar
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