Happy Birthday Pancham Da You ll live in our hearts forever

28 June 21

Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

When I think of Music, I always think of my favorite writer Shakespeare and his quotes “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die”. I will take you on a journey of the Hindi film music and then talk about RD Burman whose birthday was on 27^th June. Hindi film music has a long history and still may be decide the fate of a movie. The film music from the beginning till the 1990s had poetic lyrics and melodious music. However, with the arrival of the millennium, the music lost its touch. No poetic lyrics or melodious music exist very rarely in film like Parinita, but mostly do not exist anymore. It pains my heart to see this fall. Hope the yesteryears come back, at least for music.

The first film in Hindi with recorded music was in the move “Alam Ara” made in 1931, and the first song had the lyrics “De khuda ke naam per”. In the 1940s they are many songs which after 80 years are still popular. Some of those songs are “Akhiyan Milake (film Ratan), Jawan hai Muhabbat (Anmol Ghadi), Awaz de Kahan hai (Anmol Ghadi). The songs sung by Suraiya and Noor Jehan are still super hits. After Partition of India, Noor Jehan went to Pakistan and India lost its Noor.

After Independence, till the 1960s Hindi music were mostly traditional. After Independence, the first musical hit was Mira, starring Bharat Ratna MS Subbalaxmi. Do I need to say more? The film had a super hit Bhajan “Giridhar Gopala” with Mira Bai’s lyrics and sung by MS. The arrival of  the nightingale Lata Mangeshkar in the film industry heralded the golden era of Bollywood Music. Let me talk about some hit songs “Ayega ayega aanewala, Yeh Zindagi Usi ki hai, Mera joota hai Japani” and many others. My favorite singers are Lata, Gita Dutt, Suraiya, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh, and Hemant Kumar. The famous music directors are SD Burman, Shankar Jaikishen, and many others.

In the 1960s film music were most westernized and western instruments were used. Stereo sound was used for the first time. It was the era of RD Burman, the son of legendary SD Burman. Burman was considered as one of the greatest music composers of Bollywood. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed music for 331 films. He did major work with his wife, Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar and his sister-in-law Lata. He was undoubtedly an influence to the next generation of Indian music directors, and his songs are still popular in India, Pakistan  and other countries.

He was the only son born to SD Burman and his wife Meera. He was nicknamed Tublu by his maternal grandmother, although he was called Pancham in his later years. According to some stories, he was nicknamed Pancham because, as a toddler, whenever he cried, it sounded like the fifth note “Pa” of Hindustani Music. When he was a mere teenager, RD Burman composed his debut song, “Aye meri topi palat ke aa”, which was used in the film Funtoosh released in 1956. The tune of the super-duper song featuring the famous comedian Johny Walker “Sar jo tera chakraaye” was also composed by him as a child , SD Burman added it in the famous gem of Guru Dutt called Pyasa released in 1959.

Burman was trained by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Samta Prasad. Though, he was a fan of his father’s music, Salil Choudhary, a great contemporary of his father was his guru. Pancham Da’s first hit film as a music director was Teesri Manzil in 1966. The journey continued with many hits and even the last composition in “1942, A Love Story” was a hit. He was unhappy in his later years, as the genre of the music began to change. Like his father he had also sung in some films.

Pancham Da had two wives Rita Patel and later Asha Bhosle (1980 till his death). On an unlucky winter morning on January 4,1994 RD Burman, one of the greatest music directors of all times left this world, after suffering two heart attacks. Music was in his heart till the last breath he took. He died only at the age of 58. I offer my tributes to this genius.

I am now going to talk about some hit songs: “Oh mere sona re sona re sona re, Diya Jalte hai phool kilte hai, , Aane Wala pal, jane wala hai, Oh mere dil ke chain, Zindagi ke safar mein, Mere bheegi  se, Aap ki ankhon mein, Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa nahin, Kya hua tere wada, Piya tu ab to aaja,” and the list goes on till the last “Ek ladki ko dekha”.

Pancham Da you will always live in our hearts forever. I can surely say, it was the end to a melodious genre of music, which somehow got lost in the millennium.