Sachin Dev Burman: An Unmatched Legendary Singer

 

Bollywood music has been enriched by the compositions of some of the greatest, legendary music directors. The songs of these legends continue to have a huge following and are enjoyed by both young and old alike. One such big legend from the Bollywood music industry was Sachin Dev Burman (1906-1975) also known as S.D. Burman.

Born in Comilla, Bengal Presidency which today is located in Bangladesh, Sachinda as he was fondly called in the B-town was a son of the Maharaja of Tripura, Ishanchandra Manikya Dev Burman, and Princess of Manipur, Rajkumari Nirmala Devi. He started his career as a singer during his 20s by performing Bengali folk songs on Calcutta Radio Station. His first Bengali film was Sanjher Pidim released in 1935. He also acted in this movie.

It took him a decade more to debut as a composer in Bollywood with the movie Shikari released in 1946. The movie starred Ashok Kumar and was also the debut movie of Kishore Kumar. S.D. Burman was very fond of Kishore Kumar and always considered him as his son and was the first leading music director in Bollywood to trust Kishore’s voice and give him some good songs. His last rehearsed song was Badi soni soni of Kishore Kumar for the film Mili after which he went into a coma and eventually breathed his last in Mumbai.

The legendary music director had a bad fallout with Lata Mangeshkar during the 50s and started collaborating with Asha Bhosle who later on became his daughter-in-law. During the early 60s, Didi and SD patched up and then gave some very big hits. Incidentally, he did not know Hindi and hence asked the lyricist to share the meaning of the song and then accordingly composed it.

He married Bengali singer Meera Dasgupta but never gave her a break in the film industry. She however used to manage all his funds and taxes.
Legendary lyricist and composer Sachin Dev Burman's home in Comilla will be a music training centre and musical archive of international standard.
This information is known from the minutes of the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee on Ministry of Culture held on Sunday (September 18) at the Parliament Building.

A recommendation was made in this regard earlier in the meeting. In the meeting, the implementation and progress of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee in this regard were presented. According to the Ministry of Culture, it has been announced that the house of renowned musician Sachin Dev Burman will be conserved as a memorial.

In the meantime, the necessary renovation and preservation work funded by the Ministry of Culture has been completed. The Deputy Commissioner of Comilla has not handed over the house to the Directorate of Archaeology. However, if the house is handed over to the Directorate of Archaeology, a DDP will be submitted to bring the entire house under the Ministry of Culture and set up an international standard music training center and musical archive.
In the meeting, the Ministry also informed that area-based small cultural centers will be established for the spread of cultural practices in Dhaka city.

At the same time, the Capital Development Authority has allocated 41 katha of land in Uttara in favour of the Ministry of Culture to build a large-scale cultural centre. The process of executing the lease deed of that land is ongoing.

He began a career in radio and as a singer. His first recording as a vocalist was a composition by Bengal’s revolutionary poet-musician Kazi Nazrul Islam, and with it he started an association that would last several years. Burman worked as a music director in Calcutta until 1944, when he shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai). There he quickly established himself as an innovative film composer with an exceptional sensitivity to the demands of the moving image. His music enhanced the power of the visuals, as, for example, did the song “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai” (Pyaasa), performed on-screen by Guru Dutt. Burman did most of his work for Dev Anand’s Navketan films (Taxi Driver, Funtoosh, Guide, Paying Guest, Jewel Thief, and Prem Pujari), Guru Dutt’s films (Baazi, Jaal, Kaagaz ke phool), and Bimal Roy’s productions (Devdas, Sujata, and Bandini).

Burman’s long and fruitful association with the multifaceted playback singer Kishore Kumar yielded countless musical hits. The songs in films such as Nau do gyarah, Munimji, and Prem Pujari were major triumphs for both composer and singer. Burman made an effortless transition to the modern era of film music with the hugely popular Aradhana, although his first successful experimentation with Western sounds had taken place in the late 1950s, in Chalti ka naam gaadi. The greatest achievement of the last years of his life was his score for Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Abhimaan, which was closely followed by his music for other Mukherjee films, notably Chupke chupke and Mili.

Among his many honours, Burman received the Sangeet Natak Akademi (National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama) award in 1958 and the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian awards, in 1969 for his contribution to music. His name also has been attached to a number of music awards from a variety of organizations.

India has seen many celebrated music directors till date but no one could churn out as soulful tunes as Sachin Dev Burman. He composed music for over 100 movies in Hindi and Bengali. His songs spoke of a Bengali folk influence, with light semi-classical tunes, which made the songs full of life and so soothing!

He was the only music composer who worked with both Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi, two of the greatest singers of India, in almost an equal number of songs. Some of his classics include 'Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera', 'Chanda Hain Tu Mera Suraj Hain Tu', 'Badi Sooni Sooni' etc. Sachin Dev Burman was born on this day in 1975.

Burman comes from a royal background. His father Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman was from the royal family of Tripura while his mother was from the royal family of Manipur.

Bengal's revolutionary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam was a close acquaintance of his family. He would stay with the Burmans in their Comilla residence. Burman has also sang four songs composed by Nazrul.

In the late 1920s, Sachin Dev Burman used to worked as a radio singer on Calcutta Radio Station.

His first record (that was the pre-album era) came out for Hindustan Records in 1932.

In 1934, he won a gold medal to Bengal Music Conference in Kolkata for his thumri rendition. Rabindranath Tagore inaugurated the event.

His first major hit in Hindi songs came with the song 'Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya' sung by Geeta Dutt in the movie Do Bhai in 1947.

Within a decade of being in Mumbai, Burman was fed up with the materialistic point of view of the industry. He decided to go back to Kolkata but changed his mind and stayed back.

For the song 'Mere Sapnon Ki Raani' in the movie Aradhana (1969), SD asked his son Rahul Dev Burman to play the famous mouth organ tune.

After rehearsing for one of the most famous songs of his life, 'Badi Sooni Sooni' sung by Kishore Kumar for Mili, Burman went into coma and sadly, did not recover.


Dr. Jesmin Chowdhury is
Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Age.