The Genius of RD Burman

Along with his dad SD, he is my favourite musician-almost a magician. Today is his death anniversary or punyatithi as we call it. A tribute is in order.

He made a mark in serious tunes as well as fun, dance-inducing ones, naughty as well as sombre situations. Some memories of memorable ones-

Aandhi and Amar Prem. Dripping in romance, but divine to listen to, and very slow, like good
romance.

O mere, dil ke chain...likewise.

Chura liya hai tumne, Lekar hum deewana dil and Yadon ki baaraat nikli hai..all in the same film and so different!

Kya hua tera wada, Tumne mujhe dekha hokar meherbaan, Aaja aaja, and O haseena zulfon wali - a surfeit of riches in Mohammed Rafi's voice. Another Rafi favourite is Gulabi aankhen, from The Train, that makes you want to dance.

Jaane jaan, an experiment with vocals in Jawani Diwani.

Kehna hai and Ek chatur naar in Padosan,..pure genius.

Musafir hoon yaaron, my adopted theme song for my life, from Parichay.

Aanewala pal, jaane wala hai,..another contender for it. (Golmaal)

Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga...one of his last compositions in 1942- a Love Story.

Truly, madhosh kiye jaaye..


4 comments:

Diamond Head said...

Anewala paal - indeed profound- lyrics and all -yet if I remember delivered on screen by a doorknob like personality of Amol Palekar? Even then it sounded and looked good..

Rajendra said...

yes, and that is genius!

prakrti said...

R D had amazing variety... can anyone believe the guy who created (and sang in part, i guess) 'Pyar Tumen is mod pe le aaya' and 'Tu maike mat jaiyo' went on to make Tujhse naraaz nahin.. (masoom), chingari koi bhadke and meri cheegi bheegi si from anamika?!

Though he passed away a couple of decades back I think the fact that my 6 year old son can reliably belt out at least two dozen of his songs does say a lot about the kind of legacy he's left behind. :)

Rajendra said...

Yes, Prakrti, I believe he and his fans(?) are ageless: he is unmatched in variety, as you point out. Hats off!
..and your son has good taste!

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