Moti Lalwani

Sachin Karta’s Last Visit to Agartala

A tribute to SD Burman on his 44th death anniversary with guest article by Moti Lalwani 

(The month of October starts with SD Burman (b. 1 October 1906 – d. 31 October 1975) and ends with him. Around the time I was thinking of writing a review of HQ Chowdhury’s ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’, Moti Lalwani, a renowned authority on the maestro, sent me a number of his articles on him. Even though SD Burman is the most comprehensively covered artiste on the Songs of Yore, I decided to celebrate the month of October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, entirely with guest articles by Mr Lalwani. This is the fourth and the culminating article in the celebration, after his earlier articles on SD Burman’s role in the success of Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt, and his reputation as the pioneer of composing the tune first.

Mr Lalwani had long been passionate about the music of SD Burman, even when he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T. After retiring from the company more than two decades ago, an octogenarian Mr Lalwani has since devoted his life to serious study and research on SD Burman. His channel on the YouTube has over 150 videos of interviews etc. of people associated with Burman Da. He manages a Facebook group on the maestro, which has about 7600 members. Mr Lalwani has been quoted a number of times in Mr Chowdhury’s book, and Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material.

The Grand Finale of the series is a befitting article, a very poignant piece about Sachin Karta’s visit to Agartala in 1948-49, his ancestral Princely State, on the 12th day ritual of his elder brother’s shraddh. He had already given up his princely role and had surrendered himself to music. No more a royal, he nevertheless received a royal welcome as the King of Music. This turned out to be his last visit. – AK)

SD BurmanThe news of a rare visit to Agartala by Kumar Sachin Dev Burman, aka Sachin Karta, used to spread like wild fire. After all, Sachin Karta was a scion of the royal family who had broken away from the mould to pursue his passion for music, a taboo in the royal family. The royals were supposed to encourage promotion of various arts including music, certainly not make a career out of it. In his case, Kumar Sachin Dev Burman had declined an offer to become a minister of education in the Tripura cabinet, where, once his late father was the Prime Minister.

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SD Burman: Pioneer in Composing Tune First

Guest article by Moti Lalwani

(Which comes first – the lyrics or the music – has been a recurring debate in any discussion on film music. In the continuing series on celebrating October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, Moti Lalwani writes the third guest article after his last two articles showing how Burman Da had his way on selection of singers and gave Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt great name and fame. In this article he says that SD Burman was the pioneer of composing tune first, and the lyricist was asked to write the song fitting the tune.

I had my doubts on this categorical assertion, which I shared with Mr Lalwani. My impression was that composing the tune first had been the general practice from the very early days of film music. This goes back to the silent era when as the movie ran on the screen, live musicians would sit in the ‘pit’ playing various instruments. Some of these tunes acquired popularity, and the audience would shout, मास्टरजी  वो बीनवाला ट्यून बजाइए, and so on. This article should trigger an interesting discussion as we have many readers who are deeply knowledgeable.

As the SoY regulars are aware from the last two articles, Mr Lalwani, an octogenarian, is deeply passionate about SD Burman, and is an acknowledged authority on him. During his professional career, he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T and retired from there from a high position over twenty years ago. I am happy to present the third guest article from Mr Lalwani. – AK).

SD BurmanIn the early days, a director would narrate the scene to the songwriter, who would then write lyrics based on the scene. The director and the songwriter then would go to the music director who would compose the tune based on the scene and the meter of the lyrics.

SD Burman realised that this system had a handicap for the music director who could not use his creativity freely. He believed that for the song’s popularity, it was necessary to have a good tune, based on which the songwriter could always fill-in the words to suit the tune.

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SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Establishes Geeta Dutt As a Frontline Singer)

Gust article by Moti Lalwani

(We are aware that SD Burman had an uncanny ear for selecting a singer for a particular song. In this he didn’t care for the reputation of a celebrity artist, director, producer, or singer. He was the Master of Music, and he made the final choice. That is why there is no major playback singer for whom he didn’t give some songs of eternal importance. In the last article Moti Lalwani showed how SD Burman had his way on Hemant Kumar for the song ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’. Continuing the same theme, Mr Lawani shows how Burman Da established Geeta Dutt as one of the frontline singers during the era when Lata Mangeshkar hit the music scene as a Tsunami.

Mr Lalwani is one of the recognized authorities on SD Burman, having spent a major part of his productive life studying and writing about him and interviewing people associated with him. This was in addition to his professional career as a Mechanical Engineer with L&T from which company he retired over twenty years ago. Mr HQ Chowdhury’s celebrated book, ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ quotes him several times. Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. I am happy to present the second guest article by him in the celebration of this October as the month of SD Burman. Thank you Mr Lalwani. – AK)

SD Burman and Geeta DuttGeeta Dutt (nee Roy), born on 23 November 1930, had no formal training in music. Pandit Hanuman Prasad, who used to compose for mythological films, heard her voice and made her sing just one line in a chorus in his film ‘Bhakt Prahlad’ (1946). Young Geeta would have been about 15 years old when she sang that line in the chorus, as the recording was done earlier.

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SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Has his way on Hemant Kumar)

Guest article by Moti Lalwani as a tribute to SD Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975)

‘Ye raat ye chandni phir kahaan’ by Hemant Kumar, lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanavi, composed by SD Burman

(When I wrote a review of HQ Chowdhury’s book ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ sometime back, I had mentioned that an acknowledged authority on SD Burman, who has spent his lifetime studying him, and interviewing people associated with him, had sent me some of his articles. The time has come to disclose his name.  Anyone who has seriously studied SD Burman would be familiar with Moti Lalwani. Mr Chowdhury has referred to him eight-nine times in his book; Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. Mr Lalwani was always a fan of SD Burman’s music. That became a serious passion to counter some RD Burman-fanatic on a music forum, when he spoke sarcastically of SD Burman.

Mr Lalwani’s channel on the YouTube has over 150 short videos of interviews and other materials associated with SD Burman. He manages a Facebook group on the maestro which has 7600 members.

By profession he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T, and after working with them for 29 years, he took voluntary retirement long back. Thereafter, he ran his own company for ten years. Even as an octogenarian, his zest for life has not waned, and now he continues serious study and research on SD Burman.

SD Burman is known to have his own methods for choosing which singer would best suit a particular song he was composing, and in this he would brook no interference. His choices were at times against conventional wisdom, but the final product turned out to be outstanding. I am happy that Mr Lalwani’s debut article on the SoY is on this theme, and it shows how the maestro had his way on Hemant Kumar for ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’, overriding the doubting voices. I have decided to celebrate October as SD Burman-month as it begins with him and ends with him, all with Mr Lalwani’s articles. – AK)

SD Burman and Hemant KumarAfter a successful career in Calcutta, Hemant Kumar (1920-1989) shifted to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1951 to work for Filmistan Studios. He had sung very few Hindi songs till then, and his voice was unknown to the Hindi/Urdu music lovers. Composer SD Burman had already established himself, with successes in Do Bhai (1947), Shabnam (1949), Mashal (1950), followed by Baazi, Bahar, Naujawan and Saza, all released in 1951 and doing very well.

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