Music Directors

Categories by music director.

Best songs of Asha Bhosle by RD Burman

Wishing Asha Bhosle a very Happy 92nd Birth Anniversary (b. 8 September 1933- ) with her best songs by RD Burman

At the beginning of blogging, I remember, I made a comment, talking about the blog that, On this blog you would not find best songs of Asha Bhosle by RD Burman. Today I can say, that was a flippant and immature comment. Not because circumstances have made me celebrate this year as the year of RD Burman, but also because I have come across some songs of the combination which I can easily put among her best by any music director.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

A Musical Association: RD Burman and The Kapoors

Guest article by Dr Rajesh Deshpande

(During our discussions about possible themes in RD Burman series, Dr Rajesh Deshpande made an obvious (!) mention of RDB-RK. I was taken aback that no one would associate Raj Kapoor with RD Burman. Dr Deshpande clarified he had in mind Rajesh Khanna! But our cross-understanding led to discussing the Kapoors further and he had a quick thinking that RD Burman had worked with several from the House of Kapoors. This post is the result of our comical misunderstanding. Now the other RK whom Dr Deshpande had in mind would come later.

The SOY regulars are aware how the series on RD Burman came about. Knowing my limitations I said I would need help from others. Dr Deshpande agreed to contribute some articles. This is his second article in the series.

By profession, Dr Deshpande is a pathologist with blood transfusion as his speciality. He is currently in-charge of Medical Affairs for Asia Pacific and International Region in Fresenius Kabi, a healthcare MNC. Dr Deshpande is based out of Mumbai. He is deeply into film music. He is a regular contributor to HFGK and works closely with Har Mandir Singh ‘Hamraj’. Thanks to him, I am also now aware that many on this forum are big fans of RD Burman. Dr Deshpande has done an excellent survey article on this theme. Thank you Dr Deshpande for your second nice article. – AK)

When we think of the actors on whom some of the famous songs of RD Burman have been picturised, Rajesh Khanna’s name comes foremost to the mind, followed by Dev Anand, Sanjeev Kumar, Mehmood, Randhir Kapoor, Sanjay, Rishi Kapoor, Tariq etc. And of course, Shammi Kapoor, the hero of the first successful RDB film, Teesri Manzil.

I realised that two generations of Kapoors (from Prithviraj Kapoor family) have lip-synched to many RDB composed numbers. There are many known and popular films and numerous memorable RDB songs featuring the Kapoors: Raj-Shammi-Shashi as well as Randhir-Rishi-Rajiv.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Gulzar and RD Burman: A combination in contrast and excellence

Celebrating 91st Birth Anniversary of the lyricist, poet, story-writer, director and producer Gulzar (b. 18 August 1934) with his combination with RD Burman

No two persons can be more different than Gulzar and RD Burman – one was known to be a serious, sensitive poet; the other, bit of a Chhote Nawab, hyper, carefree, impatient. Yet their friendship was legendary. There are many short videos on YT with the title, Gulzar Remembers Pancham. Some are on their close friendship – Dosti mein jaise dost milte hain gaali galauj ke saath, zaahir hai sharafat se to pesh nahin aayenge. Many can relate to such sentiments with their close friends.

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RD Burman’s best songs for Rafi

Continuing the series of tributes to RD Burman with his best songs for Rafi on the latter’s 45th Remembrance Day

RD Burman composed over 125 songs for Rafi. He was friends with Kishore Kumar, and their personal and musical temperaments matched. Plus, post-Aradhana (1969) an era changed, and Kishore Kumar’s vocals seemed to be transformed to fit the new youthful Phenomenon, Rajesh Khanna. Kishore Kumar was the new Rafi with most big music directors adapting to suit his style. That reflects in the number of about 500 songs RD Burman composed for Kishore Kumar. Considering that Kishore Kumar in his entire career sang only 55% of the songs sung by Rafi, this is even more skewed.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

RD Burman sings for RD Burman

Continuing the series of tributes to RD Burman remembering him on his 86th Birth Anniversary (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) with my favourite songs sung by him

RD Burman was renowned as a music director. He is credited with changing the way music was made. He was fascinated by different streams of music: Latino, Caribbean, African, Jazz, and he experimented with different types of sound and tried to assimilate these in his music. This aspect of his music comes out clearly in the opening article of the series, on 4.1.2025. He was not rated much as a singer, unlike his father SD Burman, or other Bengali singers like Hemant Kumar or Kishore Kumar. But there was something unique in his voice which was a reflection of his personality. Some songs were very apt for his voice and those songs achieved a great deal of popularity. In some songs, he added his voice for special effect, and in many songs RD Burman’s voice created a magical impact. I have not selected the songs chronologically, but in order of my preference.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations – String Instruments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(SOY regulars are aware that this blog is celebrating 2025 as the year of RD Burman with some contribution from me and some guest articles. Among guest authors, our veteran Ashok M Vaishnav has taken up the cudgels with his first article in the series with RD Buman’s improvisations with rhythm instruments. Ashokji has done a long series on Arrangers and Musicians. That makes him eminently suitable to write on RD Burman’s orchestration improvisations. This is his second article focussing on RD Burman’s improvisations with string instruments.

Ashokji has been an engineer and after retirement, he is a freelance management consultant based out of Ahmedabad. I can’t help mentioning he was recently undergoing some medical procedures. As soon as he was in a position to write he is out with this post. Thank you Ashokji for your love for this blog and this excellent article. – AK)

R D Burman’s initial films – Chhote Nawab (1961), Bhoot Bangla (1965), Teesara Kaun (1965) and Pati Patni (1966) – seemed to mould his music into prevalent pattern of 50s – a mix of Indian classical music with shades of regional folk music. However, destiny seemed to have charted a different trajectory for him. The music that made R D Burman’s own space secure and respected was that of Teesri Manzil (1966). The success of Teesri Manzil and its music permanently branded R D Burman as the music director with western music domination even when he continued to give some excellent classical and folk based music.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar in OP Nayyar centenary series

(Ravindra Kelkar wrote a series of articles on OP Nayyar eight years ago. The grand centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY inspired Mr Kelkar to mount a similar tribute to OP Nayyar whose centenary is on 16 January 2026. He also offered to write a number of articles culminating on the D-Day. This is Mr Kelkar’s second article in his second innings.

Mr Kelkar had close personal contact with OP Nayyar as his admirer, yet that does not cloud his judgement. Mahendra Kapoor was an important male singer for OP Nayyar in his post-Rafi phase, though Mr Kelkar acknowledges that he was not a match for Rafi. My view is somewhat nuanced. A famous song by any singer gets etched in our memory, and it is difficult to imagine it in any other voice, even in a superior singer’s voice. That would apply to some of Mahendra Kapoor’s songs by Ravi and OP Nayyar, and I have written posts on my favourite songs long ago. Mr Kelkar takes a more comprehensive look at OP Nayyar-Mahendra Kapoor combination.

Mr Kelkar has done Masters in Statistics and Computer Science, and he was an IT professional. Now retired, he is based out of Pune. Thank you Mr Kelkar for another nice article. – AK)

In my last series on OP Nayyar (6 posts in total) I had not written on this topic. I am making amends by writing this post. On the SOY blog, we already have quite a few posts related to Mahendra Kapoor, including one by AK on two songs of this combination, those songs being ‘Tumhara chahanewala’ from the film ‘Kahin Din Kahin Raat’ and ‘Mera pyar wo hai’ from film ‘Ye Raat Phir Na Aayegi’.  In the SOY family we have many Mahendra Kapoor admirers. I am impressed by their in-depth knowledge of many obscure and rarely heard Mahendra Kapoor songs. This also means that we need to include Mahendra Kapoor in the category of Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh and Manna Dey. The Mahendra Kapoor and Ravi combination is very popular thanks to BR Chopra and on SOY this aspect is already covered in great detail. But in my view, the quality of OP Nayyar and Mahendra Kapoor songs is even better. Though I am not a Mahendra Kapoor fan as such, I do enjoy listening to many Mahendra Kapoor songs. In my view, he did a very competent job as Rafi’s replacement in OP’s music. But for me, Rafi was in a different class all together. Mahendra Kapoor was a hardworking, sincere singer and did his best in every song that he got to render. He was also a very soft spoken person and never had any ill word for anybody, like his guru Rafi.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations – Rhythm Instruments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(My first post of the current calendar year was a review of RD Burman’s biography by Anirudh Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal. In that review I had also mentioned that for me RD Burman was a post-1970 phenomena, which was beyond the time period I had set for this blog. I was not very up to date with music of this period, yet I had decided to celebrate the year as the year of RD Burman, as he came chronologically as the next great music director. I was quite open that I would need the support of guest writers in this endeavour.

Our perennial guest author Ashok M Vaishnav has taken up my request. He completed a nice series of articles on the Arrangers and Musicians last year. RD Burman was renowned for his creative rhythms and experiments with sound with different instruments. Continuing where he left off, Ashokji comes up with a nice article on RD Burman’s orchestration improvisations, focussing on his three key instrumentalists: Basu Chakravarty, Manohari Singh and Maruti Rao Keer. Thank you Ashokji for this worthy article to carry forward the tribute to RD Burman. – AK)

Being born to parents – Sachin Dev Burman and Meera Burman – it was natural that R D Burman had natural flair for music. As a very young boy he had penchant for the note Pa. As such, Ashok Kumar used to call him ‘Pancham’. Very soon, father S D Burman, recognising the musical inclination of the son, also rechristened Pancham as his nick name, from the earlier name Tablu as the parents used to call him. R D Burman used his nick name as his signature musical identity.

S D Burman had used R D’s tune for Aye meri topi palat ke aa (Funtoosh, 1956). S D Burman also used R D’s tune for Sar jo tera chakraye (Pyasa, 1957). R D used to attend music sessions at his father’s recordings, soon to join him as his assistant. All these experiences helped R D Burman to lend breadth and depth to his music and build a network of highly innovative musicians. The core of R D Burman’s music team was built on the foundation of triumvirate of his assistants, each one an ace instrumentalist: Basu Chakraborty – a cello player, Manohari Singh – a saxophone player and Maruti Rao Keer – rhythm specialist. It was this team that helped R D Burman to establish his unique identity by creating the music style that blended the essence classical, folk, regional and western music.

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OP Nayyar’s transition from Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt to Asha Bhosle

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar launching OP Nayyar’s Centenary Celebrations with a tribute to Shamshad Begum on her 106th birth anniversary, and also wising a very Happy Baisakhi, Bihu, Vishu and similar festivals across India

(Ravindra Kelkar is another once-an-SOY-regular who has woken up after a deep slumber. This time it came as a bigger surprise. Mr Kelkar had written a series of six articles on OP Nayyar starting from his 10th death anniversary on 28.1.2017. The old-timers remember him as an OP-expert. Perhaps he had an epiphany when he saw the centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY. As OP Nayyar’s centenary falls on 16 January 2026, Mr Kelkar approached me to celebrate his centenary likewise, and also offered to write a number of guest articles on him culminating on his Centenary Day.

OP Nayyar’s earliest superhit song was in the voice of Shamshad Begum, ‘Kabhi aar kabhi paar laaga teere-e-nazar’. Her contribution to OP Nayyar was immense – when he was facing boycott, she stood by him and gave one superhit after another. Yet, after giving some great songs with Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum, OP Nayyar gradually shifted wholesale to Asha Bhosle, with Rafi remaining a constant. The story is well-known but Mr Kelkar gives some critical insights. Though an unabashed fan of OP Nayyar, Mr Kelkar does not mince words when discussing his personality flaws. Similarly, in this provocative write-up there is no trace of malice when he concludes that finally it was a complete takeover by Asha Bhosle leading to his sharp downfall as he could not maintain the boundary between the professional and the personal.

Music is a matter of personal choice and you may disagree with Mr Kelkar with many of his observations. But according to me, this is a worthy article to launch OP Nayyar’s centenary celebrations. Shamshad Begum maintained a dignified silence all this while. This article coincides with her birthday (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013), so it is befitting to pay our tributes to her. This day is also a joyous occasion in many parts of the country – Baisakhi (Punjab), Bihu (Assam), Vishu (Kerala), Gudi Parwa (Maharashtra) and so on. Wishing the readers the very best on this happy day.

Mr Kelkar is a post-graduate in Statistics and Computer Science and was an IT professional. He has since retired and is based out of Pune. Thank you Mr Kelkar for returning with an excellent article on OP Nayyar, who despite some personality flaws, gave us joyous music. I am happy to launch his centenary celebrations on a joyous occasion. – AK)

After reading the title, the question that comes to the mind is, was there really a transition to Asha or a takeover by Asha Bhosle? In my view, it was both, transition as well as a takeover. Was it the first time that a composer shifted from singer A to singer B? Of course not! When Lata Mangeshkar, who had debuted a few years earlier, created a storm in 1949-50, within no time there was a complete takeover by her. The reason was obvious. The sheer quality of Lata’s pure, melodious and sweet voice, so completely different from the then prevalent voices, along with her inborn musical intelligence and flawless rendering made it a virtual walk over. All the major composers en masse shifted to Lata. Nothing like this happened in Asha Bhosle’s case. OP Nayyar’s first film was Aasmaan (1952), in which Geeta Dutt sang for the first time; and Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum sang for the first time in OP Nayyar’s second film Chham Chhama Chham (1952), So, by the end of first two films itself, OP had used all the three singers.

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Book Review: R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music

The book review as a tribute to RD Burman (27.6.1939-4.1.1994) on his 31st Remembrance Day

R. D. Burman: The Music, The Man
Authors: Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal
Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-5029-049-1
Pages: 342+24 (Index, Acknowledgements)
Price: Amazon (Paperback): ₹399

I have to admit I am an R. D. Burman-skeptic; in fact, I belong to the cohort which considers RD Burman too loud, and responsible for destroying the melody of the Golden Era of music making. Yet I have no hesitation in saying that “R. D. Burman: The Music, The Man” is an outstanding book. The authors are unabashed fans of RD Burman, yet the book is not too hagiographic. They declare they didn’t want to write a biography either. But while discussing RD Burman’s music, they discuss the man too, and it has everything you expect from a good biography. The book is written in a lucid style, and is full of interesting trivia about songs, films and related things. They know a good deal about technical aspects of music, I find on Amazon reviews someone was put off by the technical details. I am illiterate in music, but I am not put off. I have become the authors’ admirers, at least they know what they are saying. That is not to say they have made me an RDB-convert. Then why this review at all?

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