SD Burman

Suraiya’s songs by SD Burman

A tribute on her 85th birth anniversary, June 15

SD Burman and SuraiyaSD Burman getting into Navketan camp and Suraiya’s intense romance with Dev Anand meant that there would be a number of songs of this singer (and actor)-composer pair. Since SD Burman made his debut late, his songs for Suraiya are much less compared to, say, Naushad’s, but as was his wont, he had a talent to create something for every singer, which would easily rank among his/her landmark songs. We have seen this even with Mukesh, who was a peripheral singer in terms of quantity, but his every SD Burman song is memorable. With her love affair with Dev Anand encountering insurmountable obstacles from her family, Suraiya left the film world early (barring some sporadic appearances till the early 60s) and chose to live her life as a recluse, with her inner pain. This meant that Suraiya-SD Burman combo would be necessarily not very prolific. But even if we just count Man more hua matwala and Nain deewane, Suraiya’s songs by SD Burman have a place among her greatest songs.

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East meets West: Shamshad Begum’s songs by SD Burman

A tribute on Shamshad Begum’s first death anniversary April 23

Shamshad Begum and SD BurmanAs the ethnic stereotypes go, no two people can be further apart from each other than a Bengali and a Punjabi. SD Burman and Shamshad Begum were the leading lights of the two extremes – East Bengal and the West Punjab, yet when they combined they created a unique magic. When Shamshad Begum had a revival through remixes, the song that led the pack was Saiyna dil mein ana re, composed by SD Burman. Shamshad Begum’s leading composers were Naushad, C Ramchandra, OP Nayyar and Ghulam Mohammad, and in the earlier era, Ghulam Haider. Anyone else would not have even dared to try to enter this illustrious field, but the versatile genius that he was, SD Burman created his own niche with her, adapting his music to completely suit her style.

Generally I would not have given much thought to their combination as it appears quite counter-intuitive to me. But when I closed my series on SD Burman last year, Mr Venkataraman treated it as the last of ‘that year’, and suggested that I cover his other prominent singers, namely Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, Talat Mahmood and Hemant Kumar this year. As I looked up more closely I came across many more of her songs than we are generally aware of. Here is an overview of their combination, continuing my tribute to SD Burman, as well as a tribute to the great singer Shamshad Begum on her first death anniversary (April 23).

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Talat Mahmood’s songs by SD Burman

Talat Mahmood and SD BurmanMy last post on Talat Mahmood’s songs by Anil Biswas reminded me that last year when I had ‘closed’ my series on SD Burman, Venkatarmanji and some other readers mentioned some more singers who gave memorable songs with Dada. Talat Mahmood was one of the names mentioned. They fit in very nicely. SD Burman was unarguably the greatest musical talent from Bengal after Anil Biswas to enrich the Hindi film music. Talat Mahmood had a good deal of Bengal in him, having worked under the name of Tapan Kumar in Calcutta for a number of years before he shifted to Bombay and created a sensation with his very first song with Anil Biswas, Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal. It was natural SD Burman would also take him in. However, with Dada’s natural fondness for Kishore Kumar, and the versatile Rafi, Talat Mahmood’s had only about 15 songs with him, a fraction of the other two singers. In any case Talat Mahmood was a niche singer; his total number of songs – about 450 Hindi film songs – would be a fraction of what the other mainstream singers sang. But his impact was way beyond his numbers, and SD Burman created several immortal songs with him, as he did with Mukesh with about the same number of songs.

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Remembering SD Burman’s Manna Dey

SD Burman-Manna DeyMera sab kuchh mere geet re sang Manna Dey for SD Burman in Zindagi Zindagi. In a sad coincidence, in the midst of my SD Burman series, Manna Dey passed away exactly a week ago at the age of 94 (b. 1 May 1919, d. 24 Oct 2013). Today happens to be SD Burman’s death anniversary (b. 1 Oct 1906, d. 31 Oct 1975). It is deeply mysterious how people, who are connected in various ways, also get connected in their birth or death anniversaries. Both from Bengal, they were both trained by Manna Dey’s uncle, the legendary singer-actor-composer, KC Dey, which led to their close friendship even though SD Burman was 13 years senior to Manna Dey in age. Both shared the Bengali’s characteristic passion for football.

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Kishore Kumar’s best songs by SD Burman

SD Burman & Kishore KumarIt is widely reported that SD Burman had a special fondness for Kishore Kumar. In my earlier posts some statistics has also been discussed regarding SD Burman’s number of songs with different singers. Kishore Kumar has more than any other male singer – beating his nearest rival Rafi by 53 solos to 46 (115 to 94 taking solos and duets together), and others by a wide margin. Hans has given excellent analysis by breaking these numbers into three phases – the initial phase of 1946-56, the middle period of 1957-65 and the last phase of 1966-75. So to the extent these numbers convey a message, Kishore Kumar, besides being a lovable lad, was also SD Burman’s most preferred singer.

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Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by SD Burman

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar Happy 84th Birthday

SD Burman and Lata MangeshkarThe most discussed aspect about SD Burman-Lata Mangeshkar combination is their break up for about five years, 1958-62, rather than their music. In that, he is among a long line of film and music personalities with whom she had one of her famous run-ins. But there is a vital difference. From all accounts, this one did not have the acrimony common to her other fall-outs. And when they finally came together, my understanding is – again from accounts available in public domain – that it was with mutual respect. In the hiatus of five years SD Burman was none the worse as he continued to give some of the greatest music of his career, now with Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, but he realized he had something beyond, where only Lata Mangeshkar could reach. She also felt that there was something unique in Dada’s music, without which she would remain incomplete. Thus their second innings led to another set of great melodies in Bandini, Guide, Tere Mere Sapne, Prem Pujari, Talash, Anurag, Abhiman etc which continued till the very end of his career. For those interested, here is one account of their split and patch-up.  (Note: While most accounts mention Bandini (1963) as their patch-up film, she has a couple of songs in Dr Vidya (1962). Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh has informed me that their first song after patch up was ‘Pawan diwani’ from Dr Vidya.)

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Asha Bhosle’s best songs by SD Burman

Greeting her Happy Birthday on her 80th Anniversary

SD Burman & Asha BhosleTwo music directors – OP Nayyar and RD Burman – are credited with the making of Asha Bhosle. Since everyone says this, I am not going to question it, but my own preference is different. RD Burman-Asha Bhosle is essentially a post-69 phenomenon, when music was RD Burman-ised, to which I do not relate much. As for OP Nayyar, my judgement was coloured by the complete absence of Lata Mangeshkar from his music. He was rehabilitated in my esteem because of Rafi for whom he gave some of his greatest songs. If I make a selection of the best songs of Asha Bhosle, it would be dominated by SD Burman. When I wrote a post on my favourite ‘special’ Asha Bhosle songs, four out of nine film songs were by SD Burman – Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul, Tujhe mili roshni mujhko andhera, Koi aya dhadkan kahti hai and Dhalki jaye chunariya hamari ho Ram. I find that there are still a large number of great Asha Bholse songs by SD Burman deserving a separate post.

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Mukesh’s best songs by SD Burman

A tribute on his death anniversary August 27

Mukesh and SD BurmanFor someone who is a great fan of both Mukesh and SD Burman, the most intriguing question is why did SD Burman use him so sparingly. Whenever he did use him the results were stunning. The best example is O janewale ho sake to laut ke ana from Bandini. This film had superlative songs by Lata Mangeshkar (Mora gora ang laike, Jogi jabse tu aya mere dware), Asha Bhosle (Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul, O panchhi pyare), Manna Dey (Mat ro mata laal tere bahutere) and SD Burman himself (O re manjhi mere sajan hain us paar). That Mukesh’s O janewale stands equally tall among these gems is a testimony to the greatness of both SD Burman and Mukesh. Earlier a similar phenomenon happened in Bambai Ka Babu with Mukesh song Chal ri sajni ab kya soche towering over outstanding songs by Mohmmad Rafi and Asha Bhosle. There was something special in Mukesh’s voice which made his few songs leave an impact far deeper than more numerous songs of other singers.

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Rafi’s best songs by SD Burman

A tribute on Rafi’s death anniversary July 31

SD Burman & Md RafiThere is one thing common between Mohammad Rafi and SD Burman. If Rafi was the most versatile singer, SD Burman was the most versatile composer. He is the only music director who can claim to have composed equally great music with Rafi as with Kishore Kumar, his two main singers. There were also films in which he used the voice of Hemant Kumar for Dev Anand, when he composed unparalleled songs like Ye raat ye chandni phir kahan. And whenever he used Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood and Mukesh, he created songs which became landmarks of their career.

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Geeta Dutt’s best songs by SD Burman

A tribute on her death anniversary July 20

S D Burman and Geeta DuttThere is a great deal common between Geeta Dutt and SD Burman – both being Bengalis is just one of them. Geeta Dutt was born on 23rd November, 1930 at Faridpur in East Bengal (now in Bangladesh) in a prosperous landlord family.  Her  family had to move to Bombay in 1942 in the wake of Quit India movement, which turned anti-landlord. Her singing was noticed by the music director Hanuman Prasad when he was passing by their apartment. He gave her a break in Bhakt Prahlad (1946) to sing a few lines in a chorus. She had some more songs in 1946, but none that could create any ripples.

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