Raju Bharatan
Courtsey: Filmfare, Nov. 1975
Dada Burman was at once a light and a depth composer. If Guru Dutt made light films like Jaal and Baazi, dada reflected their mood in a spirit of 'Hans Le Gaa Le Dhoom Mach Le' and 'Tadbeer Se Bigdi Huyi Takdeer Bana Le'. When the same Guru Dutt turned his hand to serious cinema with Pyaasa and Kagaz Ke Phool, dada was in tune, with 'Jaane Wo Kaise Log The' and 'Waqt Ne Kiya'.
And Burman was to Navketan what SJ were to RK. He gave the best years of his composing life to Dev Anand, so he was aghast at the suggestion that he should do the folk tunes for Ishq Ishq Ishq and his son Pancham, the (modern tunes), dada prided himself on his (modernity) - on the fine balance he struck at between tradition and modernity in our film music. "It will do neither me nor my son good to score the music together" he told Dev. "A credit shared is a credit halved."
As dada told me this, I remembered the time when we had met at his home on Aradhana eve. The press men had eyes only for him that evening while R D Burman stood in a corner ignored. Pancham had orchestrated the 'modern music of Aradhana.' The film's success made it clear to him that his future lay in a complete break away from dada. A genius in his own way Pancham soon patented his own style and become a trend setter like his father.
That his break away also marked a breakaway from dada and mother Meera was the personal tragedy of S D Burman - Pancham was their only child. He felt it keenly but never let it affect his music - that way dada was a complete professional. He was always there in the recording room to give the final touches to the tune. This tune was frequently the brain child of one of his assistants - N. Dutta or Jaidev or Pancham or Meera; but the final touch was his own - and that touch made all the difference. This explains why the songs of Chupke Chupke and Mili lack the dada mystique. They were recorded by pancham after he broke away from his father. So Pancham's own coloration creeps in, much as he had tried to be faithful to dada's notations. That final touch which was provided by his personal presence in the recording room is missing and so the tunes have the S D flavor but not the S D stamp. Failing health affected the quality of SD's music in Jugnu, Phalgun, Chhupa Rustam and Anuraag but Abhimaan saw him at the peak of his composing powers. This proves that given the health he would have continued to be a force.
Good health was a vital to SD's music since he was out of his home for a stroll in five in the morning. He was a great lover of nature. His tunes were drawn from the sights and sounds around him. The twitter of birds, the flash movement of squirrel, they had musical meaning for him. On the instant would be born a tune like "Ghayal Hiraniya Main Ban Ban Dolun". He would return home happy as a lark, warbling a tune like "Man Mor Hua Matwala".
From the window of his music room, you would see the gulmohar and the mayflower in full bloom. Standing there you could divine how he had created airs like 'Champakali dekho jhuki gayi re', "See those flowers - they were all planted by me!" Dada would say. He was a keen gardener. And a great angler. A familiar sight in the early fifties was Burman and Naushad sitting down angling at Bombay's Vihar or Tansa Lake! And when Dada made a catch, up went a Eureka-style cry of 'Teriya Teriya' to signify that he has hit upon a tune like 'Jaal mein hai phans gayi sone ki machhariya'.
A lover of the sea, his greatness lay in the fact that he could compose 'Sun mere bandhu re' style of the tune in the same breath. "I never sit down at the harmonium to compose" he said. "My best tunes have come to me in a flash; and they have invariably come when I have been out at sea or on a long walk or on a drive. I was out angling and hadn't made a catch came a tune idea of 'Tum na jaane kis jahan mein kho gaye.' I was gazing out of the window on a moonlit night when in a flash, I got the tune for 'Ye raat ye chandni phir kahan.' Out on a spin one morning I heard a sound which which found expression as 'Jaane kya tone kahi'. Meera was humming something on a drive and I got the idea for 'Aaj ko junili raat ma'. Other such flash tunes are 'Mora gora and laile', 'Rangila re', 'Kahyi re ham ne kasam'. One day I lost my way on a walk and that gave me 'Jayen to jayen kahan'.
The last tune from Taxi driver fetched Burman his first Filmfare award, in the days when the award was for a song, not a film. It was Talat's soulful rendition of 'Jayen to Jayen Kahan' that enabled Burman to win the award. But what happened when Talat came to put over 'Jalte hain jiske liye' for Sujata? Dada had wanted Rafi to render it but bowed to Bimal Roy who felt that Talat's voice would suit the mood better. "Please don't spoil my song," said Dada to Talat as they were all set for the take. "What a thing to tell a singer when he is on the point of recording." recalled Talat. "Not even Sajjad or Naushad had dared to say such a thing to me. I was on the point of exploding but kept quiet out of respect of Dada's age. Meanwhile Asha intervened to soothe ruffled feelings."
Burman's great gift lay in the fact that he could be as jazzy and trendy in a dhoti as his son is in denim. Dada's grip on Indian folk lore, his sound classical base, his capacity to absorb from the scene around him, his total lack of inhibition in borrowing from all other sources - these qualities made him the greatest all-rounder in our film music. His fine sense of rhythm was derived from his experience as an ace tennis player. "Tennis is one game that requires you to be extra alert", he use to say. "It helped keep my reflexes sharp. It taught me that in music as in tennis, there are two 'serves'. If the first 'serve' fails, in the second you do not tryt something so flashy. Sometimes my first 'serve' click - as in 'Hum bekhudi me' and 'Kya se kya ho gaya'. At other times, the second 'serve' came into play. In Aradhana I tried both serves - Rafi and Kishore. This time the second 'serve' click. I had always had Kishore in reserve. Now he became my main singer."
If Kishore so emerged as the Voice of Youth, it was because Dada had discovered in his music the secret of external youth. "Aradhana may have mark my comeback, but the music of Guide remains my pride and joy" he mentioned. "The film's theme offered me maximum scope. I found no limitation and I had our two best singers: Lata and Rafi." Dada never bothered about 'public taste' - because he was its master where others are its mistress. He never took on more films than he could tackle. I remember him saying "I can't do it", when Bimal roy in the wake of Devdas, Sujata and Bandini, insisted on his doing Benazir. Dada did do Benazir ultimately, creating such lovely airs as 'Husn ki baharen liye', 'Mil ja re mil ja re' and 'Baharon ki mehfil'.
His zest for life showed through in his music. He was right there on the front beach to cheer his favorite football or hockey team. Such was his enthusiasm that he once offered to conduct music to go with a hockey match! Take the interlude music following 'Piya tose naina laage re' - Dada's baton comes down with the flourish of a tennis racket. The very name of his home, 'The Jet' signified a composer in tune with the jet age. But it was different Dada I glimpsed at the Jet last month. I fleetingly saw his dhoti and kurta as the nurses set him up. Meera did not want me to see what I had known for a year - that Dada had been crippled by a stroke.
The man whose tunes bubbled with the spirit of youth will live on in his creations. The paan -chewing maestro whose music had a rare cosmopolitan flavor. The man who strode the composing scene like a giant, packing into his 90 film's music that will never 'date'. The man who gave us R D Burman and left the stage to the accompaniment of 'Alvida Janee Wafa meri manzil aa gaye…'