hello.
Sangeet ka safar have today Golden day of RDB JI


Pancham and I were great buddies. He was like family to me. He used to come home and I used to visit him. Ashaji used to cook for us. Like me, he was very fond of eating and drinking.

"Just before he died, this was the time when the likes of Nadeem Shravan had taken over, he called me and said, 'I'm not short of cash but I desperately need work'. I explained to him that producers came to me with pre-decided music directors, so I couldn't really do much...


Rishi Kapoor
"I remember at that time I was working with Raj Santoshi in Damini which had music by Nadeem Shravan while Santoshi's Ghaatak had music by RD. I remember how unhappy RD was about this.

"Although my first film Bobby had music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, my maximum hit songs were by Pancham. There's one thing that you must note about RD's music. All of his youthful music was for Rishi Kapoor. The other heroes like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan were older. But for me, Pancham could really unplug the grooviest sounds.

"I really feel that Pancham gave me his best. In Naya Daur he used empty bottles to create a special effect in the song 'Paani ke badle peekar sharaab', sung by Kishore Kumar and Danny Denzongpa.

"At the start of my career RD did music in Zehreela Insaan and Khel Khel Mein. These had evergreen songs like 'O hanseeni' and 'Khullam khulla pyar karenge'. I had become a big star after Bobby. I wanted to work with Pancham. I vibed with him better than I did with Laxmi-Pyare, who did Bobby.

"Pancham was way ahead of times. Picture chale na chale, RD's music was damn good. His music suited my age and image. He died 11 years ago but he lives in our hearts to date.


R D Burman
"Pancham loved watching me dance to his songs. He told all my directors, 'Chintu perform kar rahaa hai mera gaana? I want to see him do it.' I'd get nervous. On the sets of Nasir Husain's films Hum Kissise Kam Nahin and Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, he'd have lunch with Nasirsaab and watch me dance. It was a great compliment. For the song 'Dil dena khel hai dildar ka' in Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, Pancham came on the sets twice. He used to shout, 'Buck up buck up'. We were all a team. I've been very lucky with my music. Pancham added a lot to my image."

"Recently, a diehard Pancham fan named Brahmanand was making a documentary on him. He spoke to all the people who've worked closely with Pancham, like me and Gulzarsaab. I met this ardent fan of RD from Calicut. And he happens to be a diehard fan of the Rishi Kapoor-RD pair. He has sent me all the songs from the 17 films that I've done with Pancham, in the MP3 format. Now I've all the music composed for me by R.D. Burman. Imagine being given such invaluable gift on Pancham's birthday!

dhall

Very nice post !! if you could continue this beautiful topic with Rajesh khanna and others actors thoughts abt pancham?

Surinder Bhai:

This is a very nice interview that contains a personal touch. Continue bringing in such articles. Thank you.

Binod.