Music composer Sachin Dev Burman’s great love for football, paan, and Kishore Kumar’s company is well-known. But it was his inimitable talent that took centrestage at a recent workshop conducted by the Mumbai-based music club Rewind: repurposing genre-based songs, turning kirtans into romantic duets, folk into ballad, fusing Indian and Latin-American sounds to create a path-breaking soundtrack.
A particularly fascinating piece of trivia emerged about his use of the folk song ‘Allah Megh De’ ( Guide , 1965), which had a meandering journey from Bengal to Mumbai, and finally to Pakistan.
Bengali folk singer-composer Abbasuddin Ahmed initially recorded the tune in Kolkata in the 1940s for the music company Saregama. Ahmed, an exponent of Bhatiyali folk music, sang ‘Allah Megh De’ to popularise the Jari gaan (song of sorrow) folk form. The song became an instant rage and inspired Burman to revisit it two decades later in Guide . With lyrics in Hindi by Shailendra, Burman sang the song himself, his reedy voice resonating with a bard-like clarity.
A peppy version too
Composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal created another version of ‘Allah Megh De’ in the film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977) with singers Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle. Music director Bappi Lahiri rejigged it in Amaanat (1994) and his disco song ‘De De Pyar De’ ( Sharaabi, 1984) is also a variation of the tune. Singers Shafqat Amanat Ali and Shubha Mudgal sang a peppy version for composer Debojyoti Mishra in Ramchand Pakistani (2008).
Not surprisingly, it is Burman’s version that is best remembered, most likely because he remained true to the original.
Burman’s son, Rahul Dev Burman was greatly influenced by his father, borrowing tunes right up to his last film score. The sweeping melody ‘Kuch Na Kaho’ ( 1942, A Love Story , 1994) bears a striking resemblance to his father’s rendition of the Bhatiyali song ‘Rangeela Re’.
Quirks of Burman’s personality — his childlike nature given to impulse — and anecdotes from his life unfolded through the evening: teaching actress Waheeda Rehman to move to the beats of ‘Piya Tose Naina Lage Re’ ( Guide ), running in green fields with Kishore Kumar, interrupting singer Manna Dey’s rehearsals to go to football matches together...
His own style
Burman displayed all the eccentricities of a maverick, but when it came to music, he meant business. He changed the way music was written. His tune came first, the lyrics followed. This swap allowed him to introduce colloquialism in songs like ‘Chhod Do Anchal’ ( Paying Guest , 1957) and ‘Haal Kaisa Hai’ ( Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi , 1958), paving the way for what the Rewind club organisers identified as the ‘staccato style’ where the beats are composed for short conversational phrases.
Although S.D. belonged to the royal family of Tripura, and was exposed to classical music from an early age, he was equally enchanted with the folk music of Comilla (in present-day Bangladesh).
Adept at using modern musical arrangements, he used the orchestra to embellish tunes, which were often based on ragas and folk forms.
At the end of the three-hour interactive session, aficionados were treated to a sweet dessert in the shape of a gooey paan that Burman would have thoroughly approved.
The author is a music buff when he is not writing as a movie buff.
