When “Dum maaro dum” is making waves all over again, underlining that the enigma called R.D. Burman still holds sway, a new book on the stands is seeking attention. “R.D. Burman: The Man, The Music” traces the journey of a musical maverick, who introduced the industry to a new sound, new taste.
Co-authored by two engineers who grew up on the varied diet of R.D.'s music at Jadavpur University, the book analyses the Pancham phenomenon. “While his father S.D. Burman composed for the average listener, Pancham, it seems, was composing for himself. It used to take time for his tune to seep in. People took time to realise the potential of a boy who changed the way musicians thought and dressed,” says co-author Aniruddha Bhattacharjee, a self-taught musician, who did the archival work for the book.
The book brings out the musical journey of Pancham through his core team, people like Manohari Singh, Homi Mullan, Kersi Lord and Ramesh Iyer, who co-author Balaji Vittal describes as the unsung heroes. “That's why we have opened the book with the R.D. team. Some of them, like Kersi, he inherited from his father but the rest of the team he carefully crafted. Singh termed the members ‘navratnas',” says Vittal, who has done most of the interviews.
Apart from the tremendous range exemplified by the fact that he was composing for Amar Prem and Hare Rama Hare Krishna at the same time, Vittal says one thing that makes R.D. special is the uncluttered sound. “Even if you keep out melody and rhythm, the sound has a crystal-clear quality. You can hear each and every instrument. There is no overlapping, something we don't find often in today's music.” Among the first ones to understand the value of background score, R.D. made it an important feature. “In Sholay , the background score is a crucial character after Jai, Veeru, Gabbar and Thakur,” says Vittal.
Bhattacharjee gives him credit for introducing several new sounds and instruments — like in the background score of Jewel Thief , where he assisted his father, R.D. experimented with hexatonic blues scale. Vittal recounts how he used sandpaper and asbestos sheets to create the sound of thunder. Through Dum maaro dum , Bhattacharjee says, he introduced soul rhythm to Hindi film music.”
Bhattacharjee agrees Burman drew a lot from the West, but also points out, “He was never into the copy-and-paste business. Even if he got inspired, his song always had a different soul.” When Bappi Lahiri took Western influence to a chaotic level, Bhattacharjee says, Pancham showed his class through Ijaazat and Libaas and the non-film album Dil Padosi Hai . “He had a strong classical base as he was trained in sarod and tabla and it always reflected in his work,” reminds Vittal.
Talking of influence, Vittal asks who could make out Chura liya was inspired by If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium . Bhattacharjee adds the beauty lies in his seamless East-West blend and the way he merged it into the milieu of Hindi film music. Vittal cites Tum agaye ho from Aandhi . “The visuals give an impression of the flute, sitar and tabla playing, but R.D. gave it a cabaret kind of loudness but not in a derogatory sense.”
As for Pancham's fascination for Asha Bhosle, Bhattacharjee feels he was quite clear about what he wanted from the two supremely talented sisters. “When people generalise that Pancham gave the youthful, raunchy numbers to Asha and reserved the divine for Lata they forget in Samadhi he made Lata sing Kanta laga while he gave the melody-based number Jab tak rahe tan mein jiya to Asha.”
Vittal denies that Pancham went broke in his last days but agrees the industry didn't give him his due. “He got his first Filmfare Award for Sanam Teri Kasam (1982), which was good but nothing in comparison to Amar Prem .”
The last word comes from Javed Akhtar in the foreword: “Today modernity and dignity have become an either/or matter. But you don't have that in R.D.'s music. His music is modern, cool and has a certain dignity; there is nothing cheap about it.”
