WHAT MAKES RD BURMAN TIMELESS?

Prajakta Koli and Armaan Malik hold forth

Exactly 27 years ago, in the wee hours of January 4, 1994, Bollywood music icon Rahul Dev Burman (Panchamda) made his untimely exit into immortality. It was an agonising shock for his legion of loyal fans, who idolised him for his scintillating scores.

RD, the ‘ rebel- utionary’ composersinger, who was fondly called ‘ boss’ by his team of extraordinary musicians, left behind a trailblazing rich repertoire of his timeless tunes. Some of which have inspired myriad remixes, that continue to enthrall the millennial youth and mesmerise the middle-aged alike. Testimony to RDB’s evergreen songs is evident in the Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (1972) song recreated in Karan Johar’s movie, Student of The Year 2, retaining the ‘ gili-gili-akkha’ scat- phrases. More recently, Burman Jr’s racy romantic track Humne Tumko Dekha (1975) was recycled by Google as their commercial jingle! After so many decades, mind-boggling sounds (like ‘ wakaao’) and hook lines of chartbuster RDBsongs still command instant recall.

Attached but detached

Way back in the 1980s, as a budding film scribe, I was often invited to interview the affable RDB, at live recordings at Film Center (I consider myself ‘truly blessed’). That was where I got to observe the witty, jovial genius at work with that maverick method in his madness. We would also catch up at filmy parties and movie premieres, and converse about world music trends. RD had a fetish for Latin-American music and rhythms − remember his album, Pantera (1987)?

Once I began bonding, with Panchamda, he would fondly pepper me with ‘ gaalis’ (abusive slang) or play discreet pranks on me, whenever I turned up late at some filmi party or event he was co-hosting.

Versatile melody- queen Asha Bhosle had shared with me that although Bubs (which was what she would fondly call RDB) was a fabulous composer of romantic melodies, he was somewhat detached in real life. Always young at heart, he was totally attached to his music − he literally lived, slept and breathed music (RDB’s rhythmic breathing fillers in iconic songs like Piya Tu Ab Toh and Duniya Mein Logon prove it). Diamonds and luxury cars hardly fascinated him. But he did have a quirky sense of humour.

“HAD RDB BEEN ALIVE TODAY, I'D SIT NEXT TO HIM ALL DAY AND JUST OBSERVE HIM COMPOSE AND ARRANGE MUSIC" —ARMAAN MALIK

1. RD Burman chilling with his spouse and singer, Asha Bhosle, at her home; 1

2 2. RDB and Asha often competed as to who was the better cook between the two;

4. Being interviewed at Film Center by the author in 1983;

3. Giving a demo of his high pitch;

5 5. On the keyboard at Film Center, Mumbai