R.D. Burman

The music of no other Hindi film composer has been remade, remixed or sampled as extensively as that of the late R.D. Burman. He was not only one of the biggest music directors of his era, but also far ahead of his time. Rahul Dev Burman had large shoes to fill. He was the only son of the iconic S.D. Burman, who himself had reshaped the grammar of Hindi film music. The legend goes that R.D. showed early signs of musical talent: He was given the nickname “Pancham”, after the fifth note in the Hindustani classical scale, reportedly by actor Ashok Kumar, who is said to have heard him sing the note as an infant. While he would go on to formally learn the drums, tabla and sarod, R.D. had an innate ability to absorb sounds from around the world. And while he would ultimately revolutionise Bollywood music, Burman was not an overnight success. His early career was spent assisting his father, during which time he contributed some uncredited compositions to his soundtracks. The popular comic actor Mehmood gave Burman his first break, hiring him to compose the music for his 1961 production Chhote Nawab. The pair would score a bigger hit with 1968’s Padosan, but in between, Burman struck box-office gold with the soundtrack for Teesri Manzil (1966) by filmmaker Nasir Hussain, for whom he would go on to create some of his most memorable scores, including Caravan (1971), Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973) and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977). Teesri Manzil, in particular, broke new ground with songs that infused rock, just one of the many genres Burman would mix and match. Building on his grounding in Indian classical and folk music, he incorporated a wide range of international styles, from jazz and bossa nova to funk, electronic music and elements of African and Arabic traditions. As versatile as he was inventive, Burman often experimented with unconventional sound sources when he could not achieve a desired effect with standard instruments, using everyday objects such as cups and combs. “Mehbooba Mehbooba”, one of the songs he sang himself, famously opens with the sound of blown bottles. That track featured in the all-time blockbuster Sholay (1975), directed by Ramesh Sippy, one of several filmmakers with whom Burman had enduring associations. For Sippy, he also composed the soundtracks for Shaan (1980), Shakti (1982) and Saagar (1985). In the 1970s, Burman formed an unofficial trio with singer Kishore Kumar and actor Rajesh Khanna, thanks to a string of hit songs sung by Kumar and portrayed by Khanna in movies such as Kati Patang (1970), Amar Prem (1972), and Namak Haraam (1973). He also shared a close creative bond with lyricist Gulzar, who enlisted him for films he directed, including Aandhi (1975), Khushboo (1975) and Ijaazat (1987). His most well-documented personal and professional relationship was with singer Asha Bhosle, who he married in 1980 and collaborated with extensively across his career. Though he was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director in eight consecutive years during the 1970s, it was not until the 1980s that he won, for Sanam Teri Kasam (1982) and Masoom (1983). His other notable works from the decade include Rocky (1981), Satte Pe Satta (1982), Yeh Vaada Raha (1982) and Parinda (1989). For filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, he composed one of his finest scores, for 1942: A Love Story (1994), released a few months after his death. It would earn him a posthumous Filmfare Award the following year. Burman ended his career with a discography of around 300 albums, largely comprising Hindi film soundtracks, alongside Bengali film music and devotional recordings. Since the mid 1990s, subsequent generations around the world have been introduced to Burman’s work in a variety of ways: via Bally Sagoo’s remake of “Chura Liya” (1994) and Jay Sean’s “Stolen” (2024), which samples the same song; through the 1996 remix album Rahul & I by Leslie Lewis and Asha Bhosle; in the film Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002), built around reinterpretations of his music; with the Kronos Quartet and Bhosle’s Grammy-nominated You’ve Stolen My Heart - Songs from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood (2005); and through the 2021 iPhone 13 commercial featuring Footsie’s “W.A.D (Work All Day)”, which samples “Dum Maaro Dum” from 1972’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Burman’s music continues to be revisited at tribute concerts and through new interpretations. Its enduring appeal lies in a quality that has kept it sounding fresh decades after it first found its audience.