RD Burman’s 80th Birth Anniversary: Things Everyone Should Know About Pancham Da!

Today is the 80th birth anniversary of the classical music legend Rahul Dev Burman whose redefined music composition in Bollywood. He was fondly known as Pancham Da which again has an interesting story. It is said that R.D. Burman could cry in 5 different notes. Since Pancham means 5 in Bengali, he was named Pancham Da, and is credited for composing iconic music in the Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali industry.

Burman had composed Indian and Western music for over 331 films and weaved his era of magic in legendary songs. Numbers that we remember are Yeh shaam mastani (Kati Patang), Churaa liya hai tumne jo dil ko (Yaadon ki Baaraat), where he had filled various glasses at different water level and used the sound of a spoon hitting the glass for his composition.

Raat kali ek khwaab mein aayi (Buddhha Mil Gaya), Dum maro dum mitt jaaye gham (Hare Rama Hare Krishna ),S harm aati hai magar aaj yeh kehna hoga, Kehna hai, kehna hai aaj tumse yeh pehli baar, Mere saamne waali khidki mein, O mere dil ke chain (Mere Jeevan Saathi), are some of the other popular hits.

In 1966 was the year of Rahul Dev Burman’s breakthrough film, Teesri Manzil, produced by Nasir Hussain and directed by Vijay Anand.Each song he created was epic and suddenly, the entire country was grooving to “O haseena zulfon waali jaane jahaan”, “Aaja aaja main hun pyaar tera” .RD never looked back after this. He is often credited with popularising the use of mouth organ in the Indian film industry with tracks such as O Mere Sona Re from Teesri Manzil.

Born to the Bollywood composer/singer Sachin Dev Burman and his lyricist wife Meera Dev Burman, RD had music in his genes by birth. He is often credited with popularising the use of mouth organ in the Indian film industry with tracks such as O Mere Sona Re from Teesri Manzil. Did you know that Pancham Da’s favorite recording studio was Film Center, Tardeo Bombay. The studio here had a grand piano apparently.

The memories of RD will be evergreen with us.

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