R D Burman’s tryst with opportunism in Bollywood

The world is full of opportunistic people and Bollywood was no exception, realised Rahul Dev Burman after his father, the iconic music composer Sachin Dev Burman had to stop working following a heart attack and a let-down by Guru Dutt in 1961, says a book.

According to “R D Burman The Prince of Music” by Rupa Publications, RD’s first tryst with opportunism in the film industry occurred when his father suffered a cardiac arrest and was abandoned by the likes of legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt, for whom the Burman-senior had scored music in all time classics like “Pyaasa” (1957) and “Kaagaz Ke Phool” (1959).

The nearly 540-page book, launched last summer, is a detailed account of the musical maestro’s life right from his birth on June 27 1939 to his last breath on January 4, 1994.

The book, replete with anecdotes and quotes, presents the life of R D Burman, both as a professional and a person behind the musical genius that he was.

“That the film industry is full of fair-weather friends I came to know in 1961 when my father had a heart attack. At that time he’d already composed about five sings for Guru Dutt’s ‘Baharein Phir Bhi Ayengi’. My parents told Guru Dutt that I was capable of getting the songs recorded but he declined and said he was sorry but he couldn’t wait.

“After that one by one all the producers left my father,” RD, whose tune was used by father SD in Guru Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa’ to bring out the evergreen song ‘Sar jo tera chakraye’, is quoted as saying in the book by written by his cousin Khagesh Dev Burman.

However, it was Dev Anand who stood by SD Burman and waited for his recovery to record songs for his ‘Guide’, which became a massive hit and re-established the Burman senior’s cult.

“The only one to stick with him (SD) was Dev Anand he told my father not to worry, that he’d delay the film. That’s something nobody will ever do for a music director today. Five months later, when my father recovered, we finished all the ‘Guide’ songs in five days and would you believe it, at the first session Dev Anand okayed four tunes. Shailendra even penned three songs right there ‘Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai’, ‘Din dhal jaaye’ and ‘Tere Mere Sapne’,” RD is quoted as saying. .

Having worked as assistant to his father in films like like “Pyaasa” and “Kaagaz ke Phool” in the 50s and “Guide” and “Aardhana” in the 60s, RD embellished his career as composer in musicals like “Padosan” (’68), “Kati Patang” (’70), and ruled the music industry with success of “Amar Prem”, “Caravan”, “Buddha Mil Gaya” and “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, all in 1971.

For most of the seventies and early eighties Pancham, as RD was famously known by his pet-name, held his throne firm doling out hits even in movies that flopped big time.

But, towards the mid-1980s RD began going through a rough patch as his films started collapsing at the box office. Bappi Lahiri and the disco age had overtaken him and his producers just disappeared. Even a score like ‘Sagar’ (’85) and a brilliant one like ‘Ijaazat’ (’87) could not stem the process of his decline, writes Khagesh.

Dev Anand, who had stood by SD during his bad days, was reluctant to work with RD after the debacle of his ambitious “Swami Dada” (1982) and blamed Pancham’s music for its misfortunes.

Unable to bear the unceremonious parting, the book quotes RD as saying, “Since Dev saab had seen me in my nappies, I had no ego problem in pleading with him not to leave me. ‘If you leave me, everyone will leave me,’ I told Dev saab.”

But unmoved by sentimentality and old association with SD, Dev Anand was probably analysing the failure of a string of RD’s eminently forgettable films, writes Khagesh.

“Whatever came his way was certainly not of his asking. RD was, in fact, untutored when it came to self-publicity. This resulted in him losing out on many high-profile ventures.

Directors who dropped him without any tangible reasons included stalwarts like Dev Anand, Ramesh Sippy, Shekhar Kapoor.

“Subhash Ghai had once assured him that would work together. They never did. Yash Chopra dropped him even after the grand success of ‘Deewar’ (1975). Manmohan Desai, having used RD for ‘Aa Gale Lag Ja’, his best musical by a mile, never said a word in his favour afterwards,” the book records.

“But these were not isolated incidents. RD was in reality an inarticulate dipsomaniac whose world revolved around his music and close circuit of friends. Even when he was cheated, he had neither any personal clout nor a caucus in the Mumbai film circle to voice his protest, let alone boat it,” the book says.

Inputs by PTI