We are well into the RD Burman festival,what with reviews and DPs pouring from all quarters. I am very keen to be part of this festival, but I am convinced that I don't have any value addition to make after all those wonderful reviews. So here is my modest DP, where I have compiled 12 bits of trivia on RD Burman. I am pretty sure that as a RDB fan, you would know of most of these bits, but I am also confident that you may not be knowing all 12 bits. So please go ahead, and check your score on RDB trivia.
RDB actually thumped school desks with wooden scales (foot-rulers) to generate the opening bars of Aa Ee Ee masterji ki aa gayi chiththi (Kitaab, 1977)
He used bottle (as whistle) and broom & comb (for percussion) to produce the opening bars of Mere saaamne wali khidki mein (Padosan)
Accepted Amitabh Bachchan’s request to give play-back for him in his original voice; not in the popular throaty variant that became his trademark. He obliged in the movies-Pukar (Samundar mein naha ke aur bhi namkeen) and Mahaan (Yeh din to aata hai ik din jawani mein)
Contrary to popular belief, the lyricist he worked the most with was NOT Gulzar! Instead, it was Anand Bakshi! Majrooh Sultanpuri comes second and Gulzar stands at No. 3.
A fact not well-acknowledged is that he did two films for RK films-Dharam Karam (1975, directed by Randhir Kapoor) and Biwi-O-Biwi (1981, directed by Rahul Rawail).
He never had any fall out with Amitabh Bachchan, as conjectured in some DP on MS. In fact, he composed for Big B movies from 1970s through 1990s-The first one-Bombay to Goa. The last one-Indrajeet(1990).
He convinced Sahir Ludhianvi to do lyrics for him in Joshila, Deewarand The Burning train, even though his dad SDB had a fall-out with Sahir and the senior pros never worked after Pyaasa(1957)
Composed for all the launch films of star-sons in 1980s-Kumar Gaurav (Love story), Sanjay Dutt (Rocky), Sunny Deol (Betaab), Suneil Anand (Anand aur Anand)
9 . Shockingly crtiticised Mohd. Rafi in a 1991 interview with Raju Bhartan. The interview was published in Hindustan Times in January 2008, a good 14 years after his death. Bhatran quotes him, " It was so tough to get Rafi to amend something you'd already taught him! Take my breakthrough Asha-Rafi Teesri Manzil duet - Aa jaa aa jaa. “Rafi wasn't able to grasp the nuances of Aa jaa aa jaa at all! How Rafi struggled as Asha so exemplarily stretched the crucial Aaha-ha aa jaa aaha-ha aa jaa notes. Give me Kishore any time - he would've latched on to it in a trice!”
- Famously said in 1986: “If Lata Mangeshkar is the Don Bradman of hindi music, then Asha Bhonsle is Gary Sobers.”
11 . Contrary to popular belief, did not have a successful marriage with Asha Bhonsle either, and the two were living separately at the time of his death.
12 . Confessed that his inspiration for “Saagar kinaare, dil yeh pukaare” was Roshan’s “Rahein na rahein hum” from Mamta, though the song actually sounds closer to Madan Mohan's ‘Yehi hai tamanna, tere ghar ke saamne" (Aap ki parchhaiyaan).
What is your score?
