Trend Setter composer Pancham. Review on Twenty Best Songs of R.D. Burman

R.D burman(Pancham) was son of  composer S.d burman, a legend & a prolific composer, far ahead of his contemporaries in talent. kalyanji's son viju shah admires him a lot ans so many composers of today.

R.d contribuited immensly for the legend kishore and this was his most important contribution.He demonstrated versatility of kishore & proved that kishore could sing classical, semi classical songs. He did much for kishore than for his own love ASHA! . 37% of rd songs aprt from duets) had voice of kishore lagging behind only asha. HE was symbolized for western tumes yet he was the only master of classical music amongst his contemporaries. He could play almost all instruments & had mastery over electronic instruments. His favorite was mouth organ.He himself played it in songs and also in "dosti" for LP. He had friendship with his professional competitors Laxmikant Pyarelal!. He made infrequnt but good use of RAfi, Shailendra singh, suresh wadkar. He gave support to kishor's son amitkumar. At times his experiments failed( lata's song in the movie "Ghar "Tere bin jiya jaye na- the peculiar theka generates headache in several individuals a fact noted by this author personally, and amitkumar' song - kya hua ik baat per barso ka yarana gaya( a failed experiment of rhythm) are notable!)

He made kishore sing "hume tumse pyar kitana" in a soft voice to express deep love against the classical version sung by classical singer parveen sultana, where the feeling was expressed through TAAN . A rare experiment. He preferred kishore version and played it on radio. He was concerned that he will be accused of ignoring of Rafi. Tthough he wasn't fond of rafi very much, He decided to rub the blot t& gave rafi good songs in train, yadonki barat, hum kisise kum nahi! . He never gave  semiclassical  top tunes p to RAFi. In kudrat rafi sang title song but  did not use rafi in not   "hume tumse pyar kitana" & for  "Mere naina sawan bhado", even though he used rafi for Rajesh khanna in "The train".  In eighties he came up with classic compositions for "Asha." . Unfortunately  people preferd their peppy numbers & the classical songs of RD normally did well due to many kishore fans as he( and only he) used kishore for these numbers. He was not coommercially successful after 1977. Post 1977 he suffered as many rd clones like bappi lahiri emerged.  There was repetetiveness in RD kishore asha songs and kishore fans did not appreicte use of rafi . But the greatest setback was thru Rajesh roshan who thru his brilliant score in Julie demonstarted a distictly diferent and softer pattern of western muisc and use of kishore-LATA. Of course rajesh roshan could not build a gr8 monument as he lacked consistency and he also became repetitive with high pitched forced singing for kishore lata which did not suit them neither rafi(Oonch Oonchi batose kisika pet bharata nahi by rafi is a nice example of this rajesh roshan style). However rajesh roshan produced excellent western score with kishore - lata  intemittantly. . His "amitabh scores for "manzil" and kalia were superhit but score for GR8 gambler and burning train was only moderately hit as it sems that kishore fans were the primary listeners of RD. RAFI FANS ALWAYS BACKED rD WHENEVER HE TOOK RAFI!. SO POST 70 IT WAS RD THE ONLY COMPOSER who was tbe ultimate goal for a singer. Balsubramanian & kumar sanu played gr8 attention to calls of R.D., RD never used "yesudas" . He used Bhupendra instead of Rafi & Yesudas for semiclasscial scores!

He got "tum bin jaye kaha" sung by both kishore and rafi and kishore's version had an edge due to yodelling and mood capturing.

Iin peppy numbers he failed to generate the magic of Kishor/ S.d burman . At times he produced dull score like "karvate badalit rahe and "kasme vade nibhayenge hum".

Some how the divine quality which was possessed by  S.D burman in his music( Tere mere sapne, Guide Jwelthief sujata) was missing in RD's music. Otherwise he came close to be ranked in top 3 music composers of all times. After kishore's death he gave the impression that Rd is over by sitting quiet for long. Then he relied on amitkumar & made him sing like RD / kishore The efforts failed. The difference in SD and R.d was that S.D  marvellously used kishore on hummbale & peppy numbers like "phooleke rangse, Mana janab ne pukara nahi" while rd burman used kishore marvellously in Claascial numbers like "mer naina sawan bhado, hume tumse pyar kitana" and "aanewala pul" which reflected versatility of kishore. But SD burman made kishore the topmost singer of India with trendy hummbale numbers, RD faled to make Amitkumar topmost singer of India by exactly identifying his strength and producing trendy hits!  He realized and decided to stage a come back with exact kishore clone "kumar sanu". Since he himself selected a different path from his father it was clear right from "love story" that he wants amit to sound different from kishore. With Rd s death amit's carrear also ended! Rd lifted from western tunes. "mehbooba", "churalliya hai tumne", " o hansini " are the famous examples. He sang "mehbooba" .& later on many variations of it. While the hum isise kum nahi was tolerable and successful inJabardast people used to leave the movie hall when his number started. Rd lent  good  voice  in khel-khel me, jaana o meri jaana in sanam teri kasam and disco number "jaane ja  in sanam teri kasam.

Cntribution of rd kishore was that they freed bollywood music from cage and  expressed  various moods of life .(The usual ghazal.bhazan/classical / folk tune classification failed to name new music created). Such was a craze! s never seen in the past and probably may not be seen in future.*Pancham was  revolutionary composer & kishore was revolutionary singr!

I would like to close with the fact  that in Mumbai the captal of  Bollywood the famous orchestra of suhaschandra Kulkarni regulary stahed a  program in 1973-1975 titled "Shanker Jiakishan Kal aur Rahuldev Burman  AAJ "!

GEMs

1 Tum bin jau kaha - " kishore " - pyar ka mausam beautiful singing

2 Kuch na kaho - "kumar sanu -1942 love story - sanu sounds exact like  RD's kishore.

1. Hume tumse pyar kitana kishore/parvenn sultna - kudrat beautiful singing  gr8 experiment

4 Chingari koi bhadake -kishore amar prem- gr8 blue mood

5 Mere naina Sawan bhado-kishore - kishore  a  classical tune

6.Aanewala pal - kishore -golmal gr8 singing a mood neve captured earlier!

7 Dum maro dum the all time classic pop song - asha -hare rama

8 - Chori chori chupke chupke - gr8 rhytm - lata - aap ki kasam

9- yeh shyam mastani -kishore kati patang gr8 mood capure

10 - ho mere dil ki chain! gr8 famous even today -kishore -mere jeevan sathi

11 rat kali ek khwab me aayi - kishore -Buddha mil gaya

12- tuma aa gaye ho nur aa gaya hai -lata/kishore Aandhi

13 Jalne ja - kishore/Asha gr8 duet - jawani deewani

14- o manzi re - kishoe - Khushboo -  dada burman touch

15- Ye rut hai hasi kishore -harjai - gr8 serious but fast song!

16-'Aap ki aankho me -gr8 romantic sung  lively by kishore/lata

17- o meri sona re sona asha rafi Rd brand establisher

18 rimzim gire sawn -kishore -Manzil

19 Ek chature naar -kishore/manna de -padosan -unique

20 Dekha na -kishore bomay 2 goa -toe tapping popular till today