The Indian music industry has seen several music directors who have changed the world of music year after year. Yet, there has been no composer as evergreen and harmonious as the late Rahul Dev Burman or fondly known by the industry as ‘Pancham Da’
Recalled as a maverick musician, who influenced a generation towards some of his priceless tunes, &TV’s Love Me India recently paid an honourable tribute to the pioneer by recreating some of his legendary pieces. With each contestant melodiously crooning the legend’s tunes, the captains and the judges were transported to back to the musical era of 80’s and 90’s.
Remembering some fond memories of that time, the excited host, Meiyang Chang took a minute to share a story that had been once narrated by the veteran and wife of Pancham Da, Asha Bhosle. As unique as his musical tones, were the late composer’s unique habits that undoubtedly has made him one of our favourite.
Narrating the story in his voice Meiyang mentioned how he recalls hearing Pancham Da as an extremely lazy person who would refuse to leave the comfortable seat near his harmonium for any kind of work. He would keep a pair of binoculars next to him to search for any item around and further use a stick next to him to pull the item closer. Despite this, the music director’s passion led him to compose songs of 20 films solely in the year, 1972.
Enlightening the audience further Meiyang also mentioned some of his incredible work in films like Amar Prem, Jawani Deewani, Sita aur Gita, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Apna Desh, Raampur ka Lakshman and Do chor that made it to the blockbuster list.
A Pancham Da fan himself, Himesh also spoke about how each tune has been an inspiration from the legendary music director’s work. “His tunes were such melody to the ears, that a director, producer or an actor has always preferred to use it as a reference to create their own. I believe the song Jumme Ki Raat is also somewhere inspired on the lines of the song ‘Dekha na haye re socha na’ He was such a great composer and its commendable how his tunes are used to compose varied songs even today” said Himesh.Dedicating a melodious piece to the unique composer was also the soulful voice, Neha Bhasin who sang the song ‘Chura liya hai tumne’ on music created from a spoon on a glass, a matchsticks box and something as unusual as a comb.
Amidst an environment of tough competition, Love Me India surely brought alive the magic that R.D Burman had once created with his musical mind.