Kolkata: Today is the birthday of legendary music composer late Rahul Dev Burman. One wonders what new one can come up with on the musical genius. His creations are immortal. He has revolutionised Hindi film music with his experimentation. And with due respect, he even surpassed his father, legendary music composer Sachin Dev Burman. Let’s think of something else and yes the idea that strikes is a biopic on Pancham. Surprised? Please don’t be! At a time when biopics are the in thing in Bollywood, a film on RD would be the perfect tribute to the late genius. If skeptics start frowning, let’s get the message straight that RD’s life was no less filmi (and this is not a derogatory expression). Farhan Akhtar was keen on one, but there has been no development on it.
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If one goes through the chapters of his life story, RD despite hailing from a stable background, did not get things on a platter. Old-timers say, his father could have easily recommended him, but he preferred his son to blossom on his own. And RD did not let his father down and such was the enormity of his skills that it didn’t take him too long to prove his worth.
His success story is known to the whole world, but many would be oblivious to the tough times he had to face both on the personal and professional fronts. His first marriage ended in a divorce and he was heartbroken. Despite a personal setback, his creativity never took the backseat and he continued to churn out hits after hits. Pancham craved for true love and his passion reflected in many of his songs. He got married again, this time to singer Asha Bhosle, but there were stories
that even his second marriage was not a happy one.
RD’s last few days were painful to say the least. Somebody who reached the pinnacle of success was suddenly left to himself. His favourites replaced him and all of a sudden there was no work. It was during that period it was alleged that Bhosle had deserted him too. We don’t know the truth but everyone knew RD was alone during his last few days. A born genius tried desperately to regain his lost ground and some say he even begged for work though the veracity of the fact is in question.
But a genius is a genius and he was dying to prove his worth one last time and it was Vidhu Vinod Chopra who came to his rescue with 1942: A Love Story and the rest is history. It’s sad he didn’t live to see the success of the music of the film.
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Talking of his success, it is exemplary. RD entered the industry at a time when there was no dearth of musical stalwarts in the film industry. But RD made his own ground with his inimitable style striking winning partnerships with actors like Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Randhir Kapoor and later Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor who swore by him. The seventies belonged to him and RD was unstoppable with his variations using singers like Kishore Kumar, Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar and others to the hilt. His rise to stardom is phenomenal.
One regrets this indifference in filmmaker towards Rahul Dev’s biopic. But can we have an announcement? If Sanjay Dutt’s life can inspire a film, RD’s definitely does not fall behind. He has seen success, failures and personal losses, yet he died with his head high. Sorry, he isn’t dead, he is immortal.
(The writer is Features Editor, Eastern Chronicle, Kolkata)