Remembering RDB – The Real Mighty Heart
On the occasion of RDB’s 14th death anniversary
There is a ten minute sequence in Nasir Hussain’s Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin (HKSKN) which sums up RD Burman’s approach to life and music. There have been equally, and dare I say, more gifted musicians to have graced Hindi cinema. But none have so generously, and sometimes insouciantly, gifted away their riches to so many undeserving. That includes all of us. Anyway, what stays on with you of that ten-minute medley sequence is not Rishi Kapoor doing a jig with a saxophone, nor an ungainly Kajal Kiran trying to dance. And certainly not Tariq; while it is said that the guitar was an extension of Jimi Hendrix (his fifth limb), for Tariq his body was an extension of his guitar – wooden, stiff and a sum total of one expression on his face. But, look at what RD gave to this ten minute sequence – ‘whakao’, distinct strains of guitar heralding the opening of ‘Chand Mera Dil’ (a resurgent Rafi in the era of Kishore), raucous ‘Aa Dil Kya’, ‘Ho Tum Kya Jano’ and rounded it with the peppy ‘Mil Gaya Hum Ko Saathi’. For a good composer that would have been a great list for a year and for a great composer it would have meant a good album. But RD never rationed his genius. It all comes to you in a ten minute exhilarating sequence. You were not meant to float in his magic stream. Doob ja, nothing less.
This isn’t another tribute to RD. He’s possibly the most written, discussed and analyzed Hindi film composer. This is a short post to remember the man on his 14th death anniversary which was on Jan 4. Not remembering RD this week would have been PFC’s loss.
RD has, of course, remained alive with numerous remixes of his songs reminding us of how far ahead he was of his time. However, I fear that we have gotten into a trap of knowing only two RD avatars – the gimmicky God of all things remixed or the soulful Gulzar-Pancham combination (necessary rites of passage for anyone graduating to more serious Hindi flim music). There was more to RD and I will leave you with 14 less celebrated, less heralded RD numbers to commemorate his 14th death anniversary. These are the riches that he squandered away on mediocre movies and ungrateful producers.
If you have listened to them, then go back and relive them again. If not, all I can say is this is your lucky day!! And remember to say thanks at the end of it all. Not to me, to RD
1. Yeh Zindagi Kuchh Bhi Sahi
Movie: Romance (Kumar Gaurav, Poonam Dhillon)
Singer: RD Burman
USP: RD almost reprising his father in a moody solo
2. Moti Ho To Bandh Ke Rakh Loon
Movie: Daulat (Raj Babbar, Zeenat Aman)
Singer: Kishore
USP: An inspired Kishore
3. Chand Roz Aur Meri Jaan
Movie: Sitamgar (Rishi Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon)
Singer: Kishore
USP: Criminally neglected track. It wasn’t a great year for RD commercially and this album proved that the audience is sometimes an ass
4. Tum Jo Mile To Laga Hai
Movie: Drohi (Nagarjun, Urmila)
Singer: Suresh Wadkar
USP: Honeyed voice of SW and one flawless rhythm
5. Kabhi Palkon Pe Aansoo Hain
Movie: Harjaee (Randhir Kapoor, Tina Munim)
Singer: Kishore
USP: A complete album in all sense of the word. RD composed great music for all Ramesh Behl movies (The Train, Yeh Vada Raha, Basera, Pukar, Jawani Diwani). I wonder how it worked then. Ramesh Behl comes up to RD and says “I am planning to make a movie with Randhir Kapoor”. And RD says, “No problems”. And creates magic. Audiences give the music a miss and the only winner I see is Randhir Kapoor who seems to have got some amazing songs picturized on him.
6. Chori chori solah singar
Movie: Manoranjan (Sanjeev Kumar, Zeena Aman)
Singer: Asha Bhosle
USP: When you are done with all the Monica, O My Darling, come back to this
7. Tum Ho Meri Dil Ki Dhadkan
Movie: Manzil (Amitabh Bachchan, Moushumi Chatterjee)
Singer: Kishore
USP: Kishore in top form with some inspired Yogesh lyrics. This gets ignored for the more popular Rimjhim Gire Saawan
8. Kya Janoo Sajan
Movie: Baharon Ke Sapne (Rajesh Khanna, Asha Parkeh)
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar
USP: The much discussed about twin-track impact that RD creates with the two voices. No, this shouldn’t be remembered as song picturized on Namrata Shirodkar
9. Ni Sultana Re
Movie: Pyar ka Mausam (Shashi Kapoor, Asha Parekh)
Singer: Lata, Rafi
USP: Way ahead for a song released in 1969. A stop-start effect which remains with you
10. Aasman Se Ek Sitara
Movie: Rahee Badal Gaye (Rishi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Padmini Kolhapure)
Singer: Asha, RD Burman
USP: In my opinion, one of the best Pancham and Asha duet
11. Dhadkan Pal Pal
Movie: Arjun (Sunny Deol, Dimple)
Singer: Asha
USP: Great music, amazing interludes
12. Jab Chaha Yaara Tumne
Movie: Zabardast (Sunny Deol, Rati Agnihotri)
Singer: Kishore
USP: Nasir Hussain brought out the best in RD. But this ended their partnership. Good music for a pedestrian movie. Why blame RD?
13. Suhani Chandni Raatein
Movie: Mukti (Shashi Kapoor, Vidya Sinha)
Singer: Mukesh
USP: Mukesh sang few numbers for RD. But each one was a masterpiece
14. Aaj Kahin Na Ja
Movie: Bade Dilwala (Rishi Kapoor, Tina Munim)
Singer: Kishore, Lata
USP: The perfect song to round this compilation. Great songs in an average movie.
Undoubtedly, RD was the Bade Dilwala.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Subrat
Janmdin pay dil khush kar diya aapnay!
On Chesil Beach
K3 – That explains the absence!! Happy birthday. Chesil beach par McEwan bhai mil jayen to thank you for everything bol dena
salute to the BOSS! And a lovely tribute! Thanks for this!!!
wow, a great list. Thanks Subrat and RD.
Thanx Subrat!
Headed for the Book Shop with your list:)
McEwan saab ko bataa doongi.
later, ciao.
HAPPY B DAY kavita akka !!! PARTY :o)
All hail RDB – the king of Bollywood
But, frankly dint get the point behind the 1st para… How would it matter to the music director if the 4-5 songs were put in the movie in a span of 3 hours (almost equally distributed) or within 10 minutes… wouldn’t it be better to appreciate the director to have the capability or something to use those songs in the 10 minutes…(brought up the director’s name purely for argument sake, coz the picturisation wasn’t really worth appreciating the director/choreographer for, as far as i can remember) basically the point being, i am not really sure if there was some sort of verbal briefing or something to mean that this-and-this was the situation for which RDB was to compose… besides, apparently, Bolly back then wasn’t even that particular about the situations as much for THE songs…
Don’t take this to be nit-picking or something… just that i generally like your writings, and so thought of asking…
also haven’t heard most of the songs you’ve mentioned, but have personally heard/preferred other songs from the same movies you’ve mentioned (’Jeewan ke din’ – Bade Dilwala; ‘Tum Bin Jaun Kahaan’ – Pyaar ka Mausam etc)
Georgie!
Party happening right now,
but will have another with Hyd Biryani wot?
aKKa
awesome songs..RD, alas, had this penchant for great songs in not so good movies..Subrat,,the compilation is just too good..boss mere pass ek mp3 hai jisme ye saare ajeeb o gareeb sitare maujood hai..main inhen sambhalke bistar ke sirhane rakkha karta hun..kabhi bajata hun..kabhi sirf mahssoos karta hun..main khush hun..ki kisi maayne se..boss mere saath hain!!
Roz Roz Akhon Tale
Movie: Jeeva(Sanjay Dutt,Mandakini )
Singer: Amit Kumar, Asha Bhosle
USP: Fantastic melody with great lyrics by Gulzar
Rbehemoth: Thanks for your comments. I seem to have failed a bit on the that first paragraph. My point was that RDB didn’t plan his career in a way where he would spread his great tunes evenly across multiple films/banners in a year. The others who did so had less heart-break(commercially). RD simply gifted his music to anyone who sought him out. And that 10-min sequence in Hum Kisi Se is very typical. Any other composer would have spread those numbers out across 3-4 films esp after giving out Kya Hua, Yeh Ladka, Hai Agar Dushman already in the movie.
I have deliberately gone for the less popular songs in the above compilation. Some of them require you to listen a few times to start appreciating them.
Thanks for the feedback.
Indraneel – ex-chef, RD fan. Aur kya kya??
Manish – ROz Roz is of course a fantastic song esp when Amit Kumar wades in at the end with Aankhon Par Kucch Aise Tumne. However, I dropped it since I had decided not to pick up any Gulzar-Pancham combinations. But it’s a classic example of what I wanted to say. Jeeva was an average 80s dacoit drama but RD gave his best as he had given earlier Raj Sippy movies (Satte Pe Satta and Sitamgar among others). The movie was a box office dud and the song disappeared till Gulzar brought it back in his compilation. My attempt was to resurrect some other such numbers which didn’t have the fortune of Gulzar bringing them back
Amazing list. I would add a few more lesser heard gems:
- Pyar Jab Na Kiya – Kishore Kumar – Sitamgar
- Suraj Ka Jo Kiran Se Nata – Mukesh, Lata – Hungama
- Phir Kisi Shaakh Ne – Lata – Libaas
- Ae Sakhi Radhike – Lata – Jurmana
- Apne Pyaar Ke – lata, Kishore – Barsaat Ki Ek Raat
- Kajre Badarwa – Lata – Pati Patni
- Aisa Sama Na Hota – Lata – Zameen Aasmaan
I have listed my favorite RDB songs here:
http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/06/27/rdb.html
There was also this song from BR Chopra’s Mazdoor that was sung by Salma Agha, but picturized on Padmini Kolhapure – Pehla Pehla Pyar. Salma Agha’s nasality was kept under control by RDB…this is the nly sng where I found her singing ‘good’. It’s a beautiful tune.
This film also had a lovely song by Asha Bhosle – Tumhe Bhool Jaane Ka Haq Hai Magar – picturised on Rati Agnihotri.
AISA SAMA NA HOTA(Zameen aasman),the song begins with a typical Illayaraja style and then turns into a beautiful RD Burman melody.I think a way of paying respect to Illayaraja whom RD admired a lot.
RD was the the epitome of melody in hindi film music
and unfortunately there is no one to take his place.Jatin Lalit started off well but they couldn’t reach the standards of RD.AR Rehman is very much overhyped and his music lacks melody.Vishal Bharadwaj is doing only few films and is concentrating more on direction and that is sad for melodious music.Mithoon seems to be the person who will fill the void left by RD.
@Subrat – Cannot tom tom about myself here..kabhi milenge to batayenge..here, as we all say, the geniuses that you write about so well are the geniuses “only”..
@Sharat – It is futile to get someone to fill RDB’s shoes..those fantastic melodies with that strong rythm base..symbolizing every song separately, in fact categorizing them separately in his head (this in club, that on terrace, these on streets, that in a dance format, that in chase)…we have come to a stage wherein we can differentiate even the scenes where his songs were picturized, so different are his songs even in one movie…This cannot be replicated by any other living composer. Mithun has a loooong way to go!!
@subrat – Aren’t we lucky that we were born and brought up in the era of RDB and Kishore K who were amazing geniuses..and mind you, am not yet putting the Mangeshkar sisters here..
Yaar, kya din the –
Morning – Radio Ceylon – Jaan e jaan, Mehbooba, Kuch to log kahenge..etc.
then school..radio again during breaks..Gavaskar hitting another century and Bedi spinning the Tony Griegs out!!
Evening – Amin Sayani with Binanca geet mala..and many more RDB, KK, Asha gems to hear and savor!!
Phew..Kya din the!!
“5. Kabhi Palkon Pe Aansoo Hain
Movie: Harjaee (Randhir Kapoor, Tina Munim)
Singer: Kishore
USP: A complete album in all sense of the word. RD composed great music for all Ramesh Behl movies (The Train, Yeh Vada Raha, Basera, Pukar, Jawani Diwani). I wonder how it worked then. Ramesh Behl comes up to RD and says
if its a post by subrat,i start by rating it 5 and then scroll down to read. was wondering where r u guys..rk,pavan,wb n u bcz its boss’ day and then saw this post. kya baat hai!! hav thought about it lot many times…the films sound so d n z-grade and the songs so terrific. dont know how they managed. but never knew about so many songs.tumne meri aankhein(oops..kaan) khol di. yes,its the mighty heart factor. music is all that matters. not the film,the banner or the stars. my favs..sili hawa choo gaye…roz roz aankhon tale and aaj kahin na ja.
number 6…chori chori..
number 9…if anyone has links to other songs…plz do post here…
number 11…
suhani chandien raatein…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4EEJANGnA_E
tere liye palkon ki chhaon from Harjaee
http://youtube.com/watch?v=e9z_owbxOz0
tujh sa haseen from Harjaee
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AKEetU-t4ZI
sun zara shokh haseena from Harjaee
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oxbYXL-TgtY
yeh rut hai haseen from Harjaee
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Ushr7CG2r0
roz roz aankhon tale…
What about
1. Tumse milkar zindagi ko yu laga (Chor Police)
2. Chand koi hoga tumsa kaha ( Inaam Das Hazaar)
and
3. Beeti na bitayi raina (Parichay) ?
Amit – thanks for adding some more. Phoenix – Tumne meri aankhen khol di. Didn’t realize that Youtube had some of them. Thanks
Boss,
This is just too good.I am trying to make a CD for all these songs. Some of them have been my favourite but never realised it is the creation of RDB.
Thanks
Rishabh
@Subrat,
Had missed this before. Thanks you were active and alert to keep alive memories of BOSS on PFC in those early days of January when most of the people remain busy in coming back in to sense of performing their duties after having winter holidays.
(2)Daulat – there is a duet on hero Vinod Khanna and heroin Zeenat Aman,
“Khubsurat ho tum badi khubsurat ho, teri har ada hai haseen, nazar na lag jaye kahin, arzoo ho jarurat ho, tum badi khubsurat ho” (voices given by Kishor Kumar and Asha Bhonsle) is fast paced and energetic song and personally I always prefered it over “Moti ho to Bandh ke rakh lun” which is somewhat sad song.
Antars were very good. KK sings
“galon pe til qatil
Aanhekn teri paimane
ye hoth tere anguri
jo dekhe ho deewane
— ”
“Mera dil ye kehta hai
tere dil mein hai pyar ki hulchal
chhorho ye laaj ke bandhan
lehrane do ye anchal
sapna ho hakiqat ho
tum badi khubsurat ho”
Before KK finishes Asha starts with ohhh la la la
and sighs and then sings
” azi dil ki juban nahin hoti
batein kartee hain nigahein
meri khamoshi ka matlab
koi tham le meri bahein
sharat ho qayatmat ho tum bade khubsurat ho”
Orchestra is high before singers start singing and just before they start uttering words its almost silent and with their singing use of drum beats which increases with the last lines is just fascinating.
And picturization of the song has got so energetic and simply perfect input from Vinod Khanna.
And this is true that while many composers used to give music depending on banner or status of director and producer and star cast, RDB tried to give his best even to Z-grade films. In more than 90% cases his music is the best part of the films.
and thats so right that apart from Rishi Kapoor, Hum Kisi se Kam nahin was a great success because of RDBs wonderful music. Tariq Shah and Kajal were never (neither before nor after) the names for which audience would go to see the films.
Jimi Hendrix has become alive in Hindi Cinema again – curtesy Zhoom Barabar Zhoom and Amitabh Bachchan, who took his get up.
RK: Thanks for noticing this. And also for adding that other Daulat song.
As you run through all the posts that you have missed, you will find that I have fulfilled my responsibility in your absence quite well. So start commenting on the Wheel of Time series too
rah pe rehta hain…yadon pe basar karte hain…khush raho ahle watan hum to safar karte hain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWaJh50aqJI
thank u pancham da 4 making such a great song…