Sachin Dev Burman composed music for over 100 movies in Hindi and Bengali. His songs spoke of a Bengali folk influence, with light semi-classical tunes, which made the songs full of life and so soothing.
He was the only music composer who worked with both Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi and in almost an equal number of songs.
Some of his classics include ‘Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera’, ‘Chanda Hain Tu Mera Suraj Hain Tu’, ‘Badi Sooni Sooni’ etc. Sachin Dev Burman was born on this day in 1975.
On SD Burman’s birth anniversary, here’s looking at 10-lesser known facts about the music director
- Besides composing, Sachin ‘Karta’ (his nickname in the music industry) has also lent his voice to 14 Hindi and 13 Bengali film songs.
- Burman comes from a royal background. His father Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman was from the royal family of Tripura while his mother was from the royal family of Manipur.
- Bengal’s revolutionary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam was a close acquaintance of his family. He would stay with the Burmans in their Comilla residence. Burman has also sang four songs composed by Nazrul.
- In the late 1920s, Sachin Dev Burman used to worked as a radio singer on Calcutta Radio Station.
- His first record (that was the pre-album era) came out for Hindustan Records in 1932.
- In 1934, he won a gold medal to Bengal Music Conference in Kolkata for his thumri rendition. Rabindranath Tagore inaugurated the event.
- His first major hit in Hindi songs came with the song ‘Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya’ sung by Geeta Dutt in the movie Do Bhai in 1947.
- Within a decade of being in Mumbai, Burman was fed up with the materialistic point of view of the industry. He decided to go back to Kolkata but changed his mind and stayed back.
- For the song ‘Mere Sapnon Ki Raani’ in the movie Aradhana (1969), SD asked his son Rahul Dev Burman to play the famous mouth organ tune.
- After rehearsing for one of the most famous songs of his life, ‘Badi Sooni Sooni’ sung by Kishore Kumar for Mili, Burman went into a coma and sadly, did not recover.
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