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New Delhi, Jan 4: The world is full of opportunistic people and Bollywood was no exception, realised Rahul Dev Burman after his father, the iconic music composer Sachin Dev Burman had to stop working following a heart attack and a let-down by Guru Dutt in 1961, says a book. According to “R D Burman The Prince of Music” by Rupa Publications, RD’s first tryst with opportunism in the film industry occurred when his father suffered a cardiac arrest and was abandoned by the likes of legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt, for whom the Burman-senior had scored music in all time classics like “Pyaasa” (1957) and “Kaagaz Ke Phool” (1959).
The nearly 540-page book, launched last summer, is a detailed account of the musical maestro’s life right from his birth on June 27 1939 to his last breath on January 4, 1994. The book, replete with anecdotes and quotes, presents the life of R D Burman, both as a professional and a person behind the musical genius that he was. “That the film industry is full of fair-weather friends I came to know in 1961 when my father had a heart attack. At that time he’d already composed about five sings for Guru Dutt’s ‘Baharein Phir Bhi Ayengi’. My parents told Guru Dutt that I was capable of getting the songs recorded but he declined and said he was sorry but he couldn’t wait. (Also Read: Lata Mangeshkar says R D Burman’s music will always be alive)
“After that one by one all the producers left my father,” RD, whose tune was used by father SD in Guru Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa’ to bring out the evergreen song ‘Sar jo tera chakraye’, is quoted as saying in the book by written by his cousin Khagesh Dev Burman. However, it was Dev Anand who stood by SD Burman and waited for his recovery to record songs for his ‘Guide’, which became a massive hit and re-established the Burman senior’s cult. “The only one to stick with him (SD) was Dev Anand he told my father not to worry, that he’d delay the film. That’s something nobody will ever do for a music director today. Five months later, when my father recovered, we finished all the ‘Guide’ songs in five days and would you believe it, at the first session Dev Anand okayed four tunes. Shailendra even penned three songs right there ‘Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai’, ‘Din dhal jaaye’ and ‘Tere Mere Sapne’,” RD is quoted as saying.
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