{"id":4638,"date":"2018-12-27T15:36:46","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T10:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=4638"},"modified":"2023-08-09T13:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T07:55:15","slug":"incomparable-sachin-dev-burman-connoisseur-dilettante-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/incomparable-sachin-dev-burman-connoisseur-dilettante-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Connoisseur and the Dilettante: Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman<\/em> written by HQ Chowdhury<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Normally I am not very keen to take up the arduous and challenging task of writing a book review. But when I was requested to review the biography of Sachin Dev Burman I jumped at the chance. For one simple reason \u2013 I am a humongous fan of Sachin Dev Burman. In my all time list of ten favourite Bollywood films, four have scores by the maestro \u2013 Pyaasa<\/em>, Kagaz Ke Phool<\/em> \u00a0Chalti Ka Naam Gadi <\/em>and Guide.<\/em><\/p>\n

The book, Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman<\/em> written by HQ Chowdhury is a labour of love \u2013 437 pages in all. It sketches the entire life script of the musical genius, \u00a0every note in the musical sonata created by the legend.<\/p>\n

Beginning with the family background and early formative years, it moves on Sachin Da\u2019s Calcutta and Bombay Days. Since I was more interested in Dada\u2019s innings in Mumbai, I jumped headlong into the composer\u2019s long and hugely successful career in the Hindi film industry.<\/p>\n

And what a treasure trove of fascinating nuggets and enchanting trivia I found page after page. \u201cIt is widely known that Sachin Karta (as Dada was known in Calcutta) left for Bombay in 1944 as he did not get adequate response from the Calcutta film industry,\u201d writes the biographer. One cannot help but wonder how (and why) the Bengali film industry, known for its aesthetic and its uber fine sense of\u00a0 the artistic, let such a jewel slip away to more a commercial, glitzy and gaudy universe.<\/p>\n

The biographer begins Sachin Da\u2019s tryst in the big, bad, world of Bollywood by recounting the composer\u2019s initial days of struggle to find his foothold in an industry dominated by the likes of\u00a0 musical giants such as\u00a0 Naushad.<\/p>\n

Gradually, recounts Chowdhury, Dada came into his own. He slowly and steadily created his own niche in Bollywood. The biographer relates an incident which not only reflects Dada\u2019s musical genius but also his rather recalcitrant temperament. \u201cThe Baazi<\/em> songs were scintillating and perfect to match India\u2019s first \u2018Film Noir\u2019 Hollywood. Sahir Ludhianvi wrote the ghazal<\/em>, Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le<\/em> that Sachin da <\/em>converted into a night club song. An aghast Sahir protested. But that did not deter the stubborn Dada<\/em> from sticking to the tune; he never liked interference in his work. Dada<\/em> thus transformed his wailing Geeta (Roy) to a lively, sensuous singer\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Dada\u2019s mellifluous compositions and the behind the scenes snippets associated sprinkle the pages as Chowdhury describes Dada taking commanding position as one of the top musicians in Bollywood. There are several incidents, which show the mettle of the man and his music. The author quotes Pulak Bandhopadhyay, the well-known Bengali lyricist, \u201cThere were many people in the house. A gentleman walked in and offered Sachin da<\/em>, a bagful of notes. \u2018Tum jitna rupaiya dikhao, hum tumara picture nahin karenga<\/em>,\u2019 said Sachin da in his broken Hindi. The man insisted but Sachin da<\/em> gently asked him to leave. A family friend in the room said, \u2018Dada,<\/em> why let go such a big offer first thing in the morning?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Have you ever seen a well? You must give it sufficient time to fill it up or else it will dry up fast. Music direction is just like that. I have a quota for every year. My quota for the year is over. I don\u2019t want to dry up fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a similar offer was made to the present day composers? Many would grab it with both hands willing to sacrifice quality, melody and everything else at the altar of the Goddess of moolah!<\/p>\n

Sadhin da<\/em>\u2019s rendezvous with the best directors, lyricists, singers and other music directors are described with rare authenticity. It is clear that a lot of research has gone into every aspect of the book. We come to know that Bimal Roy approached Sachin da<\/em> for Madhumati but since the latter was busy he suggested Salil Chowdhury\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

There is also a very cute incident related to the father and son duo. For the film Funtoosh<\/em>, Sachin da<\/em> picked up the comedy piece Aei mere topi palat ke aa<\/em> from Pancham\u2019s stock.<\/p>\n

When the son protested pat came the dad\u2019s reply, \u2018Yes, indeed. But you should be happy that I have \u2018qualified\u2019 it to be used in my film.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cDada was testing his son\u2019s capability as a composer,\u201d explains the biographer.<\/p>\n

\"Back

SD Burman’s note on the Back Cover of Guide’<\/em>s LP Record<\/p><\/div>\n

According to me the pinnacle of Sachin da\u2019s career was undoubtedly the Guru Dutt classic Pyaasa.<\/em> It has my most loved melodies by Mohammad Rafi,\u00a0 \u00a0Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar. Mohammad Rafi, in a new Sachin da<\/em>-mentored avatar sang songs penned by the legend Sahir Ludhianvi and gave Indian cinema probably its most poignant song\u00a0 ever \u2013 \u2018Yeh mehlon, yeh takhton, yeh taazon ki duniya<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyaasa<\/em> in a TIME magazine list, published in 2005, was rated as one of the top 100 movies of all times and the credit for this honour, to a significant extent, should go to Sachin da<\/em> and Sahir. Unfortunately, according to Chowdhury, Pyaasa<\/em> also brought to end the partnership of the two geniuses. They fell apart over ego issues and one of Hindi film industry\u2019s greatest musical jugablandi<\/em>s broke up forever. As a result in Guru Dutt\u2019s most aspirational venture Kaagaz ke Phool<\/em> Sachin da<\/em> teamed up with Kaifi Azmi. The music of this venture too was a huge success with Geeta Dutt coming up with the haunting Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam<\/em> and Rafi once again giving us the pathos-ridden Dekhi zamaane ki yaari.<\/em><\/p>\n

I would like to mention here that Sachin da<\/em> seemed to have quite a difficult temperament and was not an easy person to work with. He and the melody queen Lata had a tiff and never worked together for six years during the most productive phase in their respective careers. Sachin da also had issues with others in the industry. To be fair, in case of Lata, Chowdhury presents several points of view. But his empathy clearly lies with Sachin da<\/em>!<\/p>\n

What make the biography unique are its listings \u2013 the songs, sung by Dada and the movies for which he scored the music and the utterly delectable anecdotes. These are interspersed facts and analyses. The book is a delight not only for the connoisseur but also for the dilettante, for the avid seeker of knowledge as well as the casual reader.<\/p>\n

The publisher, Blue Pencil, deserves to be complimented for putting together a book which has a stunning cover, an attractive layout and excellent production values. At Rs. 599, it is a steal.<\/p>\n

I would like to end by quoting\u00a0 Manek Premchand, Historian, Hindi Film music who in the introduction to the biography writes, \u201cEveryone has a different script, and while the ordainment comes from above the execution must be our own. It is for this reason that Dada Burman executing his role perfectly, was able to make wonderful tunes till the \u00a0very end of his life\u2026.\u201d Touch\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman<\/h2>\n

Author:<\/strong> HQ Chowdhury
\nPublisher:<\/strong> Blue Pencil (a venture of Learning and Creativity-Silhouette Magazine<\/em>)
\nMRP:<\/strong> Rs. 599
\nPages:<\/strong> 470
\nISBN:<\/strong> 978-81-939555-0-5
\nAvailable on: Amazon\u00a0<\/a><\/span>and\u00a0Flipkart<\/a><\/span><\/strong>
\nTo Buy Contact:<\/strong> sales@bluepencilpublishers.com<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Available on: Amazon\u00a0<\/a><\/span>and\u00a0Flipkart<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renowned author Ramendra Kumar reviews the biography of his favourite music director SD Burman, Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman<\/em> is written by HQ Chowdhury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":4645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2470,821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-music-makers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7923,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638\/revisions\/7923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}