He passed away more than 20 years ago but Rahul Dev Burman’s rise and fall as music composer par excellence remains a mystery. His songs have stood the test of time and are still popular in India and abroad at a time when several of his accomplished contemporaries are long-forgotten. Was R.D. Burman ahead of his time? Why were Indian moviegoers not attuned to his genius during his lifetime?

A book on this Burman from another Burman (a relative) would have solved the mystery, but Khagesh Dev Burman’s book, R.D.  Burman: The Prince of Music fails to do justice to Pancham.

First of all, the author has no sense of ‘how to compile a book about R.D. Burman.’ Yes, a biography on S.D. Burman or any other film personality would seem fine had it been categorized as ‘1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s’ but not R.D. He has given so many hit numbers during his career, having produced songs for 300 films. And yet, the writer thought it is appropriate to restrict his work in four chapters. He could have divided the chapters on his relationship with his playback singers - Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey and others. There could have been one chapter regarding R.D. Burman as a singer; one about his last days; few about him not being a favourite for awards and finally, on the people he inspired. Some quotes from those inspired people would have done well but sadly, this is not what happens in this book.

This book is about all the songs composed by R.D. Burman - be it his Hindi versions of his Bangla songs or his original Bangla songs or his songs in English composed for the international audience. Now for a fan living outside India who has no interest in his Bangla songs, what should he do? Nothing. Had there been a section of R.D. Burman’s songs in Bangla, it would have been much better. Secondly, R.D. Burman was a music composer par excellence and like all great artists, he had his weak moments. But instead of highlighting that portion of his life, the writer simply ignores it. This omission doesn’t do justice to the man and musician that we know as R.D. Burman.

In fact, he goes overboard to defend R.D Burman’s cross-border plagiarism. Some of Pancham Da’s very popular numbers - ‘Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko’ from Yaadon Ki Baraat, ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ from Sholay, ‘Jahan Teri Yeh Nazar Hai’ from Kaalia, ‘Dilbar Mere’ from Satte Pay Satta and ‘Aaj Tu Ghair Sahi’ - were Bollywood versions of songs by European, African, Persian and Pakistani musicians. When it came to the copied songs - especially Pakistanis - the writer acts dumb and either claims that the original song was inferior (err, then why was it copied?) or doesn’t acknowledge that it was a copy, as in the case of the qawwali in Kasme Vaade.

And then there is the strange case of Asha Bhosle - R.D. Burman’s marriage to the famed singer is another glaring omission. Indeed, the writer may be correct in saying that there is no record of the marriage but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Those who believe that Asha was R.D. Burman’s wife might find it hard to digest. Yes, there is a lot to read about their collaborations but claiming that Asha was in it for Phancham’s money sounds more like hearsay than the truth; R.D. Burman was in financial difficulties in the latter part of his career so why did Asha marry him again?

Khagesh Dev Burman knows a lot about music but he writes this book as some sort of an article; he must have had tried hard to match the treasure trove of a book by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal (authors of R.D. Burman: The Man, The Music) a few years back but fails big time. The narrative isn’t interesting enough; it’s too repetitive and jumbled. Yes, it tells a lot about R.D Burman, his life and career but that information and a lot more is available on Wikipedia and Google. So what if Khagesh is related to the music director? His knowledge should have been more than his ardent fans which isn’t the case.

There is no mention of using Mahendra Kapoor for Dilip Kumar (after the death of M. Rafi) in Shakti and Dunya as a playback singer; also the writer seemed to forget that Manna Dey sang Main Hoon Wo Albela in Zamanay Ko Dikhana Hai.

Furthermore, the writer makes a mountain out of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s interview after the success of 1942 A Love Story, R.D. Burman’s last hurrah. Had it been up to the music composer to select the playback singers, he would have opted for his regulars Amit Kumar and Asha Bhosle, so one must appreciate the input of the producer/director rather than blast him for calling R.D. Burman a mess, which he was in those days. Dear Sir, Vidhu Vinod Chopra wasn’t a junior (read mediocre) director in the ‘90s because had he been so, the film would have bombed like R.D. Burman’s other movies with mediocre directors.

On the whole, this book offers nothing new to the fans of R.D. Burman - why his career nosedived in the ‘80s? Why didn’t he learn the art of being choosy like his father? And what made him continue to work with newcomers when it was damaging his career? These themes are never discussed. As a fan of the great musician, I would have loved to read about him and what I get is the competition between the two Burmans - S.D and R.D. The writer believes that the Sr. and Jr. Burman continued to be rivals till the death of the former in 1975 but it’s hard to believe that the senior Burman would have been jealous of his own son, no matter how successful he became.

5 things you don’t know about Pancham

1. R.D. Burman acted in one of his earlier films Bhoot Bangla (directed by Mehmood) but after his father’s advice declined acting offers.

2. It was R.D. Burman who is said to be behind the soundtrack of Aradhana (Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roop Tera Mastana, Kora Kaghaz Tha Yeh Mann Mera) as his father S.D. Burman was recuperating from an illness.

3. Actor Shammi Kapoor was against using R.D. Burman for Teesri Manzil - thank God the producer Nasir Hussain didn’t give in to his demands.

4. S.D. Burman was inspired from one of R.D.’s earlier compositions and included it in Funtoosh as Ae Meri Topi Palat Kay Aa.

5. R.D. Burman suffered a heart attack after he was told that his friend Subhash Ghai had dropped him as a music director from his upcoming film - the two never got to work together.