MUMBAI: History of Indian film music would be incomplete without the mention of Rahul Dev Burman. The maverick genius revolutionised the music formats in Indian music, died at a young age of 54. As Nightingale of India, Lata Mangehskar said, “He died young and unhappy.” Son of legendary music composer S D Burman, R D Burman created some of the most iconic songs in Indian films. On his death anniversary today (4 January), let’s have a look at some interesting trivia about the legend.

What’s in a name?

His official name was Rahul Dev Burman. However, it was noticed that as a toddler whenever he would cry, he would hit the fifth note, which is called Pancham in Indian music. Thus, he got the name.

Nominations in Filmfare

R D Burman’s work is well-known. He was appreciated for his work time and again. However, between the time frame of 1971 to 1986, he was nominated almost every year and sometimes even multiple nominations in the best music director category of Filmfare awards. In his lifetime, he won three Filmfare awards.

No National Award

The 1986 released film Ijjazat was considered one of Burman’s best works. The songs, despite being from Parallel Cinema are still loved. The song Mera Kuch Saman Lauta Do won National Award for singer Asha Bhosle and the lyricist Gulzar, however, Pancham didn’t receive a national award for the same.

Influence of Western music in his music

R D Burman was often accused of plagiarism

He, however, had the knack of composing a tune basis, a foreign tune, to his own songs. The iconic Mehbooba Mehbooba song from the movie Sholay was loosely based on Cypru origin song Say You Love Me and the Famous ABBA famous tune Mama Mia for Mil gaya hum ko sathi. Even Aao Twist Karen was similar to Let's Twist Again.