“O Jane Wale Ho Sake Tau Laut Ke Aana”

Today, bollywood celebrate renkowned Singer and Music Director Suchen Dev Burman, known as S. D. Burman’s 45th death anniversay. He died on 31 October 1975 at the age of 69 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India.

S. D. Burman was born on 1 October 1906, in Comilla, Bengal Presidency (in present-day Bangladesh) to Rajkumari Nirmala Devi, the royal princess of Manipur and Mahamanyabar Rajkumar Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman of Tripura, son of Maharaja Ishanachandra Manikya Dev Burman, the Maharaja of Tripura. Sachin was the youngest of the five sons of his parents, who had nine children in all. His mother died when he was just two years of age.

Burman started working as a radio singer on Calcutta Radio Station in the late ’20s, when his work as a singer-composer was based on Bengali folk and light Hindustani classical music.

His first record was also released in 1932. In the following decade, he reached his peak as a singer, cutting as many as 131 songs in Bengali. Burman also did a singing role in the Urdu film Selima (1934) and another role in Dhiren Ganguli’s film Bidrohi (1935).

He made his film debut singing in Yahudi ki Ladki (1933) but the songs were scrapped and re-sung by Pahari Sanyal. His first film as a singer was finally Sanjher Pidim (1935).

In 1944, Burman moved to Mumbai, at the request of Sasadhar Mukherjee of Filmistan, who asked him to give score for two Ashok Kumar starrers, Shikari (1946) and Aath Din, but his first major breakthrough came the following year with the company’s Do Bhai (1947). The song Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya sung by Geeta Dutt was his breakthrough song into the film industry. In 1949 came Shabnam, his biggest hit yet with Filmistan, especially noticeable for its multi-lingual hit song Yeh Duniya Roop ki Chor, by Shamshad Begum, which became a rage in those days.

In the 1950s, Burman teamed up with Dev Anand’s Navketan Films to create musical hits like Taxi Driver, Nau Do Gyarah (1957) and Kala Pani (1958). In addition, he gave music for Munimji (1955) and Paying Guest (1957).

He also wrote music for Guru Dutt classics Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). The soundtracks of Devdas (1955), House No. 44 (1955), Funtoosh (1956), and Solva Saal (1958) were other S. D. Burman hits. In 1959 came Sujata, a masterpiece by Bimal Roy, and S. D. created magic again with “Jalte hai Jiske Liye” by Talat Mahmood.

SD Burman’s first biography in English is “Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman”. Written by HQ Chowdhury. It was published by Toitoomber from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Burman’s compositions were sung by the leading singers of the era, including Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Asha Bhosle, Shamshad Begum, Mukesh and Talat Mahmood. As a playback singer, Burman sang 14 Hindi and 13 Bengali film songs.