S.D. Burman (as singer)
Sachin Dev Burman was one of the great Hindi film composers, and this page is about the other thing he did: sing. In Bengali he had been a popular folk and modern-song singer since the 1930s; in Hindi film he used his own high, nasal, strange voice sparingly, as a commentator standing outside the action — Wahan Kaun Hai Tera in Guide, Mere Sajan Hain Us Paar in Bandini, Safal Hogi Teri Aradhana — and each time it stopped the film.
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Life
He was born in Comilla, now in Bangladesh, in 1906, a son of the Tripura royal house, and learned folk and classical music in Bengal before recording from 1932 and composing for Bengali films from 1937. He came to Bombay in 1944 and, after a slow start, composed for Filmistan, Dev Anand's Navketan and Guru Dutt: Baazi, Taxi Driver, Devdas, Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Sujata, Bandini, Guide, Jewel Thief, Aradhana, Abhimaan.
His singing in Hindi films was rare and deliberate — a boatman's song, a Baul-style refrain, a voice from the riverbank. He won the National Award as a singer for Safal Hogi Teri Aradhana (1970). He died in Bombay in October 1975, a few days after the release of Mili, his last score; his son R.D. Burman continued the line.
The voice
Burman's voice is high, thin, reedy and nasal, with the sliding ornaments of East Bengali folk song — bhatiali, the boatmen's music — and it was used precisely because it sounded nothing like a film singer. It carries the authority of someone who has stood outside the story and seen how it ends.
Composers
- S.D. Burman
Honours
National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer, 1970 (Aradhana) · Padma Shri (1969) · Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1958)
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