New Delhi: On the 77th birth anniversary of Bollywood’s legendary music director and composer R D Burman fondly known as Pancham Da, Google has dedicated a doodle in his honour on its home page Portrayed wearing a reddish kurta with a stole around his neck, the bespectacled composer is shown smiling against a colourful background that resembles a music sheet.

Born to a Tollywood music composer, Sachin Dev Burman in Kolkata, Burman has given the score for over 300 films sung by singers like Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeshkar to name a few. Early on, he was given the nickname Pancham, from the Bengali word for 5.

In fact, at the age of 9, Burman was already composing music for hit films, since his father S D Burman included his son’s ‘Sar jo tera chakraaye’ in the film ‘Pyaasa’. As his career developed, he was known for making music out of anything from laughter to blowing over the tops of glass bottles. He was famed for bringing in influences from all over the world, from disco to funk, to cabaret and soon revolutionised Bollywood. Burman, gained popularity with his first movie ‘Teesri Manzil’ (1966).

With superhit songs like ‘Mere Sapnon ki Rani’, ‘Kora Kaagaz tha’ from the movie Aradhana, Burman became immensly popular to take over the music industry in the 1970s along with Kishore Kumar. He married Lata’s younger sister, Asha Bhonsle. He composed music for movies like ‘Kati Patang’, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, ‘Buddha Mil Gaya’, ‘Caravan’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Aap ki Kasam’, ‘Yaadon ki Baarat’, Mili etc. He received the Filmfare for the best Music Director Award for the movie ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’. Pancham Da also composed the music for ‘Satte pe Satta’ and ‘Rocky’ in 1981.

PTI