The final years of SD Burman

SOUND OF MUSIC

- Narendra Kusnur

Fifty years after he passed away, S.D. Burman's songs continue to weave magic.

The maestro breathed his last on October 31, 1975. He had been ailing, and slipped into a coma after rehearsing Kishore Kumar's song Badi Sooni Sooni Hai from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film Mili. He was the second great Hindi composer to pass away that year, after Madan Mohan on July 14. Besides the fact that his songs are still played on the radio, and at concerts and competitions, one indicator of his popularity is that there have been 14 books about him, including English biographies by H.Q. Chowdhury. Khagesh Dev Burman, the Anirudha Bhattacharjee-Balaji Vittal team and Sathya Saran. Last year, Moti Lalwani and Richa Lakhanpal released The Monk And His Music, based on 50 interviews with those associated with him professionally and in person. The book contains many anecdotes describing lesser-known facets of his personality.