Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se ....

by Ritu Chandra

He was one of the greatest composers to have graced Indian cinema. His creativity was something to behold. I have worked with a lot of big composers but Burmanda was different. He was the king of melody. There are some lines that only he could have taken into music. ‘eg Ras ke Bikhari’ or ‘Sanson ki sargam, dhadkan ki bina sapno ki geetanjali tu’. His death was an end of an era. By the time he died Roshan, Jaikishen, Madan Mohan had all passed away. I too left films after that.

 (L to R) RD Burman, Dev Anand, SD Burman and Neeraj

Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se - Neeraj Remembers SD Burman

Poet Neeraj did his choicest Hindi film work with Burmanda he rewinds to the association when we spoke to him for this commemorative

I read about the announcement of Prem Pujari in the papers and wrote to Dev Anand. He invited me over and I took the first flight to Bombay.

Dev Saab received me warmly and said he would take me to meet Burman Dada. He said, “Burmanda does not know you so you will have to prove yourself to him. He will give you a tune and you will have to write lyrics on the tune.

Next morning he took me to meet Burmanda. Dada gave me the tune for Rangeela Re, explained the situation and said you have to start the song with the words Rangeela Re and the mukhda should have the words ‘rang’ and also have an oblique reference to drinking.  He also told me ‘chote chote shabd likhna’ (write short and crisp words). I went home and mulled over the situation and came up with the words.

Rangeela re tere rang mein yoon ranga hain mera man

Chhaliya re na bujhe hai kisi jal se yeh jalan