31st October, 2004 marks twenty nine years from the day Sachin Dev Burman left for his heavenly abode. While for himself, on that fateful day, Dada achieved the immortality that accompanies death for artists of his stature. For his family, friends, admirers and fans he left behind a void that was difficult to fill. One such family, friend, admirer and fan all-rolled-into-one was fellow musical genius Kishore Kumar, who has since achieved immortality himself. Burman and Kishore's association went back to their early days with Bombay Talkies and spaned almost three decades. Throughout which they shared a very special chemistry. Even though a good twenty three years separated them in birth, they still had a personal rapport that  transcended this age-gap and translated to immortal creations in the music room. 

Kishore had tremendous respect and love for Burmanda which was reciprocated in equal measure with great affection from Dada Burman. Dada's death in 1975 deeply affected this sensitive singer. The famous radio host Ameen Sayani recalls Dada Burman's funeral, the tears in Kishore's eyes and his(Sayani's) realisation of how much emotional depth this seemingly carefree, jovial and wacky man hid within him. In the days following Dada Burman's death, Sayani met Kishore Kumar a couple of times in the hope to get a small tribute for the customary obituary programs that follow such occasions. What he got in return was a radio program beyond his expectations. Kishore takes the concept of obituary tributes to a level that no one else had taken it before or has achieved since. It's a little wonder then that this tribute is one of Ameen Sayani's most prized possessions.

In this extremely entertaining, yet poignant and heartfelt account, Kishore takes us out to meet the Burmanda he knew and loved. He brings the late composer/singer alive with his excellent mimicary skills and his extremely entertaining descriptions of Burmanda's endearingly eccentric ways. He gently pokes fun at Dada's nasal singing style, his quaint pronunciations and impishly unpredictable nature as Dada tried to play mentor to him down the years. By the end of it, Sachinda, with his childlike enthusiasm for his music and his eccentric single-mindedness in all matters related to it and Kishore as his sometimes reluctant and sometimes indulgent deputy both endear themselves to the listeners. They paint a happy picture of lush fields, blue skies and bright rainbows. This happy picture however fades away with a jolt back to reality. Burmanda is no more... The grief in Kishore's voice as he signs off with a pathos filled Jeevan ke safar mein rahi, is now, twenty nine years down the line, somewhat universal. Kishore, in this approximately fifteen minute piece takes us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and at the end he leaves us with a picture of Burmanda that only he could paint.

Download Kishore's Tribute to Sachinda

Song	Film	Singer	Lyrics
Ameen Sayani on Kishore (334 KB)	None	None	None
Kishore Remembers SD Burman- Part 1 (2 MB)	None	None	None
Kishore Remembers SD Burman- Part  2(2 MB)	None	None	None
Kishore Remembers SD Burman- Part  3 (1 MB)	None	None	None
Kishore Remembers SD Burman- Part  4  (3 MB)	None	None	None

Note

This tribute was originally broadcast as a part of the radio series S.Kumar's Filmi Muqadama in 1975.

This radio program has been brought to us courtesy the painstaking efforts of  Kaustubh Pingle  who has very generously shared it with all of us. We thank him for the same. We are also grateful to Vishwas Nerurkar who was equally generous in passing on this recording to Kaustubh.  Many thanks to both of them for bringing this gem of a radio program to all music lovers.