The divinity of Dev Anand and S D Burman

September 26 marks the birth centenary of the eminent Indian actor, Dev Anand. The author writes about the relationship between the actor and the legendary music composer S D Burman who was fondly called Dada.

It was no ordinary team: fans of either or both together would probably describe their work together as a divine, or maybe ‘Dev-ine’ combination. Dev Anand and S D Burman’s work together neither had the classical sobriety of Dilip Kumar-Naushad nor the intentionally-populist appeal of Raj Kapoor-Shankar Jaikishan.

In Dev Anand’s centenary year, we study his work with his favourite maestro. S D Burman, known affectionately as Dada, was a true-blue maverick. He would refuse films because he did not like a producer’s face! But at work, he was the epitome of dedication and steely determination to excel. Nor did he restrict Dev’s voice (unlike Naushad and S-J) overwhelmingly to one singer. He ‘divided’ Dev into Mohammed Rafi (especially in the earlier phases), Kishore Kumar (predominantly post-1960s but even earlier) and Hemant Kumar.

S D Burman had a heart attack when 'Guide' (1965) was in pre-production. Dev Anand waited for months for him and was rewarded by what remains one of the composer’s top five scores. 

That’s not all: he even used Mukesh (in Vidya), Manna Dey (Manzil, Bambai Ka Babu, Chhupa Rustom), Talat Mahmood (Taxi Driver). In the classic “Honthon mein aisi baat” in Jewel Thief , Bhupinder Singh voiced the single word lip-synched by the actor—Shaalu. There was thus no scope for any kind of monotony and the actor-composer team never got jaded the way the other two legendary teams did by the mid-‘60s.

The first film in which Dada worked with Dev was Vidya (1948), in which he tried out Mukesh’s voice for the actor. Mukesh’s career was on the ascent then after Pehli Nazar, while Dev (who had begun with Hum Ek Hain in 1946) and Dada (with Eight Days in the same year) were both still struggling for recognition.

However, much like Dev and Guru Dutt earlier, the actor and the composer recognized in each other a kindred soul — a commonality that was about a positive approach within to make it big, an ever-young approach to life and work, and the mantra of striving for excellence each time.

The bond deepened when an ambitious Dev signed Dada for his maiden production, Afsar (1950), in which no song was lip-synched by Dev. The bright score made Dev repeat his newfound friend in Baazi.

Baazi, which released in 1951, had only one song for Dev — Kishore Kumar sang the naughty Dil yeh kya cheez hai in an almost K L Saigal mode mixed with his frolicsome style that was to become so organic later. Dada and Kishore had hit it off with Kishore also being a chorus singer in his Shikari. And Kishore, after singing for Dev in Ziddi, had declared that henceforth, as a singer-star, he would only make a ‘playback’ exception for Dev!

Baazi also marked Dada, forever, changing the staid Geeta Dutt’s image of a largely devotional singer to an accomplished Czarina of hep numbers like Suno gajar kya gaaye and Tadbir se bigdi hui. And by the time the film released, Dev and Dada had also broken through with Ziddi and Mashal respectively.

Their ever-young, forward-thinking association took off in a big way with Baazi, churning out milestone melodies in Dev’s own home production. But these films, produced mostly by Dev but also by Vijay Anand and Dev’s PRO, Amarjeet (Funtoosh, Taxi Driver, Nau Do Gyarah, Teen Devian, Kala Pani, Kala Bazar, Guide, Jewel Thief, Prem Pujari, Gambler, Tere Mere Sapne) were not the only musically-lustrous scores in their timeless association.

Dada scored tall with Dev in films as varied as Jaal, Munimji, Paying Guest, Ek Ke Baad Ek, Bambai Ka Babu, Baat Ek Raat Ki, Solva Saal, Manzil and last but certainly not the least — Ye Gulistan Hamara.

The chartbusters and perennials in their oeuvre are only too obvious, and the only weak score remains their last film, Chhupa Rustom (1973), by which time Dada was frail in health. However, Dev, ever the loyalist, had seen his composer friend’s health issues at close quarters almost a decade earlier. When the mammoth musical Guide was being planned — Dada had a heart attack. Doggedly, resisting pressures to sign someone else, Dev waited for months for Dada before planning his shoot — and was rewarded by what remains one of the composer’s top five scores!

Not only did Guide have the unique Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai (Lata-Kishore) that began with its antara (inner verse) instead of this mukhda, but the Rafi classic, Din dhal jaaye was reworked painstakingly by him as Dev was not happy with its initial tune.

S D Burman was always a fanatic when it came to perfection. Dev once narrated to this writer that he refused to record “Honthon mein aisi baat” (to be filmed in Sikkim) until an authentic folk drum needed for the song did not reach Mumbai. The track was recorded after the unit left for shooting Jewel Thief and sent there!

The Dev-S D combo was thus completely unpredictable, the only expected factor being consistent quality. Every Dev score had tremendous intrinsic variety along with the excellence. And let us note the remarkable fact that every song of this combination, whether lip-synched by Dev or not, seemed a product of a decade next to the one in which it was created—check Jeevan ke safar mein rahi (Munimji /Kishore Kumar/1955), Aankhon mein kya ji (Paying Guest/ Kishore-Asha/1958), Hai apna dil to awara (Jaal / Hemant Kumar/1958), Khoya khoya chand (Kala Bazar/ Mohammed Rafi/1960), Dil ka bhanwar (Tere Ghar Ke Saamne/ Mohammed Rafi/1963), Gaata rahe mera dil (Guide / Kishore-Lata / 1965) or Raat akeli hai (Jewel Thief/Asha Bhosle/1967).

Dada knew exactly when to cast Rafi or Kishore as Dev’s voice, though his predilection for Hemant Kumar (who sang 16 of his songs for Dev Anand) ended after the 1962 Baat Ek Raat Ki for unknown reasons. Thus, if it was Kishore for all and Rafi for just one song (Jewel Thief, Gambler), it was the reverse in Guide. It was Rafi alone in many films, like Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, and Kishore solo in films like Prem Pujari.

The idea, always, to create magic that lasted forever, for and with each other.