Here's A List Of 5 BEST Rishi Kapoor And RD Burman Songs That You Must Listen To On Pancham Da's Birth Anniversary

As many already know, the music of RD Burman has played a huge hand in shaping Rishi Kapoor's career. Having said that, here are 5 soundtracks of the duo that you shouldn't miss.

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Here's A List Of 5 BEST Rishi Kapoor And RD Burman Songs That You Must Listen To On Pancham Da's Birth Anniversary
Whom  was  R D Burman more  musically inclined towards, Rajesh Khanna or Rishi Kapoor? Hard to say. RD gave music in 16 of  Rishi’s films. The music of Burman played a huge hand in shaping Rishi’s career. Rishi once spoke to me about his close association with RD.  He said, “R.D. Burman was like family to me. He used to come home and I used to visit him. Ashaji used to cook for us. Like me he was very fond of eating and drinking. At the start of my career RD did music in my Zehreela Insaan and Khel Khel Mein. These had evergreen songs like O hanseeni and Khullam khulla pyar. I had become a big star after Bobby. I wanted to work with Pancham.'

He added,  'I vibed with him much better than with Laxmi-Pyare who did Bobby. Pancham was way ahead of his times. Picture chale na chale RD's music was damn good. His music suited my age and image. Pancham loved watching me shoot his songs. He told all my directors, 'Chintu perform kar rahaa hai mera gaana? I want to see him do it.' I'd get nervous. On the sets of Nasir Husain's films Hum Kissise Kam Nahin and Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai he'd have lunch with Nasir saab and then watch me dance. It was a great compliment.' 

For the song Dil dena khel hai dildar ka zamane ko dikhana hai pancham came on the sets  twice because the choreographer Suresh Bhatt was also Pancham's buddy. He used to shout, 'Buck up, buck up'. We were all a team."  "Pancham (RD Burman) and I were great buddies. Just before he died, this was the time when Naddem Shravan had taken over, he called me and said, 'I'm not short of cash. But I desperately need work'. I explained to him that producers came to me with pre-decided music directors. After Deewana and Bol Radha Bol I had succeeded with Nadeem Shravan and Anand Milind. These two became music directors in all my films," says an emotional Rishi Kapoor.


"I remember I was working with Raj Santoshi in Damini which had music by Nadeem Shravan while Santoshi's Ghaatak had music by RD. I remember how unhappy RD was about this. You know on Pancham's birthday I got thinking about all the amazing work that we did together. A die-hard Pancham fan named Brahmanand was making a documentary on him. He spoke to all the people who've worked closely with Pancham, like Gulzar Saab and me."  " I met this ardent fan of RD from Kalikat. And he happens to be a die-hard fan of the Rishi Kapoor-RD pair. He pointed out that I had done seventeen films with music by R.D. That fan has sent me all the songs from those 17 films on MP3. Now I've all the music composed for me by R.D. Burman on MP3. Imagine being given such an invaluable gift on Pancham's birthday! These are rare songs for me by Pancham from my forgotten films like Raja, Naya Daur, Aan Aur Shaan, Gunehgaar which I had almost forgotten.'

'Though my first film Bobby had music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal my maximum hit songs were by Pancham. There's one thing that you must note about RD's music . All of his youthful music was for Rishi Kapoor. The other heroes like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan were older. But for Rishi Kapoor, Pancham could really unplug the grooviest sounds. Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman to paida nahin huey . And there were filmmakers like Raveena's dad Ravi Tandon, Ramesh Behl and Ramesh Sippy who made the kind of films where Rishi Kapoor and R.D. Burman fitted in."  


Rishi pauses in remembrance. "In his prime Pancham gave all his youthful music to Rishi Kapoor. In Naya Daur he used empty bottles to create a special effect in the song Paani ke badle peekar sharaab sung by Kishore Kumar and Danny Denzongpa."

Here are the 5 best RD-RK  soundtracks:

1. Khel  Khel Mein(1974): For a  star who kicked off his career on  the  high notes of Laxmikant-Pyarelal in Bobby it is  astonishing how Rishi Kapoor(RK)  quickly gravitated  towards  RD . Khel Khel Mein was  their second collaboration after  the failed Zehreela Insaan(which contained sparkling gems  like O Hanseeni and that underrated  Kishore-Asha duet Mere dil se yeh nain). In Khel Khel Mein  every song  rocked. Kishore and Asha became the voices of Rishi and Neetu as they sang their way  into our hearts with  Khullam  khulla pyar, Ek main aur ek  tu and  my favourite  Aye lo pyar ke din aaye. Shailendra Singh who was RK's ghostvoice in Bobby sang the zingy Humne tumko dekha whole  RD-Asha rounded off this  outstanding album with the dreamy Sapna mera toot gaye. Wow!



2. Hum  Kisise Kam Nahin(1997): Okay , known trivia .This chartbusting soundtrack’s biggest hit Bachna  ae haseeno is the title of Rishi’s son Ranbir’s  film.Hum Kisi is a kissable contoured album from the word go. From the Abba –inspired  Aa dil kya  to  the original and thoughtful Chand mera  dil,to the  rumbustious  title track, this album showed why  the  RD-RK team had so much steam.



3. Yeh  Vada Raha(1982):  Though the film flopped  the  Kishore-Asha duets are  hummed to this day, from  the  haunting Tu tu hai wohi to the rhythmic Ishq meri bandagi hai  to the  underrated  Maine tujhe kuch kaha ttha  and  Jeene ko to jeete hain sabhi. Every song was laden  in  luminosity.Interestingly RD  seemed more inclined to use Asha Bhosle’s  voice in  Rishi starrers than her  more illustrious sister’s.To rip a lyric from a Kishore’s  solo in this album Aisa kabhi hua nahin jo hua khoob hua. Touche!

4. Bade Dil Wala(1983):   A  rare  RK-RD  album where Lata Mangeshkar’s voice  ruled .we simply drooled.Songs like Jeevan ke din, Aaj kahin mat jaa, Kaho kaise rasta  bool pade and  Tujh mein  kya hai….An absolute  gem of a soundtrack which  didn’t get  its  its dues. The story of RD and RK’s lives.

5. Zamane  Ko  Dikhana Hai(1981):  A followup to the musical extravaganza  Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin ,this soundtrack  too  dazzled with a  variety  of songs from the catchy Pucha na yaar kya hua to the folksy  Hoga tumse pyara kaun  to the  intense Dil lena khel hai dildar ka….Rishi lip-synced in this  film in three different voices Mohd Rafi, Shailendra Singh  and  R D Burman with equal perfection. He could sing on screen as though the  words belonged to him. He  felt the music. And the music felt  for him.





Image Source: Instagram/rdburmanofficial, youtube/broadcastimaging/yrf/saregamamusic/songs4u/shivamahajan