R.D. Burman

• Genre: Bollywood

About

Though he trained under Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and later worked with his father, the film composer S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman was a product of the swinging '60s and his music reflected it. He'd been composing for films since the late 1950s, but it was 1966's Teesri Manzil soundtrack that launched his signature hip, jazzy style. The soundtracks to films including Caravan, Hare Ram Hare Krishna and Padosan are classics of the genre, and his dominance as a composer lasted well into the 1980s. Burman had also been known to sing on occasion, loaning his gruff bass to a number of film soundtracks including Mehbooba. Despite a few late-breaking hits (Ijaazat and 1942 - A Love Story), Burman's fortunes were declining as a new generation of composers came up behind him. He died of a heart attack in 1994.

- Sarah Bardeen