Rahul Dev Burman was an Indian high-ranked music director and was commonly known as the “Music Scientist” and the “King of Bollywood Music.” he is considered to be one of the greatest music composers of the Indian film industry.

R.D. Burman was born on 27 June 1939, he had a huge passion for music from his childhood days and he took his training from his father who was also a musician. He started his career and composed the first song at the age of nine for the film Fantoosh (1956).

The success story continued with many superhit songs including ‘Sar Jo Tera Chakraye’ (Pyaasa), ‘Mere Sapno Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu’ (Aradhana), and ‘Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Mann Mera’ (Aradhana) and many more. He knew to play the Harmonica and many other instruments. He played the mouth organ for the song, ‘Hai Apna Dil To Aawara’ from the film, ‘Solva Saal.’

During the initial stage of his career, he tried his luck in acting also in the films like Bhoot Bungla (1965) and Pyar Ka Mausam (1969).

R.D. Burman was also known by his nickname, Puncham, and was popularly addressed by most of his industry friends by the same name.

His nickname was given to him by actor Ashok Kumar when he heard the newborn Rahul saying the word Pa repeatedly. It is said that RD Burman could cry in five different notes and therefore was named Puncham (meaning five in Bengali).

Some of the tunes are attributed to his father, the popular music director SD Burman, those tunes were actually composed by RD Burman. In 1969, during the shooting of the film, ‘Aradhana,’ his father S. D. Burman fell ill then Rahul Dev took over as an Associate Composer and completed the film’s music. The tune of the hit Bollywood song, ‘Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera’ from the same film was also composed by him.

In 1975, he lost his father. After the death of his father, he continued to compose a number of hit songs for the films including Sholay (1975), Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), Kasme Vaade (1978),  Gol Maal (1979), Khubsoorat (1980), and Kudrat (1981). The popular song, ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ from the film Sholay was composed and sung by R. D. Burman.

RD Burman gave break to various singers, in 1984, he introduced Kumar Sanu to the music industry with a new feature film, Yeh Desh. The same year, he gave a chance to Abhijeet Bhattacharya in the film, Anand Aur Anand; which later became a major break for Abhijeet’s career. He was the person who brought Hariharan into the limelight with the song, ‘Hai Mubarak Aaj Ka Din’ from Boxer (1984). In 1985, Mohammed Aziz made his singing debut in the film, ‘Shiva Ka Insaaf’ under R. D. Burman.

With numerous achievements, RD Burman was nominated 18 times at the Filmfare Awards in the Best Music Director category of which, he won thrice for Sanam Teri Kasam (1983), Masoom (1984), and 1942 A Love Story (1995).