RD Burman passed away on 4th January 1994. That year saw the release of 1942 A Love Story, a score that was to get him one of his three Filmfare awards for Best Music Director. He got nominated 17 times for the award that eluded him. While we mostly associate a more western sound with RD, I think of him as a composer who simplified the most complex Hindustani classical music and made it accessible to the masses. That is the true yardstick of expertise.
Manna Dey began his career when he sang a duet with Suraiya in the film Tamanna in 1942. A year later he followed with his first solo “Gayi tu gayi Seeta sati” from the film Ram Rajya. He came to Bombay not to be a singer but to be a composer, inspired by his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey. Manna Dey assisted Anil Biswas and Khem Chandra Prakash before deciding to abandon his dream of composing music.
