Sachin Dev Burman

Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. He was a member of the Tripura royal family. He started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one of the most successful and influential Indian film music composers. Burman composed the soundtracks for over 100 movies, including Bengali films and Hindi. Apart from being a versatile composer, he also sang songs in folk style of East Bengal and light semi-classical. His son, R. D. Burman, was also a celebrated music composer for Bollywood films. Burman's compositions were sung by the leading singers of the era, including Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Asha Bhosle, Shamshad Begum, Mukesh and Talat Mahmood. As a playback singer, Burman sang 14 Hindi and 13 Bengali film songs. Background S. D. Burman was born on 1 October 1906, in Tipperah Palace, Comilla, Eastern Bengal and Assam (in present-day Bangladesh) to Rajkumari Nirmala Devi, the royal princess of Manipur and Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman of Tripura, son of Ishan Chandra Manikya, the Maharaja of Tripura. Sachin was the youngest of the five sons of his parents, who had nine children in all. His mother died when he was just two years of age. Education S. D. Burman's first school was at Kumar Boarding in Agartala, Tripura. It was a boarding school for sons of the royalty and the very rich. Burman's father, Raja Nabadweepchandra Deb Burman noticed the teachers were more busy with pampering the sons of the nobility than educating them. Burman's father took him from Kumar Boarding and admitted him at Yusuf School in Comilla, before he was admitted in Class V in Comilla Zilla School. He completed his Matriculation in 1920 at the age of 14. He then got admitted at Victoria College, Comilla, which is presently Comilla Victoria Government College from where he passed his IA in 1922 and then BA in 1924.