S.D. Burman: The Prince Musician Paperback – 31 October 2022

Just like Karta's melody, the book slowly draws you in, engulfs your senses and then takes you on an unforgettable musical journey to cherish for ever. The writing style, attention to details, the numerous anecdotes - everything adds to the magic and also gives a glimpse of the intense research that the authors would have put in for this epic. Can't wait for more gems from this jodi.

Keeping up their enterprise with their first attempt on the biography of R D Burman, the authors have once again come out with flying colors with the biography of RD's celebrated father. With painstaking details of his life and career, nuances of the compositions, interviews of people who knew him best-- this book is a glorious collection for them who loved SD and his music.

Someonce once called Aniruddha Bhattachacharjee and Balaji Vittal the Salim-Javed of Bollywood music biographers. Their earlier book on R.D. Burman was a massive hit, earning them the National Award for Best Book on Cinema. Pancham fans swear by the book, and it has become a primer for fans to refer back to to settle disputes. But having read this S.D. Burman biography, one must say they have outdone themselves. As a reader, I enjoyed this one a wee bit more than its predecessor - despite being a fanatical Pancham admirer myself. Sachin Dev Burman's life has been covered by many biographers, right from Sathya Saran to H.Q. Chowdhury to Khagesh Dev Burman, and even the Tripura government came up with a book in Bengali. Burman himself penned down his memoir, the precious 'Shorgomer Nikhad'. So, what could these two write that won't be an echo of what has already been chronicled? The depth of their research is breathtaking - the authors spoke to Burman's collaborators, family members, proteges and a plethora of music experts. And looking at dates the interviews have been conducted, one knows that this book has been years in the making. This book is their magnum opus and probably its greatest strength is their deep and expansive understanding of music. Which is also a minor grouse I have as a lay reader. Sometimes the references to notes and scales while talking about specific songs can be jarring to readers like me, whose love of music is comparatively superficial.

S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician is meticulously researched, well structured and beautifully written. Rich in musical details and full of anecdotes from the composer's personal life, the book is extremely informative, engrossing and enjoyable. It is a real treasure for music and book lovers alike.

This book is quite special. For the first time I have found a book that takes us film by film on a chronological journey citing details about how the music for each of them was created. However I won't be recommending this book to my friends and acquaintances because of one reason and that is the strong bias of the authors. A great book should be largely free of bias. In this book the authors have subtly and at times even not so subtly tried to praise some Bengali artistes at the expense of some non-Bengali artistes. What was specially galling for me was the disrespect shown to Rafi saab. The writers have in three or more songs said that Rafi's singing was inferior to that of some other singer but not once have they mentioned any limitation in Kishore Da's singing. They go on to say that Guide is the greatest music album of all time which I completely agree with. They also say that Din Dhal Jaaye and Tere Mere Sapne are listed among the top ten or twenty Hindi film songs of all time. However they say nothing about the singing in these two songs. So many others in their place would have said something on the lines of the singing in these songs having forever set a benchmark for playback singing in Hindi cinema and that no one could have sung them to the nth degree of perfection the way Rafi saab did. The redeeming factor for me was the respect they have shown towards my favorite lyricist of all time Shailendra ji.

Anirudha Bhattacharje and Balaji Vittal have done it again. With a plethora of information available in the net, this is an age of scrutinization. The authors fly high on that count. They have ensured that internet would be richer henceforth with regards to SD Burman. Superbly structured and rich in musical information, the book encompasses the world around SD Burman ranging from the Bengal Famine to the Royals of Tripura. From the history of Filmfare to his personal relationship, SD has never been dealt better. Two issues however. The authors needed to append a glossary incorporating the technical terms for the uninitiated and most importantly the authors have ensured no body would attempt another book on the subject Not fair guys !!

A very research oriented, infirmative and objective book on SD. It contains a plethora of information about SD's Bollywood career and they are not based on gossips or myths. The authors have put painstaking effort in gathering information from various authetic sources and that makes this book a trustworthy read. SD as musician had his stength and limitations as well which has so beautifully come up through this book. I would love to get a deeper insight about RD's presence in SD's music room which totally transformed SD's music inthe 60s and helped him to remain relevant till his death.