I never met my paternal grandfather. He passed away when I was barely one and a half years old. Growing up I always heard from elders in the family about the physical resemblance between my grandfather and a certain film music composer. That was my first brush with the name Sachin Dev Burman and it piqued my interest as to who my grandfather was compared to. I had no idea who he was. My grandfather grew up in Barisal around the same time SD grew up in Comilla.
Another memory is quite vivid. During my late teens, I once heard my elder paternal uncle (Jethu), a classical singer of repute in my hometown, comment that current generation like mine would probably not understand what a genius SD Burman was! So started my interest in the life and times of Dada Burman.
Although there are biographies by other authors but the one authored by a fellow Dev Burman appealed more and how correct it turned out to be! Khagesh Dev Burman has done a delightful job with this book. Only someone from the Tripura Royal Family could have given the inside stories and anecdotes and how those left an indelible mark on the personality of SD.
The author diligently covers the life of SD in a chronological manner from his childhood at Comilla and Agartala, his years at Kolkata in the 1930s and 40s and his journey in Hindi cinema from 1944 till his demise in 1975.
During the course of the book, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that quite a number of Lata and Kishore songs I have admired over the years are SD gems. The anecdotes that the author shares about his various hit compositions are insightful. The author learnt from his grandmother about how SD as a young boy would stand neck deep in a pond to perfect the "sur". These are the sort of information which are hard to come by in books by other authors. This book is about the musical journey of SD and shows it remarkably well. But one aspect the author could have devoted more pages to is the family history. He shares the family tree of SD at the beginning of the book but nothing much is mentioned about his elder brothers, sisters and mother. He did write quite a bit about SD and his father Nawadwip Chandra.
In the Preface the author mentions about his desire to see the book become a collector's item and it certainly has. Khagesh Dev Burman deserves kudos for this wonderful book.