Commemorative stamp on S.D. Burman soon

The central government will soon bring out a commemorative postage stamp on Sachin Dev Burman, the legendary music maestro and scion of the royal family of Tripura.

"The union ministry of communications and IT has agreed to our proposal to issue a commemorative stamp on Sachin Dev Burman's birth centenary year," said Tripura Information Minister Anil Sarkar late Sunday.

Born in Chortha village, 85 km south of Dhaka (now in Bangladesh) on Oct 1, 1906, Burman was a noted Bollywood music composer and an all-time great Bengali singer and composer. His son Rahul Dev Burman also made it big in Bollywood as a music director.

S.D. Burman was born in the royal family of Tripura and began his training in classical music under his father, Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman.

"The death of his father in 1930 upset him. He left the Tripura palace and went to Kolkata and took shelter in a small rented accommodation and thus began his struggle for existence," the minister said.

"It still remains a mystery as to why the great singer turned his back on Tripura despite being a scion of the royal family," said Pannalal Roy, an author and researcher.

"He did not respond properly when anybody from the royal family went to Mumbai to meet him," Roy wrote in a recently published book on Burman - "Sachin Karta"

He also revealed some interesting anecdotes - how the legendary singer once made a futile bid to become a cotton trader and how HMV refused to record his first song - in his book released by Hindustan Company.

"When he was a student of Class 9, Burman was detained by some railway personnel for travelling in a train without a ticket in the then east Pakistan. He was later released after making the railway officials spellbound with his songs," a chapter in the book read.