For the Bengali, the Durga Puja is cause for wild
festivities and extravagant indulgences, a time of the year which could compare with the
Diwali of the Non-Bengalis.
Tradition has it that Artistes and Musicians release their albums &
singles just before the Pujas, to add to the gaiety of the festival and also to cash in,
no pun intended, on the extravagance of the splurging Bengalis.
When Rahul Dev Burman made an appearance on the scene, the music world
was already saturated for the discerning listener. Salil Chowdhury, Hemanta Mukherjee,
Shyamal Mitra and many others ruled the Bengali heart.
Slowly and steadily, Rahul Dev Burman made his presence felt - first with
Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar (and Amit Kumar) and then with Asha Bhonsle. His
partnership with Asha Bhonsle rivaled the legendary Salil Chowdhury-Lata Mangeshkar
partnership, and between the four of them, produced much of the best music of modern
Bengal.
An out-of-work (by his standards) and disillusioned Rahul Dev Burman
returned to the Bangla Puja scene after a gap of almost three years with two albums with
Usha Uthup and Indrani Sen in 1993. They were to be his last.
