Jab Pancham (R D Burman) Kaa Suraj Doob Rahaa Thaa

It was a time when Pancham who had touched the sky of success was facing a tough time because of the competition and rivalry between the composers at the time - Ali Peter John

He used to record two songs every day and now he was without any work for months. He drowned his frustration in drinks which had a very bad impact on his health and he confined himself to his room.

It was at this time that Ramesh Khosla, a NRI from New York came to India to fulfill his dream of making a Hindi film which he wanted to make a long time ago. He wanted to launch his sons Raghu Khosla as an actor and Robin Khosla as a director .

It was his boyhood dream to make a film with Pancham as the music director. It was very easy to fulfill his dream as Pancham was waiting for a chance to regain his position as a leading composer.

The Khosla's started their film with all the songs recorded with all of them composed by Pancham. But their film could not make any difference to Pancham's sagging morale.

But the music of the film was heard by Vidhu Vinod Chopra who was a die heard fan of Pancham.

And without worrying about the consequences , Vidhu asked Pancham to take charge of the music of his ambitious film"1942 A Love Story"

Pancham worked on the music of the film like a mad man who had found the opportunity to show his calibre and prove that a Pancham couldn't be written off just like that. The music of the film created a sensation even before the film could be released.

Vidhu wanted to celebrate the comeback of Pancham in a big way and had a grand party at the Film City.

The kind of praise Pancham received from one and all made him believe that a new life was to begin for him with the success of his music in Vidhu's film.

He was down with jaundice and was not supposed to drink. But the joy and hope of being gone again as a composer couldn't keep him away from having a few stiff pegs of Scotch and he went home at 3 in the morning and went to sleep in the hope of rising to a new wave of success.

But , alas, that was the last party and the last night of his life . He had passed away before the dawn could break .

And like Dev Anand was the first to see the dead body of Pancham's father , S D Burman, he was also the first to see Pancham dead (incidentally, Dev Sahab was also the first to see his friend Guru Dutt as a dead man).

Pancham Toh Chale Gaye, Lekin Unkaa Har Sur Aur Taal Aaj Bhi Zindaa Hain Aur Qayamat Tak Zindaa Rahenge.