1950s
Disillusioned with the materialism of Mumbai, S D Burman left the Ashok Kumar starrer Mashaal (1950) incomplete and decided to board the first train back to Calcutta. Fortunately, he was dissuaded from doing so.
In 1950s, S D Burman teamed up with Dev Anand's Nav Ketan Productions to create musical hits like Taxi Driver, Nau do Gyarah (1957) and Kala Paani(1958). In addition, he gave music for Munimji (1955) and Paying Guest (1957). The songs sung by Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar became popular. Burman da composed the music for Dev Anand's production company Navketan's first film Afsar (1950). With the success of their second film, Baazi (1951) he made it to the top and a long association with Navketan and Dev Anand was on its way. "Baazi"'s jazzy musical score revealed a new facet of singer Geeta Dutt, who was mainly known for melancholy songs and bhajans. While every song in the film was a hit, one stood out for special appeal - "Tadbir se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer", a ghazal that was occidentalized into a seductive song.The 'jaal' song 'Yeh raat Yeh chandni' by Hemant Kumar is an all time great classic.
He also wrote music for the Guru Dutt classics - Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). The soundtrack of Devdas (1955) was also composed by him. House No. 44 (1955), Funtoosh (1956), and Solva Saal (1958) were other S D Burman hits. In 1959 came Sujata, a masterpiece by Bimal Roy, and S D created magic again with "Jalte hai jiske liye" by Talat Mamood. When Guru Dutt made comparatively light-weight films like Baazi and Jaal (1952), Burmanda reflected their mood with compositions like Suno Gajar Kya Gaye or De Bhi Chuke Hum and when Guru Dutt made his somber masterpieces - Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz ke Phool (1959), he was right on target with Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind and Waqt ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam. In 2004, the soundtrack for Pyaasa was chosen as one of "The Best Music in Film" by Sight & Sound, the British Film Institute magazine.
In 1957, S D Burman fell out with Lata Mangeshkar and adopted her younger sister Asha Bhosle as his lead female singer. The team of S D Burman, Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri became popular for their duet songs. Thus, he was responsible along with O.P. Nayyar for shaping Asha Bhosle as a singer of repute, who became his daughter-in-law after she married Rahul Dev Burman.
In 1958, S D Burman gave music for Kishore Kumar's house production Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, the same year he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Music direction of Lajwanti and remains the only music director to have won the prestigious award.
Read more about this topic: Sachin Dev Burman, Biography