Pancham Da’s Music in this iPhone X Ad Will Give You Goosebumps

The new iPhone ad’s track borrows from RD Burman’s music from ‘The Burning Train’.

The legendary music maverick, R.D.Burman.

(Image Courtesy: Facebook)

When music producer Pete Cannon shared the video of the advert for the latest model of the iPhone series on social media, the soundtrack struck some Bollywood buffs as familiar. It was the legendary Indian music maverick RD Burman’s unmistakable trumpet tune from his composition - Meri Nazar Hai Tujh Pe from the 1980 film, The Burning Train, a multi-starrer featuring Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Vinod Mehra, Parveen Babi, Hema Malini, Neetu Singh and Danny Denzongpa.

The similarities in the tunes, sans the credit raised a few eyebrows.

Cannon later clarified that he had secured the obligatory permissions and that ‘everyone is on board’. He invoked the notion of sampling - the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece.

Burman, The Man Behind the Original Music

Inspired by jazz legend Louis Armstrong, Rahul Dev Burman was famed for the peculiar grunt he weaved into his vocals. He transformed Hindi film music with his experimental arrangements. Burman could create music out of anything - from a bunch of coins or by simply tapping parts of the body. Fondly known as Pancham Da, he had a flair for using odd instruments to create distinctive and intriguing music. It’s little wonder then that even today, his music flawlessly complements the edgy visuals of the iPhone ad.

World music informed his work. Beyond film music, his rather obscure album Pantera blended Latin American music with elements of rock, jazz, and funk.

The original song, Meri Nazar Hai Tujhpe was sung by the vivacious Asha Bhosle with the lyrics penned by Sahir Ludhianvi.

The Ravi Chopra directorial, The Burning Train with its ensemble cast may not have done well at the box office but the song’s resonance is clearly enduring.

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