Down melody lane: After Rafi Road, Khar to get S D Burman Chowk on Sunday

MUMBAI: A week after 16th Road in Khar was named after singer Mohammed Rafi, a chowk in the suburb will be named after the iconic music composer Sachin Dev Burman.

On January 1, the Kumar Sachin Dev Burman Chowk will be unveiled at the junction of Khar Pali Road (PD Hinduja Marg) and 14th Road in Khar (W). The music maestro’s bungalow was located a few blocks away at Linking Road—at the same spot where Raheja’s Construction House B stands.

Bandra too is waiting to honour legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy. On December 5, TOI had reported that the lane adjacent to Roy’s bungalow in Mount Mary, Bandra, will be named after him. The director’s family will unveil a plaque on January 8 to coincide with his 51st death anniversary.

The interesting facet of these renamings is that fans have taken active steps to initiate the process and local corporators and MLAs have willingly followed their lead.

Just as Mohammed Rafi Foundation was responsible for refurbishing the singer’s memorial and securing the road renaming on his 92th birth anniversary, the Sachin Dev Burman Fan Club too has achieved the feat. Moti Lalwani, a retired employee of L&T, runs this club which has 7,000 members online. “We secured a letter of request from Burman Dada’s relatives in Agartala. Not many people know that he hailed from a royal family of Tripura. Once we secured their approval, we approached the local authorities,” Lalwani said.

The proposal was passed within a year. PR professional Nirmal Phophalia, also a member of the fan club, set the ball rolling and contacted Hemang Jangla, his Rotary Club co-member. Jangla approached deputy mayor Alka Kerkar who, in turn, persuaded BJP MLA Ashish Shelar and MP Poonam Mahajan to agree to the proposal. They will all be present at Sunday’s inauguration.

Locals are happy to witness this revival of the golden era of cinema. They say it is a refreshing change from naming public places after obscure personalities “who are honoured simply because they are related to some politician”. Residents of Yari Road in Andheri had expressed displeasure when a road was named after the doctor father of an actress last year.
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