Out of Print Author Series: Sathya Saran on Jagjit Singh

Sathya Saran has done it again!

Her abiding love of music and her phenomenal musical memory are well known. Now, she has applied that knowledge to create one more volume that pays tribute to the musical genius of one of our greats and goes towards recording the musical history of our times.

The book traces the life and creative genius of the ghazal king. Forty rare photographs from the family album add to the narrative of a life that inspires the reader. Song lyrics in between chapters ensure that the ghazal lovers among readers start humming almost instantly. An unusual book format that delights the eye as much as the story if its subject touches the heart.

Out of Print Author Series: Sathya Saran

Congratulations to Out of Print author, Sathya Saran whose new book is soon out. 

Two of Sathya's stories, The Anklet and The Lost Note have appeared in Out of Print.  

Clearly music is a theme that resonates with Sathya's sensibilities. The Lost Note is story that brings alive the particular and intimate dynamic of orchestral musicians as the flautist awaits his final cue. The imagery has the quality of a dream filled with a yearning for that elusive lost note.


Sathya's new book, Sun Mere Bandhu Re is a tribute to giant of Hindi film music, S D Burman. The title is taken from a song that he himself sang for the film Sujata.

We asked Sathya to tell us a little bit about what inspired The Lost Note, and about what draws her to the world of music. The answer only deepens the connection between the story and the novel

Sathya: The Lost Note was a story inspired by an evening dedicated to Bimal Roy. Among the songs and performances was a flute recital by Manohari Singh, who was a multi instrument player, and later arranger of music for many music directors. He was one of the few of his time, still alive and able to perform. His recital was so beautiful that the story took shape in my mind soon after.

Unfortunately, Manohari Dada is no more. But he plays a major role in the book, Sun Mere Bandhu Re: The Musical Journey of S D Burman. My own love of Hindi music is as old as I can remember, and even today the songs of the sixties and seventies and even older decades are fresh in memory, and I can sing them all word perfect, and mostly know who wrote, composed and sang them for which film! The music related biographies stem from this interest.

The blurb of Sun Mere Bandhu Re:
S D Burman was singer, musician, composer and teacher all at once-a trailblazer in the truest sense of the term. He was a prince who lived a commoners life, a singer who created tunes instead, a classically trained musician who composed for the lay listener. His incredible career in Hindi cinema spanned three decades-through all the years of which his spirit was as fresh and young as when he started. His compositions were filmed on succeeding generations of stars to unflaggingly wonderful effect.

This chronicle of the life of S. D. Burman tells his story through a kaleidoscope of montages from the inner and outer worlds he inhabited. Fragmented memoirs of his days in the sylvan surroundings of Comilla, interviews, press clippings and archival material piece together the story of the man who created some of Hindi cinemas most enduring songs. Facts and records are knitted into a multidimensional narrative that carries the reader into the little-known world of a man whose contradictions made him unique and gave him a place to call his own in music.

We wish her every success with the book!

Image of an Anklet

The exquisite ornament that inspired Sathya Saran's story, The Anklet, in the new issue of Out of Print!

Photo credit: Shiv Saran