Documentary film-maker Brahmanand Singh’s 113-minute tribute to the RD Burman titled Pancham Unmixed (the late composer was fondly called Pancham) is having its world premiere at Arc Light Hollywood, on April 26.

This would be part of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) 2008. Brahmanand said, “Though it’s a docu-feature, they have slotted it as a mainstream film. They have invited me to attend the premiere, which will be followed by a post-screening discussion and a RDB music session at the venue. In fact, Pete Gavankar, who produced Panchamda’s Latin American crossover musical venture titled Pantera, is flying down to Los Angeles to attend the premiere.”

Brahmanand added, “Asha Bhosle (singer and RD Burman’s wife), also in the US during that week is unlikely to make it as she has prior commitments. We are also planning to invite Madhuri Dixit for the premiere as she is a huge Panchamda fan,” disclosed the director.

The film has been subtitled in English to connect with the American audiences. Meanwhile, yesteryear actor Shammi Kapoor, who had released the Pantera album during the ’80s said, “Pancham was a futuristic composer-singer. Almost 25 years ago, he composed a fusion of Latino-Indian tunes. In those days, it was appreciated mainly in the Western countries.

Had it been released here now it would have surely created a huge impact.” Incidentally, Pancham had scored the music of the hit Shammi starrer Teesri Manzil.

The docu-feature has admirers including Gulzar, Asha Bhosle, Shammi Kapoor, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hari Chaurasia, Javed Akhtar and Vishal Bhardwaj sharing their sentiments.

“We have plans to have theatrical screenings of the biopic in Mumbai, Pune and other metros.,” says Brahmananda.