On February 15, it will be two years since Bappi Lahiri, the maverick composer and singer, left us. Despite all the criticism from certain quarters, the indisputable fact remains that the maverick was a genius. Filmmakers galore, from a small fry like Bhisham Kohli to Pehlaj Nihalani, B. Subhash, Bapu and Tahir Husain all depended on him for their music.
Here are some rare or lesser-known facts about this unique talent.
He was born Alokesh Lahiri on November 27, 1952 in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, to classical musicians Aparesh and Bansari Lahiri.
As a three year-old moppet, he took to playing the tabla as if to the manor born. Thus, contrary to what his image might lead to assume, his training was completely in Indian classical music, though his open mind and predilection for rhythm took him big-time into all forms of contemporary Western music.
Not many know that the first song he ever recorded was ‘Hazaar bachar pore pore’ a Bengali song based on Rabindra Sangeet, with Hindustan Records in Kolkata. This song has since achieved cult status in Bangladesh.
Bappi got a film break with the Bengali film, Daadu (1969) as one of its four composers. His first film song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar, who was close to his father—she had blessed him, he said, when he was just four years old and had sat on her lap when she visited the Lahiri home.
Bappi’s Hindi innings was to begin with a film called Hari Hari Chhaya, for which he had recorded a beautiful song by Mohammed Rafi. But his first release was Nanha Shikari (1973), produced by his relative S. Mukerji’s son Shomu Mukerji (Kajol’s late father).
The major break was Tahir Husain’s Zakhmee in 1975. For this film, Bappi also sang ‘Nothing is impossible’ with Mohammed Rafi and his maternal uncle, Kishore Kumar. Nervous as a singer with the two giants, he was encouraged by Rafi who told him that one day, other singers would be also tense when singing with “the Bappi Lahiri”. The composer never forgot this and kept a special place for Rafi in his music.
His music first got widespread acclaim with Chalte Chalte in 1976. Few know that this was a blessing from destiny as Laxmikant-Pyarelal had been signed for it and had left the film for unknown reasons!
In the 1990s, I came to know of two secret admirers of Bappi-da: one was O.P. Nayyar, who told me that he loved his “peppy” music, and the other was Javed Akhtar, who pointed out that a Bappi Lahiri composition was never dull.
Bappi’s music was considered similar to R.D. Burman’s, but the music composer always claimed to be inspired by S.D. Burman and Madan Mohan. His beautiful composition, ‘Nanha sa panchhi re tu’ (Toote Khilone) sung by Kishore, was remarkably like the hauntingly composed and orchestrated songs of Dada Burman.
In 1979, Bappi scored music for Mahesh Bhatt’s fourth film, Lahu Ke Do Rang. The musical director told me in 2012, “This was the first time that my film had good music!”
The 1980s was Bappi’s most fruitful phase in terms of success. Jeetendra, with whom he rapidly did over 15 films, told me, “In the South, producers made movies very fast, and the enthusiastic Bappi would come down there with his harmonium and compose and record songs one after the other!” From Himmatwala onwards, his music was a rage oftener than not!
In the 1980s, he visited distributor Pehlaj Nihalani, who had admired his music in the 1979 Mithun Chakraborty flop, Tere Pyar Mein, at seven in the morning because he had come to know that he was launching a multi-star movie, Haathkadi. He wanted to do the film, he said. After this he did a total of 14 films for Pehlaj in the next 12 years!
Pehlaj always insisted on Indian melodies from him and considered Bappi’s voice unsuitable for heroes.
The third musical entity that Bappi was heavily inspired by was Kalyanji-Anandji. It was thus a dream when their regular filmmaker, Prakash Mehra, signed him for Namak Halaal. A smart composer, he modelled his songs in the K-A mould for all their movies together, beginning with ‘Pag ghunghroo’ from Namak Halaal.
By the same token, Kumar Sanu went vocally nearest to Kishore in the songs of Prakash Mehra’s Zindagi Ek Juaa, especially the folksy, ‘Yoon ghoor ghoor ghoor ke nihaara na karo’.
And I wonder if it was mere coincidence that Bappi (who laid a great premium on good lyrics) made Indeevar and Anjaan, K-A’s favourite lyricists, as his main collaborators and called them “My left hand and my right hand!”
The tables were partly turned when Bappi employed Kishore Kumar’s voice for the first time on Shammi Kapoor in Armaan, followed by Kalyanji-Anandji doing so in Vidhaata in the following year. This was repeated with another actor for whom Kishore had never sung earlier—Raaj Kumar in Muqaddar Ka Faisla. K-A followed with Mohabbat Ke Dushmun a year later!
Bappi once told me that his guru after his father was Kishore Kumar, who composed music, sang, acted and even made films. “So I try and emulate him!” said the man who did the same!
Another gem of a quote was “My idol is Elvis Presley, and I consider him like my mentor. I modelled my ornaments and glares on him!”
And the first-ever digitally-recorded song for Hindi films was ‘Tama tama loge’ in Thanedaar, which he recorded 35 years ago! Bappi’s album Habiba in English also was the first Asian album that made it to the Billboard charts in the same year.
Bappi is generally known for his international work and collaborations. The list of associations includes Samantha Fox, Apache Indian, Boy George, Jida, Diana Ross. Snoop Dogg, Supreme Sisters, M.C. Hammer and others.
But he was also a jury member for the Grammy awards in 2012.
The final vindication of what Bappi is came when his musician was once in Russia and his cabbie asked him, “You come from ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ country?” That was one of the cult numbers Bappi had composed for Disco Dancer (1982), a film that remains a rage there.
Also Read: Bappi Lahiri Birth Anniversary: Lalit Pandit recalls attending Bappida’s music sessions as a kid
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