Bappi Lahiri: A Life in Music

A woman in the audience screamed, a child whistled and a girl danced as Mithun Chakraborty crash-landed on stage in his shiny silver suit. In a jiffy, Vijay Benedict was heard singing “I Am A Disco Dancer,” a tune composed by Bappi Lahiri at the height of the disco craze in India. The year was 1982, and the film Disco Dancer became known for huge hits, including Parvati Khan’s “Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja” and “Auva Auva Koi Yahan Nache,” which Bappi sang with Usha Uthup.

Naturally, an entire nation of retro film music buffs remembered the disco era following the news that Bappi passed away on February 15th at the age of 69. His death was said to be caused by obstructive sleep apnea. One of the most successful composers in the early Eighties, he had a string of dance hits at a time when Hindi film music was going through a rough phase. And while his disco numbers were played at nightspots and on the radio, he also created some soulful tunes, most notably in the Amitabh Bachchan film Sharaabi, which had “Manzilein Apni Jagah” and “Inteha Ho Gayee.” His Bengali tunes had a following of their own, and his penchant for wearing gaudy gold jewelry made him a photographer’s delight.

Bappi also had a reputation for lifting western tunes. Uthup’s “Hari Om Hari” in the 1980 film Pyaara Dushman was taken from Eruption’s “One Way Ticket.” “Auva Auva” from Disco Dancer was a rehash of the Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star” and “Sochna Kya” from Ghayal (1990) was a Bollywood version of the “Lambada” super-hit by French-Brazilian band Kaoma.

Born on November 27th, 1952, in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, Bappi came from a musical family. His father Aparesh Lahiri and mother Bansuri sang Bengali and classical music. His relatives included Kishore Kumar, an uncle on the maternal side. Naturally, he took to music early, and began learning tabla from his parents when he was only three. Growing up, he also learnt piano, guitar and saxophone, besides different types of percussion instruments.

Bappi made his Hindi film debut with the 1973 film Nanha Shikari, where his song “Tu Hi Mera Chanda” with Mukesh and Sushma Shrestha was noticed. He also worked with Lata Mangeshkar in the Bengali film Daadu. After a few average Hindi films, he hit the big time with the song “Jalta Hai Jiya Mera,” sung by Kishore and Asha Bhosle in the 1975 movie Zakhmee. The following year, Chalte Chalte boosted his career with Kishore’s title track and the Shailendra Singh-Lata song “Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi.” The fun song “Bambai Se Aaya Mera Dost” from the 1977 film Aap Ki Khatir became a picnic and party anthem, and “Maana Ho Tum,” sung by Yesudas in Toote Khilone, was sung by men in love. Soon, Bappi started singing some of his songs, including four numbers in the Mithun Chakraborty film Suraksha.

In the late Seventies, Hindi film music was ruled by music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal, R.D. Burman, Kalyanji-Anandji and Ravindra Jain. Just before that, Khayyam had a hit in Kabhi Kabhie and Rajesh Roshan’s Julie was all over the radio. Both composers were in demand. In such a scenario, Bappi had to do something different to establish a distinct identity. Abroad, people were tuning into producers Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone, singer Donna Summer and the group Bee Gees. Closer home, Biddu had the disco hit “Aap Jaisa Koi,” sung by Pakistani star Nazia Hassan in Qurbani (1980). Clearly, electronic music and disco were in.

Bappi grabbed the opportunity, creating “Tu Mujhe Jaan Se Bhi Pyaara Hai” in Wardat with Uthup, “Hari Om Hari” in Pyaara Dushman, Uthup’s “Ramba Ho” and Sharon Prabhakar’s “Mere Jaise Haseena” in Armaan and Asha Bhosle’s “Disco Station” in Haathkadi. The huge success of Disco Dancer was followed by “Jhoom Jhoom Jhoom Baba” with Salma Agha in Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki, “Yaar Bina Chain Kahaan Re” with S. Janaki in Saaheb and Alisha Chinai’s “Zoobi Zoobi” in Dance Dance. Meanwhile, popular filmmaker Prakash Mehra also became fascinated with Bappi’s music. Their 1982 film Namak Halaal yielded the hits “Pag Ghungroo Bandh,” “Raat Baaki,” “Thodi Si Jo Pee Li,” “Aaj Rapat Jaaye” and “Jawan-e-Jaaneman.” Two years later, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for Sharaabi, with Kishore winning the Male Playback Singer for “Manzilein Apni Jagah.”

Bappi’s disco oriented compositions of the Eighties were also the inspiration for a new genre of music that was making its presence felt in India and around the world — Electronic Dance Music.  His experiments with synthesizers influenced the likes of composer-keyboardist Charanjit Singh, who in 1982 he recorded an entire album using a Roland Synthesiser to recreate the sounds of the flute, veena, santoor, Shehnai, etc.

Charanjit Singh’s Synthesising: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, is now considered to be the world’s first acid house record, which went on to inspire an entire generation of DJs around the world. It also led to musicians around the world discovering Bappi’s music. Two decades after Charanjit Singh, in 2007, British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A had a huge hit with “Jimmy,” a cover of the track “Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja” from Disco Dancer.

By 1990, a newer crop of music directors led by Anand-Milind, Raam-Laxman and Nadeem-Shravan had taken over. Bappi did fewer films that decade, though “Sochna Kya” in Ghayal, “Hum Ko Aajkal Hai Intezaar” in Sailaab and “Tamma Tamma Loge” in Thaanedaar (rehashed from the Mory Kante song “Tama”) kept him in the news. He even brought in British pop star Samantha Fox for a guest appearance in the 1995 film Rock Dancer.

In 2002, Bappi made news for another reason. American producer DJ Quik and executive producer Dr. Dre had used a sample of his song “Thoda Resham Lagta Hai” in their song “Addictive” by singer Truth Hurts. When contacted by this writer, Bappi initially didn’t recollect the original, which was used in the 1981 film Jyoti. But once the facts became known, Bappi served a legal notice to the producers. The matter was later resolved in Bappi’s favor.

Over the past decade, Bappi had cut down on his music work and even dabbled in a political career, after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014. He contested the Lok Sabha election from the Serampore constituency in West Bengal, but lost. He sang the song “Ooh La La” with Shreya Ghoshal under Vishal-Shekhar’s music in The Dirty Picture. His last song, as singer, was “Bhankas” from Baaghi 3 in 2020.

Despite the obvious copies, Bappi made waves in the Eighties with songs that kept listeners happy and humming. “Disco Station,” “Hari Om Hari” and “Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re” continue to make it to retro radio and TV shows, whereas “Manzilein Apni Jagah” is featured in Kishore compilations. Clearly, the line “Zindagi mera gaana” written by Anjaan in “I Am A Disco Dancer” became a lifelong statement for Bappi Da.