Bappi Lahiri or Alokesh Lahiri is a music director in the Hindi film industry. He popularized the use of synthesized disco music in Indian cinema and sang some of his own compositions. He was popular in the 1980s with filmi soundtracks like Disco Dancer, Namak Halaal and Sharaabi among others.
Background
Bappi Lahiri was born in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1952 into a family with a rich tradition in classical music. His father, Aparesh Lahiri was a famous Bengali singer and his mother, Bansari Lahiri was a musician and a singer who was well-versed in classical music and Shyama Sangeet. His parents trained him in every aspect of music. He was their only child. At a very early age, he had the ambition to become famous, not only nationally, but internationally. He began to play the tabla at the tender age of three. Even at that tender age, Bappi showed signs of greatness as he played the tabla with the proficiency of an experienced professional. Bappi Lahiri is married and has two children. Bappi Lahiri has shared his love for music with his entire family. His wife is Chitrani comes from a family of singers, his daughter Rema is also an excellent singer, and son Bappa Lahiri has inherited his father’s keen sense of music and joined the Hindi film industry as a music director.
Education
He began to play the tabla at the age of three. His maternal relatives include legendary singer Kishore Kumar and the S. Mukherjee clan. Initially he was trained by his parents and relatives.
Career
When he was 19 years of age, Bappi Lahiri shifted to the City of Dreams, Mumbai and in the year 1973, he composed music for the first time for the film ‘Nanha Shikari’. Two years later in 1975 he again composed music for ‘Zakhmee’, directed by Raja Thakur and starring Reena Roy, Rakesh Roshan, Sunil Dutt and Asha Parekh. In this film he had also been a playback singer and he, along with Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi sang “Nothing is Impossible”. The following year in 1976 he composed music for Sunder Dar’s ‘Chalte Chalte’ and these songs became great hits. Bappi Lahiri gained a considerable amount of recognition after he composed the music of Ravikant Nagaich’s ‘Surakksha’.
Eminent personalities from the international sphere such as Prodigy, Truth Hurts and Dr. Dre had in the past sampled many of Bappi Lahiri’s compositions. The song “Come Closer” from the film ‘Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki’ (1984) is one of his most widely sampled songs. It has been sampled by A. G., Dabrye, Planet Asia, Masta Ace,Kutmasta Kurt, Dance Dance, eMC, Onra, Edu Kehäkettunen and Stig Dogg.
Throughout his illustrious career, Bappi has received various accusations relating to plagiarism of music which has composed by various other composers. On the contrary, in one particular instance in the year 2002, few lines of his song “Thoda Resham Lagta Hai” were copied by Truth Hurts, the famous American RnB singer in one of his singles titled “Addictive”. Saregama India Limited filed a case against Interscope Recors as well as Universal Music Group and finally the subsequent sale of the CD was banned until Bappi Lahiri’s name was listed on the credits portion of the song.
Bappi Lahiri took a break from composing music in the early 1990s and later on in 1993 he made a comeback in Partho Ghosh’s ‘Dalal’, starring Mithun Chakraborty. Here his song “Gutur Gutur” created a rage in the industry because of its suggestive lyrics.
In the year 2004, Bappi Lahiri launched his new album called ‘Bappi Magic- The Asli Baap Mix’ which comprised of some popular songs such as “Jimmy Jimmy” and “Gori Hai Kalaiyan”. Next up in 2005 he did the background music for the film, ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara’, directed by Jahnu Barua. In 2006, he sang a song called “Boombai Nagaria” for Vishal Shekhar in the film ‘Taxi No. 9211’. He also gave his precious voice to the title track of the film ‘Guru’, directed by Mani Ratnam. Same year he judged the television reality show called ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs’ (aired on Zee TV) along with distinguished singers Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik. Apart from this show he had also judged ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ (aired on Zee TV) in the year 2007 as well as ‘K for Kishore’ (aired on Sony Entertainment Television).
Later on in the year 2010 he sang a song called “I am a Disco Dancer” in Rohit Shetty’s comedy flick ‘Golmaal 3’. This particular track was similar to the one from his previous movie ‘Disco Dancer’. A year later in 2011, Bappi Lahiri sang ‘Ooo la la Ooo la la’ for Milan Luthria’s ‘The Dirty Picture’, starring Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor.
The very same year he released the album ‘Walking on Love Street’ which featured Shaun Barrows, an American Idol participant. This particular album was a great success and it appeared on the New York – Top 10 Jazz Playlist, CMJ’s New Music Report Magazine chart, WONY Oneontaand the Week World Chart.
Throughout his entire career Bappi Lahiri worked for numerous films, some of which are ‘Morcha’ (1980), ‘Ek Baar Kaho’ (1980), ‘Zakhmi’, ‘Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam’, ‘Bramha’, ‘Rowdy Alludu’, ‘Gang Leader’, ‘Simhasanam’, ‘Rowdy Inspector’, ‘Nippu Ravva’, ‘Justice Chaudary’, ‘Himmatwalla’, ‘Zindagi Ek Jua’, ‘Aitbaar’, ‘Sharaabi’, ‘Jyoti’, ‘Tarzan’, ‘Saheb’, ‘Namak Halal’, ‘Guru’, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’, ‘Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki’, ‘Disco Dancer’, ‘Film Hi Film’, ‘Armaan’, ‘Dance Dance’, Commando’, ‘Waardat’, ‘Pyara Dushman’, ‘Ilzaam’, and ‘Suraksha’ (1979).
Some of the Ghazals which Bappi has produced are “Aawaz di hai” and “Kisi Nazar ko tera intezaar aaj bhi hai” from the film ‘Aitbaar’, directed by Mukul Anand.