Recognized by the title ‘King of Disco’, Bollywood has been blessed with a renowned singing talent, Bappi Lahari. Not only has he established a position of his own in the industry, but he has garnered enough spotlight for his fondness for Gold ornaments, which he is mostly adorned with. With more disco songs to his name, he has managed to trigger the dancers, who enjoy grooving over his songs. Moreover, coming from a musical family, he got deeply inspired to contribute to this field and hence moved to the path of a musical journey towards an innovative creation. As a matter of fact, this paved way for the emergence of his newer style and approach, as evident through his disco tunes.
Lahiri happened to visit a reality show entitled “Times of Music”, which got him into conversation with the hosts and ended up digging and recalling certain moments from his musical journey which he had worked for over five decades. He happened to share how he had come across the disks on his visit to America, and something over there inspired him to introduce the genre of disco to India, which he successfully did.
One particular song of Lahiri, which received much love and support and through which he gained more recognition, is Yaad Aa Raha hai. This song was picturized in the movie Disco Dancer which featured Mithun Chakraborty. Lahiri goes on to a reminiscent state, recalling his emotions attached to the song and recording. As per Lahiri, although this particular song has a disco element in it, which makes one thrill and groove over, the real essence of the song lies in the fact that it was actually meant for paying homage to his mother, marking his pain and remembrance of hers. The lyrics reflect the emotions attached to the song and relistening it will make one realize the true meaning evoking out of it.
Another quite interesting anecdote in relation to the song is its recording. As per Lahiri, the song was originally meant to be sung by Kishore Kumar, whom he referred to as ‘mama’. Due to Kumar’s delay in the flight, Lahiri went to the studio for his dubbing. Kishore Kumar, after having heard Lahiri’s record was deeply impressed by his voice and praised him for having sung from his heart. Kumar went on to emphasize that nobody else could have sung better than him, since his voice was well suited to the song. But Lahiri was of the view that he had sung for Kishore Kumar. This actually reflects on the close relationship shared by the two. Although not blood related, Lahiri called him Mama, since Kumar's mother fondly called his mother, her daughter. Lahiri was also of the view that one need not be blood-related to call someone a mama, but the responsibility and love are of more importance to figure out relation in a person, be it a mama. The closeness and affection they shared for each other were more than any blood relation. He adds that the last song which was sung by Kishore Kumar was dedicated to him. The song was from “Waqt ki Aawaaz”.
The tone with which Bappi Lahiri was reminiscing his warm moments, is reflective of the fact how deeply passionate he was as a singer and how inspired he was by Kishore Kumar, to whom he looked up.
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