Researched by: Sara Varghese & Prafula Grace Busi 

First, how Bappi died

Unlike the 90-plus Mangeshkar, Lahiri passed away at the relatively young age of 69. The cause of death was unusual as well: obstructive sleep apnea. This is a breathing disorder caused when muscles supporting the soft tissues in the throat—the tongue, soft palate etc—relax and block the airway during sleep. It typically occurs in people who are overweight, especially men—but can also be hereditary. FYI, Carrie Fisher—best known for playing Princess Leia in Star Wars movies—also died due to OSA.

Bappi: The early years

Born in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, Lahiri—christened Alokesh—was an only child, raised in a family of musicians. Aparesh and Bansuri Lahiri were well-known singers in Calcutta. As is obvious below, Lahiri did not have the same financial struggles as, say, a Mangeshkar who had to become her family’s breadwinner at a tender age. 

A child of privilege: Lahiri’s parents were also well-connected. Kishore Kumar was his uncle and Lata Mangeshkar was his mother’s close friend. At the age of four, he played tabla at a concert in Eden Gardens. When he came to Bombay as a 20-year-old to seek his fortune, his family connections served him well—as Lahiri himself acknowledged:

“I was 4 when in the Eden Garden locality of Kolkata where we lived, Lataji came home and blessed me. I still have a picture of me sitting in her lap. She sang many Bangla songs for my father who was a well-known composer in Kolkata. From then on she has supported me. She sang my first composition in a Bengali film ‘Daadu’. If she hadn’t sung for me, I’d have been swept away by the competition.”

Here’s a lovely childhood photo with Mangeshkar:

The Zakhmee moment: Kishore Kumar helped Lahiri land his first Hindi film ‘Nanha Shikari’ in 1973. But his breakthrough film was ‘Zakhmee’—directed by Aamir Khan’s father, Tahir Hussain. Lahiri claims that Hussain dropped the legendary RD Burman to hire the newcomer. Lata lent her voice to two of the movie’s biggest hits—but the most entertaining song is ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ which featured Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar—and Bappi! 

About that acting career: Lahiri had fond hopes of replicating his Mamu Kishore Kumar’s career as musician-cum-actor. He made his on-screen debut in a 1974 film called ‘Badhti Ka Naam Dadhi’—alongside his uncle and Ashok Kumar. See the goofy still below:

And years later, he would play a starring role in the very silly ‘It's Rocking Dard-E-Disco’—a film he dedicated to Kishore Kumar. It wasn’t exactly a hit. See the trailer below:

About that political career: In 2014, Lahiri ran on a BJP ticket for a Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. He lost, and that was the end of his neta-ji aspirations. But you can enjoy listening to bits of his raucous election rallies in this audio essay.

Bappi: The disco king

To make his name, Lahiri had to overcome RD Burman’s iron grip on the music industry—and his monopoly of Western-influenced music. Lahiri stumbled upon the magic recipe at a Chicago nightclub in 1979:

“I was on a US tour with Kishore mama. The disc jockey at the club said he’d play disco and he played Saturday Night Fever. I heard that thumping beat, and, right then, I decided that I was going to bring that to India.”

The Disco Dancer moment: He found his golden opportunity when a young nobody named Mithun Chakraborthy was cast as the lead for a small film: 

“One day, Lahiri received a call from filmmaker Ravikant Nagaich, who talked up a storm about a naya ladka. ‘Ravi said, this guy is like John Travolta meets Bruce Lee—action aur dance milake—so I should make a beat for him for an upcoming B Subhash movie. I did, and it became Disco Dancer,’ says Lahiri.”

The movie’s biggest hit—‘Jimmy Jimmy, Aaja Aaja’—also marked Lahiri’s first foray into international fame. A tightly controlled Soviet Union—starved of Western music—fell in love with the Indian iteration. In 2008, the song became part of a Hollywood movie soundtrack thanks to ‘You Don’t Mess With the Zohan’ (see: the closing sequence). More famously, singer M.I.A. also borrowed from the track for her single ‘Jimmy’ for the album ‘Kala’.

The Hollywood connection: In almost every interview, Bappi Da would tell many—and sometimes hard-to-believe—tales of his ties with Hollywood. He claimed to have recorded two duets with Lady Gaga back in 2019, but they were never released. But he did successfully sue Dr Dre for sampling one of his tracks—from ‘Thoda Resham Lagta Hai’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar—in his hip-hop remix album. Listen to it below:

Ironic point to note: The song was part of the film ‘Jyoti’—which also included ‘Chidiya Chon Chon’, sung by Kishore Kumar. Lahiri had shamelessly ripped off a famous calypso hit titled ‘Mary Ann’. This gets even better: In 1991, Lahiri copied the same song once again to compose ‘Whole Day Whole Night’ for the film ‘Yodha’. This time, even the lyrics were similar to the original: “All day, all night, Miss Mary Ann, Down by the seaside, she sifting sand”. Watch this bit of brazenness below (the original is here):

Quotes to note: When asked about plagiarism, Lahiri was cheerfully unapologetic: “If we talk about copying, it is a tradition.” But he remained envious of AR Rahman’s success in the West even late in his career: “I love my country way too much. Main Rahman ki tarah sab kucch chhod ke LA mein nahi baith sakta (I can’t leave everything and sit in LA like Rahman).”

Bappi: The king of bling

In some ways, Lahiri’s great tragedy was that his personality and over-the-top style often overshadowed his talent. It also was an excuse to not take him seriously. As singer Usha Uthup writes: 

“I think that during his lifetime people didn’t take him seriously. It hurts me a lot because I took him seriously. I knew his music was really something else—maybe because I come from a different kind of genre. Sometimes people would make fun of him over the way he dressed and the way he wore his jewellery. It didn’t bother him because he would still wear those wonderful jazzy jackets, gold chains, bracelets and rings. That was his style.”

As she notes, Lahiri was blithely indifferent to other people’s opinions. He proudly wore his affection for bling on his sleeve—which was inspired by none other than his childhood hero Elvis Presley: 

“In Hollywood, famous singer Elvis Presley used to wear gold chains. I was a huge follower of Presley. I used to think, if I become successful someday, then I will build a different image of mine. By the grace of God, I could do it with gold.”

Funny anecdote #1: Lahiri claimed that Michael Jackson had once admired his Ganesh pendant—and for a moment, he considered gifting it to the legend. The reason he never did: “But then I thought, he has everything, whereas I have only this gold that is lucky for me.”

Funny anecdote #2: After a concert in Fiji, an “achchhi bhadraladki, a ladies” pressed a bag in his hands, saying: 

“I know you are a gold man. The song you performed tonight, ‘Yaad Aa Raha Hai Tera Pyaar’, it touched me. I couldn’t give you anything at the concert—here’s all the gold I own.”

The funny bit: Lahiri’s father said: “Itna sona toh uske gale mein hi hai” (He’s already wearing that much gold just on his neck).

Point to note: While Lahiri ignored criticism, he was sensitive to caricature—and was furious when the animated series ‘Toonpur Ka Superrhero’ featured a character called Guppy Bahiri—who bore a suspicious resemblance to him. He was most upset that the film mocked his Bengali accent and depicted him as a talentless hack: “I have done more than 450 films and have always respected my elders. They should have respected me and shouldn't have made fun of me."

See Guppy below:

The bottomline: Bappi da, You were one of a kind!

Reading list

There are only two Bappi tributes worth reading. One is Usha Uthup’s heartfelt column in Hindustan Times. The other is Sandip Roy’s thoughtful piece in Indian Express.