Treading new ground again

NEW MUSIC ALBUM

He’s just released the T-Series album, My Love, which contains the first R & B track in Hindi music — ‘Phoolon se pooncha’. But for Bappi Lahiri, treading new ground is an inborn habit.

In the 39 years — 37 of them in Hindi cinema — that he has been around beginning with the 1971 Bengali film Daadu, composer-singer Bappi Lahiri has done many things. 450 Hindi, Bengali, English, Gujarati and South Indian films apart, he has done some 50 albums, moonlighted as producer, storywriter and actor and even sung for contemporary composers like Vishal-Shekhar, A R Rahman, his son Bappa Lahiri and Sajid-Wajid.

But Bappi Lahiri is best known for his innovations and path-breaking moves, which he sums up in his grandiloquent statement, “What is current music other than a today’s version of the changes I brought in? But I never left melody. I made sure that the words of the songs were never drowned in the orchestration. I also had some of the best lyricists in the industry — especially Indeevar-ji and Anjaan-ji — in the bulk of my work. That is why even the songs for which I was heavily criticised then are remembered and today’s music isn’t.”

In 1982, when non-film pop albums worked once in a blue moon, Bappi unleashed the super-selling Superuna with Runa Laila. In the mid-80s, Bappi was the first to make a splash on the Billboard chart abroad with his single ‘Habiba’. In 1981, he became the first Indian composer to record a Hindi film song abroad — for Jagmohan Mundhra’s Suraag. In 1989, he was the first to record a Hindi film song digitally in India with ‘Tama tama loge’ in Thanedaar.

Bappi’s innovations continued in the 90s: he recorded with Samantha Fox, MC Hammer, Boy George and Apache Indian for Hindi films that he produced himself. Black American singer Jida has rapped now on his R&B track, while a few years ago, his song ‘Kaliyon ka chaman’ from Jyoti (1981) was used by Dr Dre and ‘Jhoom jhoom jhoom baba’ from Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki (1984) was used by M.I.A. (who was a part of Slumdog Millionaire) in remixed form in the Hollywood film Don’t Mess With The Zohaan. As he says, “‘Jai ho’ was 2009, but my ‘Rambha ho” was in 1981!”

Why R&B, we ask, and Bappi answers, “Rhythm & Blues are big around the world today. Akon and Beyonce are iconic. R&B also has one standout quality — the words are important and have to be heard. Today, when everyone’s screaming, rapping and doing hip-hop and Punjabi, it is time to hear something that will be soothing and lyrically meaningful but yet danceable. So while the young will love the groove, the older listeners will enjoy the lyrics and the melody.”

A ghazal-like feel pervades the lead track ‘Phoolon se pooncha’ (a smart reworking of Bappi’s unsung Rafi beauty ‘Phool kya shabab kya’ from the 1989 flop Farz Ki Jung in which it incredibly went on Govinda nine years after Rafi’s death) and yet another ghazal is mixed with a trance rhythm — ‘Roshni chand se hoti hai’. There is one more R&B number, some soft melodies and a contemporary club mix. “I have avoided shor-sharaaba,” stresses the veteran.

The composer of films like Zakhmee, Chalte Chalte (1976), Disco Dancer, Namak Halaal, Himmatwala, Sharaabi, Aitbaar (1985), Ghayal, Zindagi Ek Juaa, Dalaal and many more also crows that My Love is his 25th as a singer. “We even released it on FM Radio and not physically. I am now crossing my fingers, aap dua karna hamare liye, for I want at least a Grammy nomination for My Love,” he says softly.

Since the composer is classically-trained, has he ever thought of a raag-based album? “That’s a very good question!” he trills. “I will plan something like that, but yes, I will use a bit of fusion, otherwise people will feel that I want to become an Ustad! Aap ko maloom hai that my semi-classical film songs like ‘Saiyan bina ghar soona’ (Aangan Ki Kali), ‘Kisi nazar ko tera’ (Aitbaar) and ‘Dard ki ragini’ (Pyaas), have all been very popular.”

Coming up now from the bejewelled-as-always Bappi (his gold watch dial is as large as a bangle!) are the title-song (“I will also be acting in the video”) for Sajid-Wajid in Salman Khan’s home production Main Aur Mrs Khanna, It’s Rocking Dard-e-Disco (a film in which he composes, sings and acts), Kya Time Hai Yaar, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and the Bengali film Shesh Shangaat. “I am also composing the background score for Satish Kaushik’s Tere Sang, just as I did for Anupam Kher’s Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara, Dev Anand’s Love At Times Square and Sanjay Gupta’s Jung,” he tells you.

And as we take our leave, he takes us on a conducted tour of his B9 Digital Studio that is a part of his residence. “My son Bappa does all his work here. He has programmed and arranged My Love,” he says. “He is doing good work as a composer, because he has grown up in the era of melody and also knows everything about today’s music trends and styles.” The message is clear: Daddy’s even prouder of his son than of his own achievements.