Music Legend Bappi Lahiri passes away

Insight Bureau: Veteran singer and music compser Bappi Lahiri breathed his last while undergoing treatment at Mumbai’s CritiCare Hospital. He was 69.

Lahiri had been admitted to the hospital for a month and was discharged on Monday. But his health condition deteriorated on Tuesday. So he was brought to the hospital. He died due to OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) shortly before midnight. He had multiple health issues. Last year, he had tested positive for Covid-19 and since then, has not been keeping well.

Bappi Lahir, widely known as the “Disco King” in India began his career as a music director at the young age of 19. He was also known for his unique costumes and wearing gold ornaments.

He received his first opportunity in a Bengali film, Daadu (1972) and the first Hindi film for which he composed music was Nanha Shikari (1973).

Bappi Lahiri has composed songs for movies such as Disco Dancer, Himmatwala, Sharaabi, Adventures of Tarzan, Dance Dance, Satyamev Jayate, Commando, Aaj Ke Shahenshah, Thanedaar, Numbri Aadmi, Shola Aur Shabnam, among others. The singer-composer’s first big Bollywood hit score was Zakhmee.

In the last decade, Bappi Lahiri sang songs such as Ooh La La from The Dirty Picture, Tune Maari Entriyaan from Gunday, Tamma Tamma from Badrinath Ki Dulhania and more recently, Areey Pyar Kar Le from Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. He last composed the song Bhankas was for the 2020 movie Baaghi 3.

The singer’s last appearance on the screen was with Salman Khan on reality show Bigg Boss 15, where he was promoting his grandson Swastik’s new song ‘Baccha Party’.

Bappi won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award at 63rd Filmfare Awards.

Bappi Lahiri joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 31 January 2014 to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He was made a BJP candidate from Srerampur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 2014 but lost to Kalyan Banerjee of All India Trinamool Congress.