Rare screengrab of Sridevi with Bappi Lahiri.
Born on 27 November 1952, today is Bappi da's birth anniversary. He did the music of 10 memorable Sridevi films, and when Sridevi was planning to produce a movie, she booked him as the music director.
His music output was a great mix of hits and misses and the portly musician with his signature style of wardrobe, speech and accessories has been caricatured too often on Indian television. His complicated legacy of "borrowing" western music, how his rise affected RD Burman and his use of synthetic sounds (which is the rage today) was heavily criticised by music auteurs, how history will remember him is difficult to say.
Today however, we remember the man for his accomplishments. He found a second wind in the ought's as a singer (Oh la la to the numbers he sang for AR Rehman), while his music recordings for films dwindled down. Nevertheless, he had a great run from the early 1970s to late 90s. He always seemed one hit away from a massive comeback. Alas, by age 69, due to covid complications, he passed away in 2022. His legacy, and massive musical successes live on.
PS: His daughter Rema Lahiri and portly grandson "Rego B", recently did an interview and spoke exceedingly well about Sridevi. "Sridevi was this goddess who magically appeared on screen..."
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