Bappi da is dead ... Long live Bappi da!

 (Note: This piece was penned as a tribute to Bappi Lahiri, on his demise)

 The passing away of Bappi Da, is an opportune moment to reminisce on his musical genius. He not only introduced and popularised Disco music in Bollywood, but he took it to a frenzied level, amongst the Baby Boomers and Gen X. At club nights, birthday parties, and camp-fires, in the late 1970s and 1980s (there weren't any discotheques back then), kids and adults alike would groove to Bappi da's tempestuous beats and melodies. In short, he was the rage those days (besides of course, the cross-border import, Biddu and his exotic, precocious star, Nazia Hassan; but that's another story for another day).

 There's hardly a genre missing Bappi da's repertoire - save perhaps, devotional songs (I'd be delighted to be corrected on that - would love to listen to his devotional number(s), if any, in any language). Besides being the undisputed king of Disco, he was the emperor of melodies romantic, and equally at ease belting out peppy songs and gazals. No movie in the 1980s would be complete (or a hit) without his trademark numbers – Sharaabi; Namak Halaal; Armaan; Himmatwaala; Disco Dancer; Suraksha - the list is rather long to be recounted here. 

 Wall Street and Dalal Street gurus will tell you, that gold as an investment, is inflation agnostic - its price always appreciates (new age gurus may of course opt for bitcoin, ether and their like, claiming, they are equally safe bets). Bappi da, loved to display a lot of gold, earning the sobriquet, “King of Bling”. His songs, just like gold, will continue to appreciate, and radiate as much brilliance, as the yellow metal he was so much in love with.

 My personal favourite of Bappi Lahri, is the Yesudas song from the movie Tootè Khilonè - perhaps, the only one that the redoubtable KJY sang for him. The lyrics are by Kaifi Azmi, and the song is coincidentally picturised on his daughter Shabana, paired with a lanky Shekhar Kapoor (unrecognizable, minus his trademark beard). Shekhar and Shabana, btw, were at one point in time, the thinking woman's and thinking man's sex symbols - but then, that's another story, for another day ...