Bappi Lahiri

Other names of Bappi Lahiri: Alokesh Lahiri
Birthday: 27-11-1952
Age: 66
Star sign: Sagittarius

Bappi Lahiri is a famous Music Composer of India. Born on 27 November 1952 in a Hindu Bengali background, at Kolkata, Bappi Lahiri was instrumental in the popularization of Disco music in Indian films. Namak Halaal, Disco Dancer, and Sharaabi are the songs of the 1980s that made him popular. Both the parents of Bappi were working in the music industry. Bappi fostered the intention to become an international name in his childhood. He was just three years old when he played Tabla. His parents trained him in singing. The 1972 Bengali flick “Daadu” was the first movie for which Bappi composed music. At that time, Bappi was just 19.

On his personal front, Bappi was married to Chitrani in 1977 and is blessed with two children. Wearing gold accessories is his fancy, and he often appears in black glasses along with a tracksuit. During the age of 19, Bappi traveled to Mumbai. His first Hindi endeavor was the 1973 flick “Nanha Shikari”. The 1975 film “Zakhmee” provided him the much-needed break in his career. He not only composed music but also lent his voice for this movie. The flick “Nothing is Impossible” had Bappi singing a duet where he blended disco song with Indian flavor here. Henceforth, he was attributed with the name “Disco King”. The 1980 song Jimmy Jimmy was a winner, and this helped him gain international popularity. 

Bappi came into limelight after composing music for the 1979 flick “ Surakshaa”. Bappi’s collaboration with Mithun Chakraborty worked well, and they went on to provide songs based on Disco culture in the 80s.

Bappi is instrumental in the entry of singers into Bollywood like Usha Uthup, Sharon Prabhakar, Remo Fernandes, Nandu Bhende, Bali Brahmabhatt, Parvati Khan, Salma Agha and Vijay Benedict to name a few. Asha Bhonsle and Kishore Kumar lent their voice to most of his compositions. His collaboration with southern singer S Janaki was a huge success. Some of the works of Bappi include “Ek Baar Kaho”, “Morcha”, “Zakhmi”, “Brahma”, “ Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam”, “Gang Leader”, “ Rowdy Alludu”, “ Rowdy Inspector”, “ Simhasanam”, “ Himmatwala”, “Disco Dancer”, “Armaan”, “ Commando”, “ Dance Dance”, “Suraksha”, “ Ilzaam”, etc. He had also composed some private albums. He had also given music for some ghazals.

Bappi didn’t compose any songs in the early 90s but returned with a bang with the 1993 flick “Dalal”, starring his favorite Mithun Da. The number Gutur Gutur created quite a sensation. Bappi also judged reality shows. 

Bappi is recorded in Guinness for working on 180 songs for 33 flicks in 1983. He has worked in over 500 flicks and 5000 songs. Other than Hindi, he had worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Odia and Assamese. He produced music for three flicks made in Bangladeshi Language. Bappi made cameos in several movies. Bappi tested waters in Hollywod with the1989 flick “Eye Witness to Murder”. He also composed music for a bilingual flick “ Divine Lovers”.

 Bappi’s compositions had also gained international recognition. Bappi had a legendary music Career, however his songs were complained of being plagiarized. 


Another version of this bio...

Known as the "disco king" of Bollywood Bappi Lahiri started his phenomenal music career at a very young age. He hails from a musical background, his father is an eminent figure in the field of Bengali music, and his mother is a well-versed singer.

At the young age of 19, he shifted to the city of dreams, Mumbai to pursue his passion for music. Bappi Lahiri made his Hindi debut as a composer in the movie “Nanha Shikari” (1973). It's been four-decades of successful career for him in Bollywood. Either for his music or for his style of dressing, he is one of a kind. He has a craze for jewels. He is always seen in flashy robes, jewellery all around his body and dark glasses.

In 80's he introduced the synthesized disco music to Bollywood cinemas. His songs revive the soul and make the listeners groove to the beat. His peppy numbers from movies like “Disco Dancer”, “Dance Dance”, “Saheb”, “Namak Halal”, “Sharaabi” etc. became extremely popular among listeners. In 80's his music was the trend. "I am a disco dancer" song remains popular even till today.

​Bappi Lahiri introduced pop singers like Usha Uthup, Alisha Chinoy, Parvati Khan to Bollywood music. Not only the pop singers, but he also made film stars like Anil Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Mandakini and Amjad Khan to sing in his compositions.

Eminent singers like Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle, Latha Mangeshkar, Manna Dey has sung in Bappi Da's composition. 'Yaar Bina' a flattering song from Saheb casting Anil Kapoor proved Lahiri’s inventiveness as a singer and a composer. 'Papa Rita' a popular song from the Telugu movie Gang leader became tremendously popular, and it yielded him a Filmfare Award. The dazzling retro style song 'Ooh La La' from the dirty picture was a massive hit. For a Hollywood movie “Eyewitness to Murder” directed by Jagmohan Mundra, Bappi Lahiri composed the background score. Over the span of 40 years in his career he has composed around 5000 songs over 500 films in various Indian regional languages.

His exceptional output of recording, over 180 songs for 30 films in a single year, took him into the Guinness Book of World Records. Apart from film music he has a splendid record of singing and composing private albums. In 1994, he started a music company in Mumbai named BL Sound, now it's being called as B9 Digital Studios. He also has made guest appearances in movies like “ Om Shanthi Om” (2007), “Main Aur Mrs.Khanna” (2009) and few others.