‘Whatever songs he gave me, all turned out to be hits’
In his own words, Bappi da and I were an incomparable and un-put-downable jodi, the best jodi, jodi number one. He was always happy being with me and working with me, because whatever songs he gave me, all turned out to be big hits. He was very proud of the fact that he had created ‘Hari Om Hari’, ‘Rambha Ho’ and ‘Koi Yahan Nache’ with me. In the last 38 to 40 years of my singing, I’ve always had a Bappi da song, almost every year. I have done multiple shows from the safety of my home during the pandemic times and I have never done a show without Bappi da’s songs.
‘Bappi da was the king of melody, too’
He was also, as they prefer to say in our industry, a creator of melody songs. Though I don’t understand why there have to be such distinctions. For me, a song is a song. Why does someone’s ability or skill with melody songs have to be a qualifier for them to be considered good? It happens with both composers and singers. But you look at international artistes like Boney M, Abba and more, they just created music and it became their kind of music. They garnered millions of fans around the world and Bappi da was like that. He created music and it connected with the world. His music was fantastic. His compositions in ‘Chalte Chalte’, ‘Mana Ho Tum Behad Haseen’ are all great and timeless.
‘Everyone wanted to copy the repeat effect of ‘Rambha Ho’’
Rambha Ho was the first time that Bappi da had used the synth drums. For the common people, it was the quirky sounds that go tui tui tui, right before the vocals ‘Rambha Ho’. That unique sound that he came up with became so popular that every director, singer and actor wanted that kind of sound in their songs. For Rambha Ho, he also used the repeat machine. In the song, I sing ‘Rambha Ho Ho Ho Ho‘, but I’ve just said ‘Rambha Ho’ and the rest of the ‘Hos’ are done electronically by the machine, which was an idea that Bappi da implemented for the first time in our films. We sat on the floor at Mehboob studios. Bappi da had an assistant named Cyril and he operated and did the setting on the machine. Bappi da had to record multiple versions of ‘Rambha Ho Ho Ho’, till we got the tempo right. Once that came out, everyone wanted to do the same, they wanted to use a repeater machine. He was really a trendsetter for the film industry.
‘I feel sad that he wasn’t taken seriously in his lifetime’
He always just allowed me to sing. He would say, ‘Ushaji just sing the way you do. Feel the song. The song had to be felt with passion. Just make it a hit.’ He was such a simple human being. I feel sad that he wasn’t taken seriously in his lifetime. He could have got much more. He was dismissed as a Disco creator.
He was an unsung hero. His compositions were just great and his success was just fantastic. I also feel sad that a lot people made fun of a lot things associated with him. Everyone knows about the gold, but that was his persona. He wanted to be a rockstar and he did it. He had the courage to face his convictions, he did it and I loved it. He really believed he was a rockstar, the way he would walk in with those dark glasses and his accessories.
‘I’ve given away all my gold to Bappi da because he’s given me so many hits’
I’ve said this often on stage, that you only see me in a mangalsutra and nothing more because I’ve given away all my gold to Bappi da because he’s given me so many hits. He used to love that joke and the people used to love it, too. But it makes sad that a person who gave us and the film and music industries so much, had to always play second fiddle to others. I feel he was never taken to be who he really was.
People said Bappi da copied so many songs, but so did so many other composers and musicians. But why can’t you abstain from using the word copy and use inspired instead. Yes, ‘Hari Om Hari’ and ‘One Way Ticket’ have similarities, but people have forgotten ‘One Way Ticket’ and they still want ‘Hari Om Hari’. That’s a testament to Bappi da’s talent.
