When Bappi Lahiri said 'If Lata Mangeshkar hadn't sung for me, I’d have been swept away by the competition'

Bappi Lahiri passed away on Wednesday morning at 69. The veteran singer-composer has always been grateful to late Lata Mangeshkar for helping him out, and he had once spoken about the same in an interview. Lahiri passed away at the age of 69 owing to multiple health issues.

Back in 2021, the veteran said in an interview Bappi, 

“I was 4 when in the Eden Garden locality of Kolkata where we lived, Lataji came home and blessed me. I still have a picture of me sitting in her lap. She sang many Bangla songs for my father (Aparesh Lahiri) who was a well-known composer in Kolkata. From then on, she has supported me. She sang my first composition in a Bengali film Daadu. If she hadn’t sung for me, I’d have been swept away by the competition.”

He further mentioned,

“My first big Bollywood hit score was Aamir Khan’s father Tahir Hussain’s Zakhmee. In that Lataji sang Abhi abhi thi dushmani and Aao tujhe chand pe le jaaon. Both big hits. That film also had the Asha-Kishore duet Jalta hai jiya mera bhigi-bhigi raaton mein which was a rage. Then there were melodies in the films Chalte Chalte and Aap Ki Khatir (which had the chartbuster Bambai se aaya mera dost) which are hummed to this day. That’s how it all began for me."

Bappi Lahiri breathed his last at Mumbai’s CritiCare Hospital in Juhu. The last rites of the veteran will take place on Thursday. 

While his last song for Bollywood was Baagin 3's 'Bhankas' in 2020, he was last seen on the screens in bigg Boss 15 with grandson Swastik.