Abhijeet called ME Besharam: Bappi Lahiri

By Subhash K Jha

Singer Abhijeet has a knack of of putting his foot in his mouth. But this time he seems to have gone too far.

In a tv interview the singer has called veteran composer Bappi Lahiri a "besharam sangeetkar".

"It has to be me," said the pained composer. "He couldn't have meant anyone else. All the things he said indicated me. And this is the same singer who used to be begging at my doorstep for work.

Being so junior to me, how could he talk like this? I feel I've been slapped by an upstart! Nobody has the right to talk like this about me. If Lataji slapped me I'd happily turn my other cheek.

We've all learnt humility from Lataji. Why should I take this insult from Abhijeet? Yes, I'm definitely suing him for defamation. He has to prove in court that I'm besharam."

Getting choked with emotion Bappi-da says, "I don't know when or how this started. Abhijeet used to take potshots at me from the time when we were together on Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Now he has gone to a rival show and maybe this is his way of getting noticed. But I've never harmed anyone. During all these years in the film industry no one has spoken like this about me. I've respected my seniors. I expect others to do the same.

By God's grace my son Bappa is all set to turn music director for Sanjay Gupta. I'd certainly not want him to come into an industry where seniors are called abusive names like besharam."