Bappi Lahiri From LA WITH Love

Bappida’s cup of joy runneth over with yet another triumph, this one straight from Bollywood  to Hollywood.

Says  Bappida proudly,  “You will be happy to know that the unit of Shoojit Sircar’s Runningshaadi.com is flying down over here to shoot a song with me. The song that I’ve composed for the film is entitled ‘Pyar Ka Test’ and it’s an original, not a re-mix of any of my old hits.

The song will be filmed on Bappida who says proudly, “I’ve faced the camera a number of times. It feels good to be performing my own song for a film. The Runningshaadi.com  director Amit Roy insisted I compose the song and perform it in the film myself.Since this is  a Shoojit Sircar production and I like his cinema, I couldn’t say no.”

Bappida  is sobered and saddened by presentday musical trends. “I belong to the golden era of Hindi film music when Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle were the ruling voices. My first composition in the film Nanha Shikari was sung by the great Mukesh.  Even today my songs  like Kabhialvida na kehna(Chalte Chalte), Bambai se aaya mera dost(Aap Ki Khatir) and Jawani jaan-e-man(NamakHalaal) are played everywhere.”

Times, sighs Bappida, are changing. “Nowadays  film music has no longevity. We hear  a song for maybe two weeks.And we don’t know who has sung or composed it.Earlier music composers and singers were brand names.An R D Burman song was an R D Burman sog  and a Kishore Kumar number was a Kishore Kumarnumber. It’s sad that we no longer respect our musical heritage, because music binds India and Indians with the rest  of the world.”

Before signing off Bappida says he wants to go on exploring new musical avenues. “I want to make India proud with my music. I want my  sound of music to be heard and hummed in the remotest corners of the world. I want the world to acknowledge Indian music as the best sound on the planet.”