‘That’s how I lost a friendly bet with my buddy Pancham (R D Burman),’ confided maestro singer-guitarist ‘late’ Bhupinder Singh

By Chaitanya Padukone

One still can’t reconcile to the bitter-truth fact that acclaimed playback and ghazal singer and maestro guitarist ‘late’ Bhupinder Singh ( 82) is no more with us. As is known, the unassuming ‘Bhupi-jee’ passed away last night, after battling multiple health complications. As a film-journalist-columnist, I had the privilege and pleasure to personally know both Bhupi-jee ( known for his distinctly different– smoky yet soulful tonal vocals) and his talented singer-wife Mitali, since the mid-‘80s. . Although Bhupinder has sung memorable playback tracks under various legendary composers including Khayyam, Madan Mohan, Jaidev and even Bappi Lahiri , his frequent close rapport-bonding was with legendary Bollywood composer-singer R D Burman (Pancham-da).

Explaining his close rapport with Pancham-da (RDB), Bhupinder had shared with me. “We hit it off on a very harmonious note because both Pancham and I  had in common those innovative experimental streaks and I loved his witty, friendly nature. That’s how he trusted me and asked me to  play the guitar ‘hook-lines’ and strings portions in the original sound-tracks  (for the timeless trance-dance track) ‘Dum Maro Dum’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and ‘Chura Liya’ from (‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’),  ‘Chingari Koi Bhadke’ (Amar Prem)  and so many more songs and also record soulful duet playback numbers  like  ‘Naam Gum Jaayega’, ‘Huzoor Iss Kadar Bhi’, ‘Biti Naa Bitaai Raina’ and ‘Mithwa Bole Meethe Bain’ . As far as movie ‘Parichay’ is concerned I recall that both Pancham and Kishore Kumar and also director Gulzar-saab wanted me to sing those classical-theme songs, especially as Sanjeev Kumar was shown as a classical singer. While Kishore-da gave playback to hero Jeetendra in songs like ‘Musafir Hoon Yaaron’,” revealed Bhupinder who has also hummed and sung in his resonant voice ( ‘Oooo Shaalu’ ) in that iconic dance-song sung by legendary Lata Mangeshkar  number ‘Hothon Pe Aisi Baat’ from ‘Jewel Thief’ (1967) under super-brilliant composer S D Burman’s baton.

Bhupinder Singh with R D Burman

Explaining his close rapport with Pancham-da (RDB), Bhupinder had shared with me . “We hit it off on a very harmonious note because both Pancham and I  had in common those innovative experimental streaks and I loved his witty, friendly nature. That’s how he trusted me and asked me to  play the guitar ‘hook-lines’ and strings portions in the original sound-tracks  (for the timeless trance-dance track) ‘Dum Maro Dum’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and ‘Chura Liya’ from (‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’),  ‘Chingari Koi Bhadke’ (Amar Prem)  and so many more songs and also record soulful duet playback numbers  like  ‘Naam Gum Jaayega’, ‘Huzoor Iss Kadar Bhi’, ‘Biti Naa Bitaai Raina’ and ‘Mithwa Bole Meethe Bain’ . As far as movie ‘Parichay’ is concerned I recall that both Pancham and Kishore Kumar and also director Gulzar-saab wanted me to sing those classical-theme songs, especially as Sanjeev Kumar was shown as a classical singer. While Kishore-da gave playback to hero Jeetendra in songs like ‘Musafir Hoon Yaaron’,” revealed Bhupinder who has also hummed and sung in his resonant voice ( ‘Oooo Shaalu’ ) in that iconic dance-song sung by legendary Lata Mangeshkar  number ‘Hothon Pe Aisi Baat’ from ‘Jewel Thief’ (1967) under super-brilliant composer S D Burman’s baton.

Bhupinder Singh with Lata-Didi, Gulzar-saab and R D Burman

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After my authored  memoirs book ‘R D BurMania’ was released, Bhupinder–jee called me up and requested me to personally hand over a copy to him. That too in the presence of  illustrious Gulzar-saab. Not only did Bhupi-jee bless me, but he also appreciated the “authentic contents in the book” , especially as he was well-aware of my proximity with Pancham-da.

Speaking about RDB’s flair for impulsive yet intelligent decisions Bhupinder shared with me,” During the sitting of the unique duet song ‘Jab Andhera Hota Hai’ ( Raja Rani-1973), I happened to spontaneously say ‘Pa-pa Pa Para Pa’ as a ‘filler’ during the mukhda.  Normally, Panchamda could have used any instrumental filler. But he loved the way I sang it and insisted that I should use my vocal fillers even while recording that haunting flavor chartbuster song ‘Jab Andhera..’, “ revealed Bhupinder who mentioned to me that he generally hate distorted-remixes of RDB songs and always preferred that his ardent fans  to listen to the original soundtracks.

Bhupinder Singh strums on guitar as singer wife Mitali watches

Jogging into a nostalgic flashback, Bhupinder Singh recalled how “Panchamda (RDB) had dragged him for a screening of the Hollywood classic ‘If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium’, when some recording was abruptly cancelled. “Nearly a week later, it led to the birth of the lilting mukhda (refrain) of ‘Chura Liya Hai Tumne ‘, which I played during the actual song-recording. But I lost a friendly bet of Rs 100 with Pancham who had challenged me to ‘identify’ which vocals had secretly inspired him. But hats off to him for his awesome talent,” he recalled.

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Bhupinder Singh reading book R D BurMania with author-journalist Chaitanya Padukone

Did Bhupi have a ‘hunch’ that the ‘Dum Maro Dum’ song would be such a sensational all-time trance-dance anthem? “No, not at all. At that time I was merely concentrating on strumming the hook-lines for which Pancham-da had given me the creative liberty. As an innovative initiative I had also used an imported ‘wah-wah’ guitar pedal to produce the haunting intro overture. But after hearing the entire ‘Dum Maro Dum’ song with Asha Bhonsle’s sensuous singing accompanied by the infectious soul-beat rhythm by Burjor Lord and Kawas Lord, I knew that we had a potential top-of-the-charts score,”  disclosed the revered singer-guitarist  who had also ‘acted’ in a cameo as an Indian army-soldier in the patriotic war-movie ‘Haqeeqat’ (1964)  in which he has also sung playback with other iconic singers. By the way, late Bhupinder’s son Nihaal is also a talented musician-vocalist-guitarist..

( The writer Chaitanya  Padukone  is  an eminent  senior film and music journalist and author of memoirs book R D BurMania )