Jawaharlal Nehru shaking hands with Dilip Kumar
MUMBAI: In the early 1960s Dilip Kumar shared a stage with Jawaharlal Nehru at a public meeting at Chowpatty.
After Dilip saab, as he was fondly called, passionately spoke in ornate Urdu, the crowd began to melt, forcing Nehru to joke with Kumar: “Barkhurdar, chalo chalte hain (dear, let us go).” But the thespian rose again, reprimanding the crowd that their PM was yet to speak and they should not leave unless “Panditji” (Nehru) finished his speech. The gathering froze in silence.
That was the power of oratory Dilip Kumar commanded. Asif Farooqui, Bandra-based businessman and a close family friend of Kumar and his wife Saira Bano, to whom the actor once narrated the Chowpatty incident, recalls that Kumar genuinely loved Urdu, patronized poets and mushairas and participated in social works.
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Bappi Lahiri in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020) | T-Series/Colour Yellow Productions/The Viral Fever
His songs have been sampled by music bands abroad and reprised in latter-day Hindi films. His composition
Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja became a rage in many countries. His name appears in the Guinness Book of World Records for composing 180 songs in a single year (1986). He has trademarked his look and unfailingly maintains it in every public appearance. His gold ornaments and pendants make him a walking jewellery store. He is the big daddy of disco in Hindi films.
Bappi Lahiri’s flashy, unabashed public persona has been fodder for the media. That, and the fact that he single-handedly set off the decline of melody in Hindi films in the 1980s, have overshadowed the fact that he also created a long string of memorable songs, several of which are timeless classics.