The renowned singer, musician and composer Bhupinder Singh passed away on July 18. He was gifted with a fine voice, with the depth and grandeur of rain clouds, and a surprising, lightning-like agility when called for. His musical oeuvre is quite eclectic, drawing inspiration from Western music, Indian classical idioms, ghazal singing and so on. He carved a niche for himself with his soulful singing.
He started his career as a musician in All India Radio, Delhi, where he was spotted by the great Madan Mohan. Madan promptly brought him to Bombay and gave him his first break in films with the poignant ‘Ho ke majboor mujhe usne bhulaya hoga’, a barracks song, where Bhupinder matched his vocals with the stalwarts Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood and Manna Dey in ‘Haqeeqat’ (1964). His echoing ‘o… Shalu’ added color to SD Burman’s ‘honthon mein aisi baat’ in ‘Jewel Thief’ (1967). He sang the atmospheric night club song ‘Rut jawan jawan raat meherban’ for Khayyam-sahab in ‘Akhari Khat’ (1966). He also enacted the song on screen, and probably played the guitar for this track as well.
He was a greatly sought-after guitarist and played the instrument for films for over two decades. His guitar-playing for RD Burman’s iconic ‘Dum maro dum’ in ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram’ (1971) is truly memorable. He was a fine ghazal singer and, with his wife Mitali, recorded a number of ghazal albums. He composed many of the tunes, and especially in the early days, introduced the Spanish guitar to this genre, giving their ghazals a unique sound. The pair were also very charismatic live performers of these ghazals.
The mainstay of his film music output was the languorous, romantic or sad melody. These songs gave him the space to play with words and the rhythm of the poetry. This was his hallmark, and one never tires of the soft caressing vocals. ‘Dil dhoondhta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din’ (‘Mausam’, 1975) (solo) for Madan Mohan is a great example of this, where masterful pauses - specifically before ‘phir wohi’ — are used to great effect. The solo ‘Ek akela is shahar mein’ (‘Gharaonda’, 1977) for Jaidev also vies for attention in this space and in the pantheon of his greatest songs, and the variations of ‘aab-o-dana’ are unforgettable.
Interestingly, both these songs had duet versions that were peppier and had a different tune. The duet ‘Dil dhoondhta hai phir wohi’ in ‘Mausam’ is with Lata-ji, with whom Bhupinder has sung many fabulous numbers. His other duets with her like ‘Beeti naa bitaayi rainaa’ (‘Parichay’, 1972), ‘Meethe bol bole bole payaliya’ (‘Kinara’, 1977) draw upon classical music and are also excellent. The duet ‘Do deewane shahar mein’ from ‘Gharaonda’ is with Runa Laila. The two voices, unique in their own right, work very well together. Bhupinder sang the playful ‘Boliye surili boloyan’ (‘Griha Pravesh’, 1979) with Sulakshana Pandit under the baton of Kanu Roy. The serene ‘Zindagi zindagi mere ghar aana’ (‘Dooriyan’, 1979) with Anuradha Paudwal under the music direction of Jaidev is magical.
His lovely ‘Kisi nazar ko tera intezaar aaj bhi hai’ (‘Aitbaar’, 1985) with Asha-ji, composed by Bappi Lahiri, once again showcased his ability to match stalwart singing note for note. One surprising entry is an adaptation of the famous nazm ‘Aaj jaane ki zid naa karo’ in the voice of Bhupinder and Asha-ji for the 1988 film ‘Kehkashaan’. He tugs at the heartstrings with the lines ‘waqt ki qaid mein…’ in this song. The male-male duet with Suresh Wadkar, ‘Huzoor is qadar bhi na itaraa ke chaliye’ (‘Masoom’, 1983) is fondly remembered to this day. It seemed that Bhupinder managed to bring out the best in his co-singers.
His film music career started in 1964, and his last film song was for ‘Maharana Pratap’ in 2012. He truly came into his own during the 1970s and 1980s. Apart from Jaidev, Khayyam, RD Burman and the other mainstream musicians of the previous decade, he sang beautiful songs for specialist or ‘art film’ music directors. Raghunath Seth probably used him in all his films, the duet with Anuradha Paudwal ‘Ye paudhe ye patte’ (‘Ek Baar Phir’, 1980) standing out in memory. In ‘Saransh’ (1984), Ajit Verman gave him what is probably the only explicitly death-themed song in a Hindi film ‘Andhiyara gehraya’. The likes of Kanu Roy, Vanraj Bhatia, Bhupen Hazarika and so on used his voice to great effect.
As mentioned earlier, there is a subtle yet powerful classical base to his singing. It can be glimpsed in raag-based songs given to him by RD Burman in films like ‘Kinara’ and ‘Parichay’. It is used to devastating effect in what is essentially a dirge in the film ‘Alaap’ (1977), ‘ayi run sawan ki’. Overtly, it is a thumri, but it is sung like, and becomes a lament. This powerful voice has been silenced, and these strains of raag Desh in that song echo the void it has left.
Bhupinder's top 5
- *Dil dhoondhtha hai phir ('Mausam', 1975)
- *Rut jawan jawan raat meherban ('Aakhri Khat',1967)
- *Zindagi zindagi mere ghar aanaa ('Dooriyan', 1979)
- *Huzoor is qadar bhi na itaraa ke chaliye ('Masoom',1983)
- *Ek akela is shahar mein ('Gharaonda', 1977)