Bhupinder Singh was matchless, from being a giving ‘elder brother’ to a man with a unique voice

(Left) Bhupinder Singh getting the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award from then president Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi in 2016. (Photo courtesy: Shekhar Sen)

Ganguli’s long association with the singer-composer who passed away this week dates back to 1980. The two met on an All India Radio (AIR) programme, the first of many to follow. Along with Hariharan and Penaz Masani, they came together for a Jaidev special programme Aarohi (1980), on Doordarshan, compered by actor Usha Kiran. Ganguli sang her 1979 National Award-winning Aapki yaad aati rahi (Gaman, 1978) and Singh sang Phir teri yaad (Aayi Teri Yaad, 1980) and Zeher deta hai mujhe (Wohi Baat, 1977). “Bhupi’s (as he’s lovingly called by friends) voice was original, unique, rich, effortless and soothing. There was never any aggression in it,” she says, adding that as a composer, he was “ingenious, inimitable and multifaceted.” “He understood the lyrics, believed in not hurting the sentiments of poetry, and composed keeping that in mind. He was the finest guitarist around.”

As the programme executive, in 1983, at Vividh Bharati (AIR), Ganguli produced the show Sangeet Sarita. The 15-minute morning slot was presented by great artistes. For it, Singh did 12 programmes titled Baatein Ghazalon Ki, deliberating on the contributions of ghazal artistes, even as lyricist-poet Rajesh Johri threw questions at him. Whether it was the 30 years’ celebration of Vividh Bharati service or a Chandrayaan special New Year’s programme in 2008, Mitalee-Bhupinder performances were a regular feature at AIR during Ganguli’s tenure. “Bhupi was a large-hearted man. When Akashvani Nagpur station director asked me to design a ghazal programme for them in 1984, and since AIR could only pay for Bhupi’s flight tickets, Bhupi still obliged us and flew in his group of musicians at his own expense,” she says.

During Shekhar Sen’s tenure as the Sangeet Natak Akademi chairman, “Bhupi was felicitated with the long-due Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (in 2016). We were all very happy,” she says. The last time the two came together was on August 5, 2018, for Jaidev’s centenary year celebrations at Mumbai’s National Centre for Performing Arts. “Despite not keeping well, Bhupi captivated us with his presence,” says Ganguli, who used to lately text Singh every month to check in on him, and receive the reply: “I’m fine. God bless you, Chhaya.” Last month, the reply did not come. This week, he passed away.

He hasn’t been active for the last eight-10 years, “but his timeless songs, his guitar-playing will remain memorable,” says arranger-composer-violinist Uttam Singh, and a dear pal of Bhupinder, “our friendship goes 55 years back, and in 40 years or working together, for 16-18 hours every day, not once did we fight. I used to call him Bauji out of respect. He was like a father, like an elder brother. You ask for anything and he would give, whether a song, an instrument, a shirt or money.”

“Humble, kind-hearted, giving, he was life in a beautiful form. And what an innovative and creative musician and composer. You hear his single Woh Jo Shair Tha: Poetry of Gulzar (1980), you’d be surprised, which Bhupinder is this?” says Uttam, the once go-to arranger for ghazal artistes, from Ghulam Ali, Asha Bhosle, Bhupinder Singh, Jagjit Singh to Talat Aziz, among others. It was Bhupinder who prodded a hesitant Uttam, one night, to compose a ghazal, something the latter had never done and the former insisted “there’s always a first time”. “Logon ko achhi bhi lagi (Listeners quite liked it).” It gave him an understanding of what being a composer entailed. For composers Uttam-Jagdish, Bhupinder first sang the free verse Tumse jo baat huyi (Clerk, 1989). In a single take, “uss zamane mein kahan two takes hote thhe,” he says, adding, “I had composed the song keeping Bhupinder’s voice in mind. There was no poetry in the song, it was like a story. He had sung free verse earlier too, in his debut film-song Hoke majboor mujhe for Madan Mohan ji in Haqeeqat (1964; along with Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood and Manna Dey).” Bhupinder went on to sing for composer Raamlaxman, whose troupe arranger Uttam was a part of.

Singer Suresh Wadkar remembers meeting Bhupinder in more dramatic circumstances. Sometime in the early ’80s, a distressed Singh had walked out of Mehboob Studio in Mumbai, handing the lyrics of a song to the next singer waiting to record. It was an Odia song. “He was flustered at not being able to grasp the language, gave me the song and walked away,” says Wadkar. They would bump into each other at programmes, recordings and airports. Whenever Bhupinder and Mitalee liked a song of Wadkar’s, they would ring him up to convey their appreciation. “Bahut bada aadmi thha, bahut kuchh seekhne ko mila unse (he was a great man, I learnt a lot from him),” he says.

During the making of their evergreen duet Huzoor iss kadar na itrake chaliye (Masoom, 1980), at the rehearsal sessions at composer RD Burman’s house, with Burman’s saxophonist and main arranger Manohari Singh and others, Wadkar recalls “ache se rehearsals ki thhi humne” but how Bhupinder “was much, much more ready” than he was. “Besides singing for, and playing the guitar in Chura liya hai, Dum maaro dum, Haré Rama Haré Krishna, among many others, Bhupinder was also Pancham-da’s assistant,” says Wadkar, who, before entering film-music singing, had briefly assisted Jaidev, for whom Bhupinder used to sing.

Wadkar recalls first seeing Bhupinder standing near rhythm section and playing the guitar while Mukesh sang at composer Shyam Sagar’s recording at Bombay Sound Service, perhaps in 1974-75. And he first worked with him in Burman’s “Sawan nahin, bhadon nahin (Kudrat, 1981)”. “Guitar in hand, a cigarette on his lips, this six-plus feet, handsome, jovial man, with a smiling countenance was a bindaas mast-ram (happy-go-lucky man), but if something got on the wrong side of him, Punjabi mein moti-moti gaaliyan (swear words) would flow out. Dil unka saaf thha (he was pure-hearted),” he says. “In films, he got some phenomenal songs. Do deewane sheher mein, Dil dhoondta hai, Naam goom jayega…we get requested at our shows to sing these songs, so memorable these songs are. Ghazalon ko unhone aayam diya, but equally beautifully he rendered bhajans, such as (Kabir bhajan) Moko kahan dhunde re bande, his zabardast, johari-wali bass voice fit like a glove, unki aawaz mein kya saja hai woh gaana,” he says.

It was, however, this “hatke, yaadgaar” voice that “unfortunately, also became a problem, as it wouldn’t suit many heroes of the time, save a handful, including Suresh Oberoi, Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Amol Palekar. Many came who could sing like Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi but never has and never will come a voice like Manna Dey or Bhupinder Singh. He was matchless,” says Uttam.