Bappi Lahiri was a defining voice of Hindi film’s disco turn in the 1980s, and his catalogue is now entering two high-profile productions at once. His grandson Rego B is watching the songs find a new audience.
A catalogue returns to the screen
Shashwat Sachdev has recreated “Ramba Ho” with Usha Uthup for Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, which stars Ranveer Singh. Separately, “Koi Yahan Nache Nache” has been used in Prabhas’ The Raja Saab.
The placements surprise even the family. Rego B, the 17-year-old artist who released his debut single “Chand” on September 21, his birthday, said he did not expect to see his grandfather’s songs in major contemporary films. For him, the return is evidence that the music still works for a mass audience.
- “Ramba Ho” returns via Shashwat Sachdev and Usha Uthup in Dhurandhar.
- “Koi Yahan Nache Nache” features in Prabhas’ The Raja Saab.
- Rego B’s own first single, “Chand”, arrived on his 17th birthday.
A sound that crossed borders early
Rego B framed his grandfather’s reach through the international names he worked with, including Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Elton John and Akon. That global interest, he argued, was especially significant before social media made it easy for Indian artists to find listeners abroad.
One memory stands out. When Michael Jackson visited Bombay in 1996, Bappi Lahiri went to meet him. Rego B says his mother, then very young, cried at seeing the King of Pop, who told Bappi Lahiri: “I love your song ‘Jimmy Jimmy’. It’s a beautiful song.”
The song’s afterlife is not just anecdotal. Rego B said “Jimmy Jimmy” remains one of the most played songs in Russia, and marching bands still perform it when the President and Prime Minister arrive for ceremonial events. For a track from a Hindi film to hold that place in another country’s official pageantry is, he said, “absolutely unreal.”
A legacy and a first single
Rego B is not trying to separate himself from that history. He described his grandfather’s disco songs—”Auva Auva Koi Yahan Nache”, “Ramba Ho Ho” and “Jimmy Jimmy”—as universal and ahead of their time, made to connect with listeners decades later.
As he begins his own career with “Chand”, the family catalogue is working in parallel, reintroducing a sound that younger viewers may be hearing for the first time.
Source: The Times of India
Comments