Vijay Benedict got his big break in Bollywood when Bappi Lahiri offered him the title song of the Mithun Chakraborty starrer Disco Dancer (1982). It was his very first song as a palyback singer and he was absolutely new to the industry. Reminiscing the time when Bappi Lahiri and the film’s director B Subhash placed their faith in him, Benedict says none of them had imagined Disco Dancer would become such a huge hit.
In an exclusive conversation with News18, Benedict says that Lahiri always encouraged new singers and had the guts to try something new and stand apart in the crowd.
“I was shocked when I heard the news of him passing away. I am devastated. Bappida and I shared a relationship which went beyond our work. We were like a family. I did my business management from Allahabad University, after which I was in London for some time. I remember meeting him in London at a common gathering and had shown interest towards singing. He told me to come and meet him whenever I would be in Mumbai.
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It was around a year later when I came down to Mumbai, and Bappida was the first music director I met. I went and met his entire family, who were very welcoming. Since I was new to the city, I would often go and meet him and it wasn’t only about work. We would just chat around. He introduced me to director B Subhash, who liked my voice.
One day, Subhashji told me, ‘Vijay, I’ve got this song, I Am A Disco Dancer, but the problem is that nobody knows you. You haven’t done any playback before. I have put in all my money to make this film. And it’s a big risk since it is the title song but I we can give it a try.’ So he, along with Bappida, arranged the full orchestra at HMV Studios at Cuffe Parade. Before the recording, Subhashji told me that we were just trying, and if it doesn’t work then they already had Kishore Kumar in mind as he had recently sung the famous song, ‘Meri Umar Ke Naujawano.’ I had nothing to lose and gave it a try. We recorded the song the whole day as it was a very long song. I think we had about 100 people working in chorus and equal number of musicians. In the evening I was going back to Bandra when Subhashji offered me a lift as he was heading to Juhu. When I sat in the car he told me that I had sung the song beyond his expectations and he was going to use it in the film. That was a life changing moment for me. It was like a dream debut for me. The kind of adulation I get for the song even today is just crazy.
Never in the wildest of dreams did anyone of us think that this song would become so huge. I remember when I sang this song, I was initially confused as it had different styles of singing. It goes from rock to qawwali to romantic to sexy and goes back to rock again. It had a different tune. But God is great and destiny had written something good for all of us.
Since then, I collaborated with Bappida on many hit songs, including Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki, Dance Dance, Aa Gaya Aa Gaya Halwa Wala and many other songs and it has always been a fruitful association with him.
What I really loved about Bappida was that despite the presence of some amazing music composers in the industry, he had the guts to try something new and stand apart in the crowd. If I am not wrong, he was one of the few composers who worked with many new singers. It was difficult for new singers to break in, but he would nurture new singers and make their careers.
I spoke to him around a few months back and he was a bit frail. I requested to meet him and he told me that I can drop by once he gets a little better. Unfortunately that meeting will always remain pending. May God bless his soul and give strength to his family.”
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