Singer-composer Bhupinder Singh passes away

Bhupinder Singh, a singer-composer whose dark and gloomy voice added depth and emotion to some of the best ghazals and nazms in the Hindi cinema of the 1970s and 1980s, passed away on Monday night in a Mumbai hospital. He was 82.

“He was suffering from colon cancer and diagnosed with Covid just a week ago,” his wife and fellow ghazal singer Mitali Mukherjee.

With songs like “Dil dhoondta hai phir wohi” (Mausam) and “Ek akela iss sheher mein” (Gharaonda), to name just a few, the Amritsar-born vocalist perfectly complemented Gulzar’s delicate lyricism. His most well-known songs were written by RD Burman, Madan Mohan, Jaidev, and Khayyam.

Bhupinder, a well-known guitarist, was a member of RD Burman’s band. In the songs “Dum maro dum” (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and “Chura liya hai,” he played the instrument (Yaadon Ki Baraat.) Burman, unlike other producers, also gave him lighter songs to sing, broadening his versatility. For instance, Bhupinder sang two uncommon group fun songs on Satte Pe Satta: the title song and the upbeat “Zindagi mil ke bitaenge.” He revealed a fresh aspect to his vocals in the witty duet “Huzoor is tarah bhi” he sang with Suresh Wadkar in Masoom.

The composer-singer was brought to Bombay by Madan Mohan after growing up in Delhi. Son of a music instructor, he experienced his “baptism by fire” singing with legends like Mohd Rafi, Manna Dey, and Talat Mahmood in the 1964 song “Hoke majboor mujhe” from Chetan Anand’s film Haqeeqat, which was about longing warriors. Bhupinder once stated in an interview that he returned to Delhi because Anand wanted to build him into a hero, which didn’t sit well with him. It’s interesting to note that he performed his first solo in Rut Jawan Jawan, a Westernized track from Anand’s Aakhri Khat.