Alisha Chinai, one of Bappi Lahiri’s favourite female playback singer mourns his demise and breaks her silence from her residence in Alibaug. “I owe my career to Bappida. I sang …God knows how many songs I sang for him, most definitely 50-100 songs. In fact, just six months ago Bappi called and asked me to sing a Bengali song for me. ‘Aisa,tum karogi mera gaan?’ He always called me ‘Aisa’. I would playfully correct him, ‘Bappida, my name is Alisha not Aisa, you must stop having so many rashogollas.’ Bappida was God’s child. So pure and childlike, so free of guile and cunning. All he cared about was his music.”
When Bappida asked Alisha to sing for him she was hooked for life. “ So when he asked me to do a Bangla song I immediately said, although I don’t like doing playback singing. You know that. I’ve always hated the concept of the ghostvoice. But who says no to Bappida? I agreed to sing his Bengali song although I didn’t know any Bangla. He wrote out all the lyrics for me and I sang them.I don’t even know which film it was for. That it was for Bappida is enough for me. This was not the first Bengali song I sang for Bappida.”
Recalling her long association with the super-prolific composer Alisha says, “I was brash fearless girl looking for a break as singer when I met Bappida at a recording studio. He asked me to sing. He immediately offered me a song then and there. I was zapped. ‘Will you sing for me?’ Would I sing for Bappida? Of course! I’d have been mad to refuse. Main pagal hoon par itni nahin (laughs). That’s how I got my first song Tarzan my Tarzan in Adventures Of Tarzan. Bappida and I teamed up for lots of songs in B Subhash’s film. I vividly remember the huge orchestra and the lineup of chorus singers for Tarzan my Tarzan. It was magical! I remember Asha Bhosleji was there. She asked Bappida who I was. She complimented me. I touched her feet.”
Recently, Alisha Joined as a guest in Jay Ho! The Jay Kumar Show, one of the most Popular show in the USA, and openly shared her struggle stories and her source of motivation to thrive in the music industry even after having much fame and recognition. Alisha’s journey can definitely be a inspiration for thousands of struggler artists in th country today.
Click on the link below to watch the teaser of Alisha Chinai Episode in Jay-Ho! The Jay Kumar Show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDfNfYxMoxo&t=470s
By: Subharup Das Sharma
