Opinion Bhupinder was an elegant, soulful singer who found his niche in Hindi film music

His was a soulful voice that effortlessly transferred the angst and forlornness of poetry from words to music. Bhupinder Singh, who died 82 on Monday, got to sing his first Bollywood number in 1964 under the legendary composer, Madan Mohan. But it was only in the Seventies that he found his niche in the cinema industry with haunting melodies that composers such as Jaidev, Khayyam, R D Burman, and, of course, Madan Mohan, had created mainly for the middle-of-the-road cinema of that decade. The A-list of Hindi film music — Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, all born in the 1920s — was very much delivering hits then, but composers sought out Bhupinder, mostly to sing filmy ghazals.

Bhupinder, along with Yesudas, Suresh Wadkar and Jagjit Singh, came to represent the generation that succeeded Rafi, Kishore and others. By then, music had started to take the backseat in Bollywood. Films started to have fewer songs. The political and social upheavals of the 1970s had influenced writers to discover heroes in angry young men, who expressed their angst and anger in fiery dialogues and stunts, unlike the lead characters of a previous generation who revealed their self through songs. Bhupinder’s voice and singing style suited artists such as Sanjeev Kumar, Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar and Naseeruddin Shah more than the big stars of the time. Songs such as “Dil doondta hai” (Mausam, 1975), “Ek akela iss sheher mein” (Gharonda, 1977), “Karoge yaad” (Bazaar, 1982), “Kisi nazar ko” (Aitbaar, 1985) as well as duets such as “Beeti na bitai raina” (Parichay, 1972) have an enduring quality. Though the opportunity to sing came infrequently, Bhupinder was a much sought after instrumentalist, whose guitar became a memorable feature of some of the iconic numbers of the 1970s — “Dum maro dum” (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), “Chura liya hai” (Yaadon Ki Baraat, 1973), “Chingari koi bhadke” (Amar Prem, 1972) among others.

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In the 1980s, Bhupinder reinvented himself as a ghazal singer. With wife, Mitali, he was instrumental in popularising the genre through Doordarshan shows among non-Hindi speaking populations. His corpus may not be large, but Bhupinder leaves behind a few gems that will ensure him a following in the times to come as well.