I lost an elder brother today: Jeet Gannguli on Bappi Lahiri’s demise

Music composer Jeet Gannguli

is heartbroken that Bappi Lahiri is no more. More than a composer and singer, Bappi Lahiri was family to him. Earlier, in an interview with Calcutta Times, Bappi Lahiri had said, “I like Jeet, khub sundor, khub melodious gaan. My favourite composers are

Vishal Shekhar

, AR Rahman, ShankarEhsaan-Loy . Among the Bengali composers, Jeet is my favourite.”
When CT told Jeet about this interview, his voice choked. He said, “Today, I lost my elder brother and guide. He not only guided me in my profession, but also advised me on life and how to go about it when I moved to Mumbai. He last sang for Agnidev Chatterjee’s film Babloo Bachelor, a film for which I had composed. He had sung with Shreya Ghoshal for the song Banna Banni. And in Bangla, we worked together in Raja Chanda’s Le Halua Le where he sang the title track for Mithun Chakraborty. We have worked together on innumerable films and what I liked the most about him was his dedication. He is a singer who can sing a bhajan and a pop/disco song with equal elan — such was his versatility as a musician. As a composer, too, he created different kinds of music. Bappi da has worked with my father (Kali Ganguly) who was a musician too. Whenever my new song or composition used to come up, Bappida would share his feedback. It has helped me in my career.”
Jeet, who went to Bappi Lahiri’s house in November to celebrate his birthday, fondly remembered how he loved to gorge on fish and Bengali sweets. “Bappi da loved to gorge on Bengali cuisine, especially fish delicacies. He used to allow very few people to his music room, and I was lucky to be one of them. He believed in Goddess Kali and would tell me, ‘Do your job with heart and soul and the rest, Ma Kali will take care of.’ Bappida will always be a father figure, preacher and teacher to me. I can never say “alvida” to him.”