Bappi Lahiri

Alokesh Lahiri, popularly known as Bappi Lahiri, is a music director in the Hindi - Bollywood film industry. He was born in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1953 into a family with a rich tradition of classical music. His father, Aparesh Lahiri was a famous Bengali singer and his mother, Bansari Lahiri, was a musician and a singer who was well-versed in Indian classical music and Shyama Sangeet. He began to play the Tabla at the tender age of three. His relatives from his mother's family include Kishore Kumar and the S. Mukherjee clan. Initially he was trained by his own parents after which he got his first opportunity in a Bengali film Daadu in 1972. He came to Bollywood at a very young age of 18. The first film in which he composed music was Nanha Shikari (1973).

The turning point of his career was Shomu Mukherjee's Hindi film, Zakhmee (1975), for which he composed music and doubled as a playback singer. He has been awarded with the Filmfare Award of the best composer for the movie Sharabi in 1984. He also scored music for many Hindi films produced from South India. He pioneered the use of disco music in Indian cinema. After the death of Kishore Kumar, he launched Alisha Chinai and Vijay Benedict into the music industry. He also used Usha Uthup for his compositions. Bappi Lahiri is married to Chitrani. His daughter Reema is married to a New York based musician called Souvik Mondal. His son Bappa Lahiri is a budding musician. He is well known for fusion music. He is very fond of jewellery and is usually found wearing gold ornaments and black glasses.