ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
Close on the heels of the ‘late’ R D Burman’s 15th death anniversary on January 4, 2010, his close buddy and playback singer, Bhupinder Singh who had strummed the guitar in the original sound-track of the all-time trance-dance anthem ‘Dum Maro Dum’, recently played it ‘live’.
Singh chose it as his sentimental tribute to his mentor-buddy ‘RDB’ much to the enthralled audiences who went into raptures. The veteran playback and ghazal singer, who is also an ace guitarist and has played the guitar ‘hook-lines’ and strings portions in the original sound-track (for ‘Dum Maro Dum’ from Hare Rama Hare Krishna and ‘Chura Liya’ from ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’) sprung a startling surprise on the audiences at the live concert ‘Naam Gum Jaayega’.
After rendering a string of his chartbuster numbers including ‘Biti Na Bitai Raina,’ ‘Dil Dhoondta Hai’, he moved centre-stage solo to play the guitar, even as his singer-wife Mitali perfectly sang both the landmark numbers. “It’s my humble, sentimental tribute to the rebel-genius RD Burman,"he declared.
Later jogging into a nostalgic flashback, Singh recalled how “Panchamda (Burman) had dragged him for a screening of the Hollywood classic ‘If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium’, when some recording was abruptly cancelled. “Nearly a week later, it led to the birth of the lilting mukhda (refrain) of ‘Chura Liya ‘, which I played during the actual song-recording. But I lost a friendly bet of Rs 100 with Pancham who had challenged me to ‘identify’ which vocals had secretly inspired him. But hats off to him for his awesome talent,” he recalled.
Did Bhupi have a ‘hunch’ that the song would be such a sensational all-time trance-dance anthem? “No, not at all. At that time I was merely concentrating on strumming the hook-lines for which Pancham-da had given me the creative liberty. As an innovative initiative I had used an imported ‘wah-wah’ guitar pedal to produce the haunting intro overture. But after hearing the entire ‘Dum Maro Dum’ song with Asha Bhonsle’s sensuous singing accompanied by the infectious soul-beat rhythm by Buggy Lord and Kawas Lord, I knew that we had a potential top-of-the-charts score. Some 38 years ago, we recorded this song. But even today when I am strumming the notes, I still get sentimental Goosebumps. Because the original RDB composition is simply out-of-this world,” signed off Singh.
Close on the heels of the ‘late’ R D Burman’s 15th death anniversary on January 4, 2010, his close buddy and playback singer, Bhupinder Singh who had strummed the guitar in the original sound-track of the all-time trance-dance anthem ‘Dum Maro Dum’, recently played it ‘live’.
Singh chose it as...
Close on the heels of the ‘late’ R D Burman’s 15th death anniversary on January 4, 2010, his close buddy and playback singer, Bhupinder Singh who had strummed the guitar in the original sound-track of the all-time trance-dance anthem ‘Dum Maro Dum’, recently played it ‘live’.
Singh chose it as his sentimental tribute to his mentor-buddy ‘RDB’ much to the enthralled audiences who went into raptures. The veteran playback and ghazal singer, who is also an ace guitarist and has played the guitar ‘hook-lines’ and strings portions in the original sound-track (for ‘Dum Maro Dum’ from Hare Rama Hare Krishna and ‘Chura Liya’ from ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’) sprung a startling surprise on the audiences at the live concert ‘Naam Gum Jaayega’.
After rendering a string of his chartbuster numbers including ‘Biti Na Bitai Raina,’ ‘Dil Dhoondta Hai’, he moved centre-stage solo to play the guitar, even as his singer-wife Mitali perfectly sang both the landmark numbers. “It’s my humble, sentimental tribute to the rebel-genius RD Burman,"he declared.
Later jogging into a nostalgic flashback, Singh recalled how “Panchamda (Burman) had dragged him for a screening of the Hollywood classic ‘If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium’, when some recording was abruptly cancelled. “Nearly a week later, it led to the birth of the lilting mukhda (refrain) of ‘Chura Liya ‘, which I played during the actual song-recording. But I lost a friendly bet of Rs 100 with Pancham who had challenged me to ‘identify’ which vocals had secretly inspired him. But hats off to him for his awesome talent,” he recalled.
Did Bhupi have a ‘hunch’ that the song would be such a sensational all-time trance-dance anthem? “No, not at all. At that time I was merely concentrating on strumming the hook-lines for which Pancham-da had given me the creative liberty. As an innovative initiative I had used an imported ‘wah-wah’ guitar pedal to produce the haunting intro overture. But after hearing the entire ‘Dum Maro Dum’ song with Asha Bhonsle’s sensuous singing accompanied by the infectious soul-beat rhythm by Buggy Lord and Kawas Lord, I knew that we had a potential top-of-the-charts score. Some 38 years ago, we recorded this song. But even today when I am strumming the notes, I still get sentimental Goosebumps. Because the original RDB composition is simply out-of-this world,” signed off Singh.
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