India woke up to the sad demise of legendary music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri, fondly known as Bappi Da, who passed away on Tuesday night at a hospital in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
"Bappi Lahiri passed away a little before midnight. When the family got him to the hospital his blood pressure was low and the pulse couldn't be felt", Dr Deepak Namjoshi, Physician, Cardiologist, and Pulmonologist, told the Indian news agency PTI.
"We tried to revive him, but it was too late. He died due to OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) shortly before midnight", Dr Namjoshi revealed.
The 69-year-old singer had multiple health issues and had been undergoing treatment at a hospital.
He was discharged on Monday. However, his health deteriorated on Tuesday and his family brought him back to the hospital.
His sudden death has rocked people across the nation, leaving them grief-stricken.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to offer condolences and said that people across generations could relate to his work.
Bappi also tried his luck in politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014 and contested elections, but he lost and quit politics.
Bappi Lahiri with PM Modi
© Twitter/@narendramodi
Born into a family of musicians on 27 November 1952 in Jalpaiguri in the Indian state of West Bengal, Bappi was trained by his parents and started playing the tabla (drum) at the age of three.
Apart from both his parents being Bengali singers and classical singers, the late singer Kishore Kumar was his maternal uncle.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bappi left a lasting impression in the minds of people with his melodious voice and churned out many hit songs for Bollywood movies such as "Chalte Chalte", "Disco Dancer", and "Sharaabi".
Some of his hit numbers include "Ooh La La" for "The Dirty Picture", "Tune Maari Entriyaan" for "Gunday", and "Tamma Tamma" for "Badrinath Ki Dulhania".
The entire film and music fraternity and millions of his fans worldwide are mourning the demise of the disco king and flooding social media with messages in tribute.
Calling it the death of a legendary rock star, several filmmakers including Ashoke Pandit, Hansal Mehta, Madhur Bhandarkar, actors Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, actress Raveena Tandon, and many others have paid tribute to the singing legend.
Singer Bappi Lahiri
© Photo : Twitter
Legendary Indian singer Bappi Lahiri
© Photo : Twitter
Legendary Indian singer Bappi Lahiri
© Photo : Twitter
Legendary Indian singer Bappi Lahiri
© Photo : Twitter
Bappi shot to fame not just for his melodious compositions, but also for his fashion as he would don lots of gold jewellery and often said, "gold is my God".
Legendary Indian singer Bappi Lahiri
© Photo : Twitter
On the personal front, Bappi married film producer Chitrani Lahiri in 1977 and had a son Bappa Lahiri and a daughter Rema Lahiri.
Last year, Lahiri was admitted to a hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19.