‘My Name is Lakhan’ singer passes away

Popular 1980s Bollywood singer

Mohammed Aziz

, known for his energetic rendition of chartbusters such as My Name is Lakhan (film:

Ram Lakhan

) and Mard tangewala main mard tangewala (film: Mard), passed away on Tuesday afternoon.


Officials at Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital, where the singer was brought in dead, told PTI that the cause of death would be known only after the post-mortem. A heart attack is suspected to be the cause. The singer was 64.

In 1980, the peerless Mohd Rafi’s death had left a gaping void in the Bollywood music industry. Composers were desperate to unearth singers whose voices came close to cloning Rafi’s, if not matching in quality. In this backdrop several singers, such as Shabbir Kumar, rose to prominence in films such as Coolie (1983) and Betaab (1983).

Aziz, who also belonged to the Rafi school of singers, arrived late but outshone his competitors after 1985. His confident delivery of the title track in blockbuster director Manmohan Desai’s Mard for composer Anu Malik -- along with the hit duet, Hum to tamboo mein bamboo (with Asha Bhonsle) – made everyone take notice.

Soon he was singing for other Bollywood biggies: Subhash Ghai, Rakesh Roshan. Backed by top music directors such as Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the Kolkata-born gave playback for most major stars of the era: Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Anil Kapoor and Govinda.

Aziz was a singer of masses. His concerts always attracted huge audiences. His career took a giant leap forward when he sang the mournful chart-topper, Duniya mein kitna gham hai, mera gham kitna kam hai in Amrit. The song finished at No 3 on the wildly popular countdown show Cibaca Geetmala’s 1986 annual chart.

But his biggest hit was My Name is Lakhan for Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan. Aziz enlivened this frisky track in a manner that had frontbenchers dancing in the aisles during the screenings. The song topped the annual Cibaca Geet Mala charts in 1989. In a long and profitable career, he also sang for Bengali and Odiya films.