...And I'm not kidding. He deserves his own page on Timepass, maybe even his own website. Progress on developing a Baba Sehgal Timepass page has been very disappointing, but this last weekend I finally managed to do something I wanted to do for a while, so I thought I might as well break ground on this page while the feeling lasted. You see, my copy of Main Bhi Madonna (bought for Rs. 30/- at the local casette shop in Radhakrishnan Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur in the summer of '93) had some problems with it. The tape got caught in some ancient casette player - probably while at B-Veg, where it was played a couple of Saturday nights - and was split in two. As a result, the last verse in Baba Deewana was cut short, and I forgot what the words were and I had to wait four years to download the mp3 and find out what they were.

I didn't have MTV at home until June of 1993, and Superhit Muqabla was something new happening on DD, and I was... well, occupied with other things, to say the least. That's why I missed the premiere of Baba Sehgal's debut video, Dil Dhadke. I remember my classmates in school talking about some cool new song, and the fact that it featured allegedly-hot (I never thought so. She is kind of scary.) Pooja Bedi. Did JJWS' Pehla Nasha predate Dil Dhadke? The summer of '93 just had so many events squeezed together that it's difficult to tell (Too bad, Thanda Thanda Paani was actually released towards the end of 1992 and not 1993!). I do know that I ended up watching JJWS just as summer was dying down, the end of May, a couple of days before school reopened for XII Std., at my buddy SMK's new house with concealed wiring (even for the speakers!). Within a month or so (it sure feels like not much time passed between the two, in retrospect) of Thanda Thanda Paani's success, I saw an article on the Newsmakers section (the reason I watched the show) of The World This Week about Baba Sehgal. Prannoy Roy announced, "Baba Sehgal has come out with a new album titled, Main Bhi Madonna, Kiss Me [sic]" and he showed us a clip from the video of Baba Deewana. I saw it and realized what I was put on this cursed planet for ("Meh, making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel" - Bart Simpson) - I had to buy this album. I made a pact with Srinivas that we were going to each buy one album. He ended up with Thanda Thanda Paani and... well, what does that leave?

By the end of that academic year (it could have been as early as Dec '93 or as late as March '94) Baba came out with Dr. Dhingra, which featured Srinivas' favourite song, Manjula. In the years that followed, I tried to keep track of what he was upto - let me see: Indian Romyo in 1995, featuring one of my favourites Ladki Ban Than Ke Nikli, and Gori Gori, on some railway station set. Tora Tora in 1996 (?) featuring the title song, Bari Barsi in 1996/7 (?) featuring the title song, and the final Baba album I actually was around to see released - Abb Main Vengaboy (1998) featuring the song Vengaboy. There might have been a couple of albums in the middle somewhere, if something comes back to me, I will update this space with that information. [Wow, that was fast! Thanks, Choyon! Here's a link to one Baba Sehgal Discography]

The success of Thanda Thanda Paani and Main Bhi Madonna was enough for Bollywood to stand up and take notice. Baba sang Fillum Fillum Rap for the 1994 Filmfare movie awards, sang the Hindi version of Rukmani Rukmani in Roja in '93 (As much as I hate anything and everything associated with this movie, I have to say that Baba kicked ass), the Hindi version of Hakuna Matata with Anaida in '94 for Lion King, and let's not forget the Baba Sehgal movie, which was dubbed Miss 420 starring Sheeba in what I can only assume the lead role. I don't know what the deal was with this movie. It was supposed to be released in 1993, two songs were out on Superhit Muqabla, Aaja Meri Gaadi Mein Baith Ja and Memsaab, the former a huge favourite of mine, but I heard there was some trouble with the financers or some shit like that, so release was delayed indefinitely. I also heard that it was finally released in the late 90s or early 00's, but of course by that time sadly no one gave a shit about it. If someone has detailed information about this movie, and also knows where I can find a DVD, let me know!

If I had to list the top 25 Indian songs that are proof that awesome lyrics just don't grow on trees, almost all the Baba Sehgal songs I know would be on that list. He made Hinglish a way of life. I remember Srinivas tell me that some Gujju interviewer once asked Baba, "Aap rape kaise karte hain?" The standard reply Baba had to questions about his music was that in his opinion rap stands for Rahein Aap Pareshaan. If you have heard Rubbish Rap, you will know what he's talking about.

(more to follow)

Oh, and if you have never heard a Baba Sehgal song, don't wait, email me, I can fix that.