India’s first rapper, Baba Sehgal — who rose to fame in the early 1990s with Indipop hits like Thanda Thanda Paani — has revealed that he received threat calls from the underworld in 1998, pressuring him to stop singing. He added that although he wasn’t part of Bollywood, his powerful non-film music made others feel insecure.
Appearing on Siddharth Kannan's podcast, Baba shared, "In 1998, the underworld was very strong. Mereko yeh nahi tha ki mujhe bhi call aajayega, kyunki main singer tha, but somehow I too got a call. Woh time bohot stressful tha, sabke liye — even family. Humne phone uthaya, baat kiya. Paise ke liye call nahi tha, unko yeh tha ki main gaana band kar doon."
Furthermore, he shared that he was charting his own path, never singing Bollywood songs. While the threat calls he received were brief and not overtly aggressive, Baba said that the tone of the conversations was quite serious. "Raat mein hi phone aate the, but itna darawana phase hota hai," added the Bigg Boss season 1 contestant.
He recalled that during that period, the industry was going through a dark phase — several producers, including Gulshan Kumar, were murdered, and extortion calls were widespread. "Ek human nature hoti hai, jo darr jaati hai. Uss samay industry crash ho gaya tha, non-film music bhi gir gaya tha. Remixes ka fashion aa gaya tha. Underworld bhi aa gaya tha. Things were very confusing — not for me, for the entire industry," shared Baba.
"Then I got an opportunity in Singapore. I was invited by a Sardar company. It was a good chance — to take a break. Logon ko laga main shift ho gaya hoon. Mujhe visa mil gaya tha waise," concluded Baba.
