Baadsha was music watches over an impossibly large collection of music and movies
Location. Location. Location. That’s the mantra in business or is that real estate? Either way, Saheed, better known as Baba, could not have done better.
Ensconed in Australia’s only little India project on Foster Street in Dandenong, Baba is not just any other music shop. It is almost an institution. So much so that he is included in the Little India tours conducted here.
Are his customers his friends or his friends his customers? It’s hard to tell because almost everyone that walks into his shop gives him a nod and a wave. “I also get the people from the tour looking through the CDs and buying some music,” he Baba, insisting that we call him Baba which, incidentally, is the name of the shop.
The shop itself is pretty neatly laid out. The emphasis is on music, movies, magazines, DVDs - in that order. Baba is definitely into his music but there is a large selection of Bollywood movies. Baba claims it’s the largest selection here. You will also find here music that you will not find elsewhere. This includes Indian music that you cannot get in India. Baba has a story to prove this and it features one of his icons, Bappi Lahiri.
Bappi Lahiri had been in town shooting for a movie and happened to come into the shop. When he saw the album Ghungta, he could not believe his eyes. “He told me he had been looking for that album everywhere in India and could not find it. He was so pleased that he found it here,” says Baba from behind his imposing counter at the front of his shop from where he controls what music plays in his shop. He has a number of other Bappi Lahiri albums at the shop.
He dug deep in his stash of CDs behind the counter and came up with the CD and sure enough, there was the unmistakable scrawl of Bappi Lahiri’s autograph. “We used to meet each other almost everyday when he was filming in Melbourne.”
Like many other businesses in the area, Baba was not always this big. He ran a smaller shop at a smaller premise before he expanded. However, he has always been on Foster Street.
Originally from Fiji, Baba traces his roots to India and that probably explains his love of Bollywood and other music from the area. He came to Australia in 1989 and has been here ever since.
Ensconed in Australia’s only little India project on Foster Street in Dandenong, Baba is not just any other music shop. It is almost an institution. So much so that he is included in the Little India tours conducted here.
Are his customers his friends or his friends his customers? It’s hard to tell because almost everyone that walks into his shop gives him a nod and a wave. “I also get the people from the tour looking through the CDs and buying some music,” he Baba, insisting that we call him Baba which, incidentally, is the name of the shop.
The shop itself is pretty neatly laid out. The emphasis is on music, movies, magazines, DVDs - in that order. Baba is definitely into his music but there is a large selection of Bollywood movies. Baba claims it’s the largest selection here. You will also find here music that you will not find elsewhere. This includes Indian music that you cannot get in India. Baba has a story to prove this and it features one of his icons, Bappi Lahiri.
Bappi Lahiri had been in town shooting for a movie and happened to come into the shop. When he saw the album Ghungta, he could not believe his eyes. “He told me he had been looking for that album everywhere in India and could not find it. He was so pleased that he found it here,” says Baba from behind his imposing counter at the front of his shop from where he controls what music plays in his shop. He has a number of other Bappi Lahiri albums at the shop.
He dug deep in his stash of CDs behind the counter and came up with the CD and sure enough, there was the unmistakable scrawl of Bappi Lahiri’s autograph. “We used to meet each other almost everyday when he was filming in Melbourne.”
Like many other businesses in the area, Baba was not always this big. He ran a smaller shop at a smaller premise before he expanded. However, he has always been on Foster Street.
Originally from Fiji, Baba traces his roots to India and that probably explains his love of Bollywood and other music from the area. He came to Australia in 1989 and has been here ever since.
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