Are you one of those who still go back to the ’90s music? If you do, then you can’t forget Pankaj Udhas, right? The glorious ghazals of Pankaj Udhas have wowed us with some priceless compositions such as Chitthi Ayi hai and Aur Aahista kijiye Baatein. These songs were hugely popular in the 90s and early 2000s and although Pankaj Udhas has not been as active as he was back then, he has a glorious legacy to look back to. As he celebrates his 71st birthday tomorrow, let us revisit his humble beginnings and his path to success.
Pankaj, who was born in Gujarat, took training in tabla at the Sangeet Natya Akademi in Rajkot, Gujarat. When Pankaj was learning music, his elder brother Manhar Udhas was already an established playback singer. His elder brother was a source of inspiration for Pankaj.
His first foray into the musical world goes something like this. According to media reports, Pankaj’s elder brother was doing a stage show during the Indo-China war. Patriotism was at an all time high, fuelled by the enigmatic ‘Ae mere watan ke logo’ song by Lata Mangeshkar, which was a tribute to slain soldiers during the war.
Pankaj got an opportunity to perform at this stage show and he sang Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon with finesse in front of a stunned audience. The audience was so mesmerised that a gentleman from the crowd got up and gave him 51 rupees, his first earning in the field of music.
Udhas’s first song as a playback singer was in the film Kamna, a solo composed by Usha Khanna and written by Naqsh Lyallpuri. According to media reports, since all new actors were working in this film, the director also wanted a new voice and recommended Pankaj’s name.
He spent ten months in Canada and the US doing ghazal concerts and returned to India with renewed vigour and confidence. His first ghazal album, Aahat, was released in 1980 and he has not looked back since then.
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