Pankaj Udhas
Bollywood veteran singer and ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas is a birth anniversary today. On this day, Pankaj Udhas, born in Jetpur, Gujarat in the year 1951, has awarded many of the best songs and ghazals in his career with his melodious voice. Dozens of songs of Pankaj Udhas are still in the minds of the fans. Pankaj Udhas used to go to Hanuman Chalisa every time whenever he used to do shows on stage or recording songs. Born in a small village in Gujarat, Pankaj Udhas made people crazy from India to abroad. Pankaj Udhas, who gave his voice to the songs of more than 70 films in his career, said goodbye to this world in 2024 last year.
Born in a small village of Gujarat
Pankaj Udhas was born in Navgarh village of Jetpur, Gujarat. He started his career in 1970 with actor-singer Kishore Kumar with ‘Munne Ki Amma Ye To Bat’ album but she fame with the film Naam (1986). In which he played for ‘Letter Aayi Hai’ and he was identified from house to house. Compilation and live shows around the world and also worked as a playback singer in hit films. Udhas studied at Sir Bhavsinghji Polytechnic Institute, Bhavnagar. His family moved to Mumbai and then Udhas earned a bachelor’s degree from Wilson College and St. Xavier’s College Mumbai.
Learned music from Abdul Karim
Pankaj came to Mumbai and met the famous Veena player Abdul Karim Khan, who taught him music. Initially, he was enrolled to learn tabla, but later started learning classical music from Ghulam Qadir Khan Saheb. After this, Udhas went to Mumbai to take training under the patronage of Gwalior Gharana singer Navrang Nagpurkar. Pankaj Udhas sang a song called silver -like Rang Hai Tera, Sone. Pankaj Udhas’s elder brother Manhar Udhas was a stage performance, who helped Pankaj to introduce music. His first stage performance took place during the China-India War, when he sang ‘Aye Mere Watan’s people’ and he was given Rs 51 as a reward by an audience.
Classical music learned from Master Navrang
Pankaj Udhas started training in Indian classical singing under the patronage of Master Navrang. Udhas’s first song was in the film ‘Kamna’, which was written by Usha Khanna and written by Map Lylpuri. Although the film was a flop, his singing was highly appreciated. After this, Udhas was interested in Ghazals and learned Urdu to make a career as a ghazal singer. He did ten months of Ghazal concerts in Canada and America and returned to India with new passion and confidence. His Ghazal album, Ahat was released in 1980. After this he started getting success and released more than fifty albums and hundreds of collection albums including Nasha (1997) Mukrrrrrr (1981) and Taranum (1982).
Also acting in films
In 1986, Udhas got another opportunity to act in the film ‘Naam’, which gave him fame. In 1990, he sang the sweet doubles song ‘Mahia Teri Kasam’ for the film Ghayal with Lata Mangeshkar. This song gained immense popularity. In 1994, Udhas sang the famous song ‘Na Kajre Ki Dhar’ from the film Mohra with Sadhana Sargam, which became very popular. He continued to work as a playback singer, and made some on-screen performances in films like Sajan, Yeh Dillagi, Naam and then Teri Kahani Yaad Ai. His album Shagufta, launched by Music India in December 1987, was the first album to release on compact disk in India. Later Udhas launched a talent hunt television program called Adab Arz Hai on Sony Entertainment Television. Actor John Abraham calls Udhas his guru. Udhas’s ghazals talk about love, intoxication and alcohol. Pankaj Udhas died on 26 February 2024 at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai at the age of 72 due to prolonged illness. His funeral was held on 27 February 2024 at the Hindu crematorium in Worli, Mumbai. But even today, his legacy of music keeps inspiring the youth of the new generation. Today, fans on social media on the birthright have shared their songs by remembering him.
