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The time after the India-China war. In a stage programme, the elder brother kept his five year old younger brother standing on the stage. This small child sang a song in a very melodious voice and the eyes of everyone present in the audience became moist. Then the appreciative audience came on the stage and placed 51 rupees in the hand of this small child. In those days the child did not even understand what it was called, but from that moment another star was born in Indian music. That child is Pankaj Udhas and that song is Pradeep's immortal song 'Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo' which played on the eyes and soul of the entire country including the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru after the India-China war.
Pankaj Udhasan, a native of Jetpur village in Saurashtra, Gujarat, and his family had already understood that Pankaj's career was in singing. However, music became associated with the entire family. His father Keshubhai was a government employee, but while living in Rajkot, Abdul Karim Khan taught him to play the Dilruba and the entire family's life revolved around the seven notes. Nirmal, Manhar and then the youngest Pankaj mastered tabla playing from an early age and later also received extensive training in classical music from Ghulam Qadir Khan Sahab.
During that time the family had shifted to Mumbai. Training in classical music as a disciple of Navrang Nagpurkar of the Gwalior Gharana, Pankaj joined St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. A science graduate from St. Xavier's, Pankaj Udhasan got his break in 1971 with the film 'Kaamna' under the music direction of Usha Mangeshkar. However, no one would have imagined that Pankaj would make a name for himself in ghazal singing, which is completely different from other singers of Bollywood or smooth music. As Pankaj Udhas himself said years later, he would occasionally listen to Begum Akhtar on the radio at his home in Rajkot. After listening to this, a love for ghazal singing developed in his mind at a young age.
In Mumbai, Manubhai Gadhvi helped the Udhas brothers establish themselves in the world of entertainment. For a few years, young Pankaj did some shows in Canada and became quite famous. The first big break came in 1980. The name of that album was 'Aahat'. This album established Pankaj among the top ghazal singers of India. After that, albums like 'Mukraar', 'Tarannum', 'Mehfil' came one after the other. This smash success led to a prestigious show at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Circumstances also favored Pankaj Udhas. The golden age of melodious music in Hindi films had ended. Immortal music was not composed in Amitabh Bachchan's action films. The humming of romantic melodious songs of the 90s had not started yet. It was a period of about 20 to 25 years when ghazal singers like Pankaj Udhas, Jagjit Singh and others really earned name and fame.
It is well known that the song 'Chithi Aayi Hai' from Mahesh Bhatt's film 'Naam' played the most important role in bringing real name and fame to Pankaj Udhas. For the average non-ghazal listener, the recognition that Pankaj Udhas is the singer of 'Chithi Aayi Hai' has been going on for decades. It has been 38 years since this song 'Naam' was released in 1986, but generation after generation even NRIOs have been feeling homesick after listening to this song.
Ghazal Samrat's love story is also quite filmy.
Pankaj Udhas was pursuing his graduation when one of his neighbors introduced him to air hostess Farida. Pankaj Udhas fell in love with Farida. The two continued dating and eventually decided to get married. However, the marriage of Hindu Pankaj and Muslim Farida was not very easy. Farida's father was a retired police officer. Pankaj gathered a lot of courage and met her face to face and asked for Farida's hand in marriage. Pankaj and Farida have two daughters, Nayab and Rewa. Among these, Nayab is associated with the music industry and also runs her own band.
In 'Chitthi Aayi Hai', Pankaj openly wooed Indians abroad.
The generation of 80-90s is expressing deep sorrow on the demise of Pankaj Udhas after a long illness, some of his unknown stories are also related to Gujarat.
Talking about this, Vice Chancellor of Saurashtra University, Ambadan Rohdia says that when we went to Pakistan for Hinglaj darshan, Pankaj Udhas' ghazals were being played in the vehicles. We asked whether you are reciting this ghazal considering us as Indians? Then the car drivers present there said that we are listening to the ghazals of Pankaj Udhas in Pakistan. Ghazals of Pankaj Udhas were and still are very popular not only in Pakistan but also in Afghanistan. A generation there still listens to the ghazals of Pankaj Udhas. Pankaj Udhas, son of Keshubhai Gadhvi Udhas, the landlord of Charkhadi village near Rajkot, was famous for his ghazals not only in Gujarat but all over the world.
Ambadan Rohadiya further talks about his experiences with Pankaj Udhas and says that on one occasion we laughingly asked him about the song 'Temne Chithi Aayi Hai' whether everyone in this song is crying after drinking glycerine. Or are they really crying? Then Pankaji replied that this was my live programme. The people sitting in it were Indians living abroad and when they heard this song, they naturally started crying and its effect remained for a long time and this song also became immortal among the people.
He further says that he regularly visits his village Charkhadi family and meets their relatives and also has darshan of his clan goddess. He was also a donor of huge wealth. He also donates money from his programs to the needy families of the society and also does charity shows. Fans of that time still remember the Jumpak event held at CN, Ahmedabad. Finally, when he was going to be awarded the Padma Shri of Gujarat in the presence of Aayi Sonbai in Madha, he expressed regret due to his poor health.
Director Sanjay Gadhvi, known for Dhoom 2, was his brother-in-law. Whose father Manubhai Gadhvi discovered Manhar Udhas as a national level singer by inviting him for an audition in Mumbai.
'Jiye To Jiye Kaise', 'Na Kajare Ki Dhar'…gave many superhit songs.
Of the Udhas brothers, Manhar Udhas achieved fame as a playback singer in Hindi films, but Pankaj Udhas never focused on Bollywood. Still, whenever he got a chance, he gave one superhit song after another. The song that brought him the most fame was the song 'Chithi Aayi Hai' from Mahesh Bhatt's film 'Naam'. This song was filmed on Sanjay Dutt. Years later, the song 'Jiye to jeiye kaise bin aap ke' from Sanjay Dutt's film 'Saajan' became a superhit. In both these songs, Pankaj Udhas is also seen onscreen as a singer. This song of 'Saajan' also features Madhuri Dixit. Pankaj Udhas also gave duets with Vinod Khanna and with Anuradha Paudwal in Madhuri's film Dayavan directed by Feroz Khan. The lyrics of the song were, 'Aaj Phir Tum Pe Pyar Aaya Hai Behadh Aur Besumaar Aaya Hai'. His other famous duet with Anuradha Paudwal is the song 'Tumne Rakh To Li Pika Hamari' from 'Laal Dupatta Mal Maal Ka', which started the era of melodious songs of the 90s even before 'Aashiqui'. Like 'Lal Dupatta Mal Mal Ka', this film was also made by combining the songs of the album which made T-Series a hit. There was also a famous song of Punk Jodhas with Anuradha Paudwal in 'Bahar Aane Tak', whose lyrics were – 'Mohabbat Inayat Karam Dekhte Hain'. In 1989, a film was released – 'Gawaahi'. The film was not very popular but Pankaj Udhas's duet with Anuradha Paudwal, 'Bhool Bhulaiya Sa Yeh Jeevan Aur Hum Tum Anjaan' became very popular. The film 'Ghayal', which established Sunny Deol as an action star, had a tremendous romantic pairing of Pankaj and Lataji. The song 'Mahiya Teri Kasam Hai' also became popular. This was followed by a popular duet from the 1992 film 'Sangeet' starring Madhuri Dixit and Jackie Shroff, sung by Pankaj Udhas and Anuradha Paudwal, with the lyrics, 'Jo Geet Nahi Janam Woh Geet Banayenge'. When Mahesh Bhatt, who gave the film industry a glimpse of Pankaj's real talent, made the film 'Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Ae', Pankaj Udhas again got a superhit song 'Dil Deta Hai Ro Ro Duhai, Kisi Se Koi Pyar Na Kare'. ,
Rajendra Kumar declined 'Chitthi Aayi Hai' saying he would not act.
This was when the film 'Naam' was being made. This film was originally made by Rajendra Kumar to bring his son Kumar Gaurav's faltering career back on track. The famous writer duo of Salim-Javed broke up and after that Salim narrated one of his emotional stories to Rajendra Kumar, which gave birth to the idea of 'Naam'. The trio of Salim Khan, director Mahesh Bhatt and producer Rajendra Kumar decided that the song 'Chiththi Aayi Hai' would not be a playback song, even though it was picturized on Sanjay Dutt. Obviously, these singers would be known to other Indians living all over the world including India. When Pankaj Udhas was contacted he refused Rajendra Kumar saying that he would not act on screen! There came a time when Pankaj Udhas stopped answering Rajendra Kumar's phone calls. After all Manhar Udhas explained to them with difficulty. He was told that he should actually sing as if he was singing in a stage show and not worry too much about acting. Pankaj Udhas could hardly believe it and what happened next is history.