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Affable Udit
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Playback singer Udit Narayan is as refreshing as his voice
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No airs, no attitudes: Udit Narayan
ONE HAS these stock notions about a star, particularly about his or her airs and attitudes. And so, every time you meet a star who doesn't fit into such a pre-set framework, you're stumped. All the websites, which offered information on playback singer Udit Narayan said he had no image-managed guise, no conceit, no pretensions, so on and so forth. But that's what they say about everyone, we assumed.
Pleasant surprise
But there was a pleasant surprise in store. For not everyday does one come across stars who answer doorbells themselves and are extremely apologetic about their busy schedules.
"Sorry aa, Sorry aa," said the man (he loves saying everything twice), who has sung in 26 languages and is known to give eight hits of every 10 songs he sings. "I came late."
He has a dozen things to finish, has to answer phones (now landline, now mobile), and has two journalists to contend with. Unenviable. But the well-meaning smile on his face never fades.
Udit, who has given us unforgettable hits such as Pehla nasha, was never sure he would be a singer. Hailing from the border of Nepal, his father was a farmer and mother, a folk singer.
As a child, he picked up the folk songs (both in Nepali and Maithli) that his mother used to sing. He went to college and his parents nurtured different aspirations for their son. Father wanted him to become a doctor or an engineer, but his mother all the while knew that "God had blessed her son with a good voice", and that he should pursue singing. "I went to Radio Kathmandu and worked there for 10 years," he recalls.
Even as a child, Udit always dreamt of singing like Rafi, Kishore, Lata and "big-big singers" from the South. "But for someone who couldn't even afford to go to Kathmandu, going to Mumbai was unthinkable." It was radio that came to his rescue.
When he was working for Kathmandu Radio, Indian embassy officials who came on a visit, were impressed with his singing. "I asked them if I could go to Mumbai. They gave me a scholarship and I flew to Mumbai in 1978 and joined the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan."
There, he learnt music under Pandit Dinakar Kaikini. "I used to finish my class, and during my free time, I knocked at the door of every music composer in Mumbai." Nothing happened. The struggle was on till he got his big break in 1988 with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
The unmistakable youthfulness of this character marks his singing style too. Udit Narayan has sung such lovely numbers for Bollywood as Jaddo teri nazar and Ae mere humsafar. But why does the South use him for all beat-oriented, jing bang songs. Don't they tire him out? "Everywhere, there is a stress on fast-paced songs. What can I do about it? Recently, I sang for a Malayalam album." Ende manasa... he sings. "It's a semi-classical song. I was very happy to sing it and people liked it a lot. But such songs don't come your way always. Aajare aajare from Lagaan, Ey Ajnabi from Dil Se are difficult songs, but I loved singing them."
Udit has been irresistible for most music composers across the country. Even for those who tried resisting him — Ilaiyaraja, who had a problem with his Tamil pronunciation, for instance — got him to sing for the film Shiva and even a Kannada film.
Does it mean that composers, who at one point in time insisted on perfect diction, now stress only on rendition? Or has the affable Udit made mispronunciation cute, fashionable?
"No, I work very hard. I'm very conscious of my pronunciation.
I'm not a Tamil or Telugu by birth. But you should appreciate the fact that I'm making an effort," he sounds sincere.
As for his son Aditya, he says, "Aditya is now concentrating on his studies...." As we leave, he asks: "My Veer-Zaara song is good, isn't it?" In the big, bad world of Bollywood, someone so untarnished is hard to believe. Just like his voice!
DEEPA GANESH
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