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25 years of intoxication!

As the State bestows the Padma Shri on Pankaj Udhas, the ghazal singer shares the highs and lows of his career

A TOUCH OF CLASS Pankaj Udhas says he doesn't take Bollywood as the ultimate platform for fame Photo: S. MAHINSHA

"Deewaron Se Milkar Rona Achcha Lagta Hai... ' Life is getting quirky? Play Pankaj Udhas. Yaaron Mujhe Muaf Karo Main Nashe Mein Hoon... Idiosyncrasies are getting the better of you? Play Udhas. In the last 25 years the man who has made it to most shelves, now has something to show for it on his shelf too - a Padma Shri. Says the singer, "I don't think the award has come too late in the day. In fact, I have been grateful to the authorities for the timing. It gives a sense of relief and proves that 25 years of efforts haven't gone unnoticed."

Experimenting

An answer to the puritans, who have time and again accused him of fiddling with the ghazal form? "I don't take ghazal as a classical form with which you can't experiment. It's not like raag Bhairavi or Malkauns where there have to be certain notes. Some have criticised me on the basis of pure and impure ghazal but they have never been able to distinguish between the two."

Pankaj agrees that there is limited scope to experiment with the ghazal form. "I see it as an handicap. It's not only me; over the years people have taken liberties with ghazal in their own sweet ways. When Begum Akhtar sang ghazal in thumri andaaz, eyebrows were raised.

When Mehdi Hasan introduced new instruments he was criticised for then it was expected that ghazal should be sung with tabla and sarangi only. Jagjit Singh had to face the ire for incorporating guitar and saxophone. One is not vouching for making ghazal palatable to clubs but certain liberties are okay as long as they do not infringe with the lehja and metre of shers." As for the verse, Pankaj says 400 years back people did understand Persian and Arabic. "Today, the common man's vocabulary has changed. So you can't expect the Nida Fazlis to write in that format. Words can't make Mirza Ghalib classical and the contemporary writers pop."

A great regret

No talk with Pankaj can be complete without his prolonged association with songs that promote intoxication in different forms. Pankaj calls it a stigma. "This is the greatest regret of my career. First people don't relate to the deeper connotation of intoxication in Urdu poetry. They take it literally. Of my entire collection, only some 20-30 songs are based around alcohol, but they were genuinely good and became so popular that the music company brought out separate collections of such songs many times over with names like Maikada, Maikash and Nasha - on which I have no control - creating an impression that I always sing to promote alcohol. Now every time, I take stage I first make the concept of intoxication clear."

ANUJ KUMAR

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