Pankaj Udhas

Pankaj Udhas, the name by itself sounds sweet and reminds one of a voice that is as sweet as honey itself. The man deserves the credit for making ghazals popular at a time when it was losing its foothold over the masses. And today amidst the cacophony of fast and pop music he has proved that ghazals still charm music lovers the world over and that music is not what is made out of machines but that which is made out of an artist's soul. He is credited with bringing this unique singing style where Urdu verses of poets are set to music to the mass audience across the country.

Pankaj Udhas, the Padmasree Award winner, was born on May 17, 1951 in Jetpur near Rajkot in Gujarat to a family of Zamindars. With his elder brother, Manhar Udhas already into stage performances, young Pankaj needed no initiation into the world of music. Even before he was five, Pankaj became conscious of his singing skills. But it was only after his first stage performance during the Indo-Chinese war that the music bug bit hard. He sang Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon and won for himself a prize of Rs. 51 that a gentleman in the crowd generously sponsored seeing his talent. The young boy was so moved by the episode that he made a firm decision to take up music professionally.

Completing his studies Pankaj started his journey for an identity in the film world. So insulated the industry was with Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and Manna Dey that Pankaj found it difficult to breakthrough. But he was fortunate to get his first break in a film called Kamna way back in 1972, which to his bad luck never saw the light of the day. Disappointed not to get the right kind of break in films, he waited but in vain.

Pankaj was so much attracted towards the form of music by Mehndi Hasan and Begum Akhtar that he went on to learn Urdu to be able to grasp the depth of ghazals, thus Pankaj Udhas found his destiny. He did a few ghazal shows in local gatherings in Canada and the US and was amazed by the response. Regaining all the lost enthusiasm he decided to return home with much stronger will to make a mark in ghazals itself.

From his first ghazal album Aahat released in 1980, Pankaj has released around 40 albums with countless number of compilations. In all his albums he has always tried to present ghazals in a manner more appealing to the masses yet maintaining the essence of ghazals.

Since singing ghazals by itself is a very limited area with very little scope for innovativeness, Pankaj has tried to use the little scope to the best as he could. In the process he has given the world of music some amazing ghazals, which will remain in the hearts of music lovers for time immemorial.