Girish Modi
By Girish Modi
Udit Narayan is my favorite singer just like Kumar Sanu and I was thrilled to meet him in Atlanta a few years ago during his concert tour with Alka Yagnik.
When I had visited India in December 1980, I went to HMV studio by invitation from Arun Paudwal to observe recording of a movie song. Bappi Lahiri was the music director, and he was rehearsing a song with musicians, recording personnel and a singer, which was apparently Udit Narayan according to Arun.
Narayan was struggling in that rehearsal, and Lahiri was getting impatient and ended up rehearsing the whole song by himself. Though the session had gone on for several hours, I left a couple of hours after getting a taste of it.
The first song I heard from Narayan was “Papa Kehte Hain” from the film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, starring Aamir Khan, that established Narayan as a playback singer and earned his first Filmfare Award. The soundtrack of QSQT is one of the highest selling albums of the 1980s and was a breakthrough for the careers of Anand–Milind as well.
“Mujhe Nind Na Aaye” is another one of Udit Narayan’s impressive duets with Anuradha Paudwal, also composed by Anand-Milind, and featured in the film Dil which starred Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit. It is also one of the songs I like very much.
In the 1990s Udit Narayan sang many songs in Hindi as well as other languages.
However, “Aye Mere Papa the Great” which is a song from Papa the Great film released in 2000, where Narayan sang with his 9-year-old son Aditya that had caught my attention. I was so moved by that song along with two other songs “Bindiya Saji Nahin” and “O Rabba Rabba Mujhe Pyar Ho Gaya” that I started falling in love with Narayan’s voice. He had become famous in a short time.
Narayan sang record-setting duets with Lataji for the Dil Toh Pagal Hai. As appreciation of Narayan’s singing, I had written an article about him based on Papa the Great theme and titled it “Like Father, Like Son” that was published in a couple of Indian magazines.
Udit Narayan’s career had reached pinnacle of fame in the 90s with the romantic song “Aye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein Tum Bahar Banke“ featured in the film Raja Hindustani and won five consecutive Film Fare awards.
Udit Narayan and Kumar Sanu both owe their rise to Alka Yagnik with whom they had sung many popularized duets. These three singers have broken many records and I call their period the diamond age of film music.
Narayan was one of the most prominent singers of Bollywood throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. He has been the on-screen singing voice for various Bollywood stars. He has sung for Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn. In 2009, Udit Narayan was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honor Padma Shri.
Throughout the 1990s, Udit Narayan was the closest professional rival of Kumar Sanu for the title of most popular male playback vocalist in Indian cinema. This was nothing small as movies are the primary vehicle for disseminating popular music to the Indian public.
Though he wasn’t quite as prolific as Sanu, Narayan boasted one of the most distinctive voices and original singing styles. This reminds me of the glory days of Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar.
When I met Udit Narayan with his wife Prema, I was so excited that I started talking with him about intricacies of his style which stands out among many male singers. I had gifted him a camera and two sheets of postage stamps bearing his image, which impressed him very much. I had taken video of the whole concert I attended that I will cherish forever.
Girish Modi is an 85-year-old retired engineer who is passionate about Indian music and classical dances. He donates money to various Indian organizations and provides free photo service. Contact: girish39@yahoo.com.
