Bollywood Retrospect: 5 film albums that helped make Jagjit Singh a phenomenon

Jagjit Singh will forever be remembered as the artist who led the resurgence of ghazals in India in the 1980s, one that lasted about two decades. Prior to Jagjit Singh, Indian music lovers either depended on Pakistani artists like Mehdi Hassan or had to be content with the odd Hindi film ghazal. Talented Indian artists like Begum Akhtar and Talat Mahmood played an important role in sustaining public interest in ghazals but only managed to garner a niche audience. Jagjit Singh’s impact was visible right from his debut album ‘The Unforgettables’ (1976) with his wife Chitra Singh. With a subtle change in approach, he was able to transcend the niche ghazal audience and break into the mainstream. He chose ghazals with relatively simple Urdu lyrics and made his music accessible to a wider audience. By simply adding an acoustic guitar (and synthesiser, saxophone and other Western instruments in later years) and composing simple, hummable tunes, he gave his ghazals a fresh, contemporary sound that attracted younger audiences. This changed approach did not, however, dilute the essence of his ghazals. The fact that he stayed true to the spirit of ghazals as a light classical music form and his heart-melting voice ensured that while going mainstream, he retained the core ghazal audience.

It must be acknowledged that Jagjit Singh had some extremely talented peers like Bhupinder Singh and Hariharan, who made the ghazal music scene in the 1980s vibrant and exciting. His impact may have been limited without their contribution.

Another facet of his career that helped Jagjit Singh take ghazals mainstream was his contribution to Hindi film music. Hindi film songs gave him wider exposure and won him new fans. To commemorate his 75^th birthday on February 8, I pick five film albums that helped make Jagjit Singh a phenomenon.

Prem Geet (1981)

After a scintillating start with the ghazal album ‘The Unforgettables’ (1976), Jagjit Singh debuted as a music director in Prem Geet. His music for the film conformed to the taste of the film audience and had a number of songs that did well with the masses.  There was one song however that truly won everyone’s hearts— ‘Hoton Se Chhoo Lo Tum’. Jagjit Singh chose to sing the best song of the album himself and produced a winner.

Arth (1982)

While Prem Geet was a typical film album with filmi music, Arth was like any other ghazal album produced by Jagjit and Chitra Singh. They were the only singers on the album. The songs had the modern ghazal arrangement that one had come to associate with the duo and their lyrics were by bona fide Urdu poets— Kaifi Azmi, Rajinder Nath Rehbar and Iftikhar Imam Siddiqui. The songs worked extremely well with the film; the album would have probably been called indie if it had released today. ‘Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho’ is probably the album’s best-known song but the one I love most is ‘Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar’.

Saath Saath (1982)

Saath Saath is the only film in this list that had music by someone other than Jagjit Singh. The film’s music director was the debutant Kuldeep Singh, who would go on to compose music for a few more films but would never be able to match his debut. The album, however, is associated more with Jagjit and Chitra Singh since they feature in five of the films’ six songs. In what turned out to be a smart move, the music label HMV (now Saregama) released Arth and Saath Saath as a combination cassette album. The two albums became inextricably tied through time and the ownership of this combination album came to become a topic of conversation, a test of taste and a criteria that even complete strangers could instantly bond over. My pick from the film, ‘Pyar Mujh Se Jo Kiya’, has Jagjit Singh at his soulful best and some splendid lyrics by Javed Akhtar. One of my favourite things about the song is the flute, especially the opening notes leading into the song.

Aaj (1987)

Despite the success of Arth/Saath Saath, Jagjit Singh’s work for films tapered off considerably after 1982. He leveraged his increasing popularity for his original passion and started performing more concerts and producing ghazal albums. Notwithstanding his shifting focus, it was for a film—Aaj (1987)—that he composed and performed one of his most easily identifiable songs, ‘Woh Kagaz Ki Kashti Woh Baarish Ka Pani’. For people who grew up in the 1980s, nothing spells nostalgia like this song.

Leela (2002)

Tragedy struck the Singh family in 1990 when their only son died in a car accident. The album they released that year, ‘Someone Somewhere’, was Chitra Singh’s last. Jagjit Singh continued producing albums. In fact, his last album, titled ‘The Voice From Beyond’ (2013), was released after his death. He did scale back even more on his film engagements though. Leela may have been one of his last film albums but it was clear that he was far from done. One of the key elements of the album was that it was one of the rare film albums in which Jagjit Singh sang for Gulzar. Although Jagjit Singh did compose two songs for the film, my pick is a song composed by Shantanu Moitra, ‘Jaag Ke Kaati Saari Raina’. It’s the rare film song in which Jagjit Singh showed off his classical gaayaki, something he usually reserved for his concerts. His jugalbandi with the guitar specially is magical.

Bonus: One of the things I caught on to rather late was Jagjit Singh’s concert performances. Because he wasn’t bound by constraints of time, he would often improvise, resulting in live renditions that often surpassed his studio recordings. His ability to communicate and engage with audiences and his sense of humour made his concerts a memorable affair. I have revelled in his concert recordings but will always regret not attending a Jagjit Singh concert live when I had the chance. Here’s one of my favourite renditions— ‘Kal Chaudhvin Ki Raat Thi’.