The famous ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas was enjoying a quiet getaway amidst his hectic global schedule at his friend's sprawling villa in Jumeirah, Dubai, where I met him for an interview. Suave, sophisticated and articulate, Pankaj was a pleasure to talk to.

Excerpts from the interview:

I really feel humbled by all the affection showered upon me by my fans all over the world. I think, one reason why my music has appealed to such a wide audience is that my songs have always spoken the common man's language and that's why every listener relates to the emotional content of my music.

Another thing is I have also made a conscious effort to take my music to them. I remember that in the early days, I had to fight with the authorities at Doordarshan to convince them to air my music.

Sometimes while looking back, I also wonder how I took that decision at such a young age, when ghazal singing was not a wise professional choice and every singer tried to be a playback singer. Yet, I did it out of my passion. Syed Mirza sahab, an elderly Maulavi used to come to teach Urdu to my elder brother Manhar, who was then just getting established as a playback singer. From Mirza sahab, I heard the fascinating Urdu poetry of great poets like Mir and Ghalib for the first time.

Wasn't there a Pakistani influence on your ghazal singing?

I was influenced a lot by Mehdi Hassan. In 1977, I met him in London and stayed with him for more than a month. He became very fond of me and was really surprised to know about my passion for his music. I learnt a lot about nuances of ghazal singing by listening to his ghazals.

Action-oriented films left no scope for good music in the 1980s and ghazals with their melodic and lyrical content became a viable alternative. Later as the satellite channels brought in the MTV influence, pop and remixes reigned for a while. But good artists have always survived through all such musical transition.

I think this gradual deterioration in music with computers replacing acoustic instruments, is happening all over the world. Yes, I too tried to bring in that modern sound in one of my albums. It did well commercially but I soon realised that it was not my forte.

I would tell you how it almost did not happen! Rajendra Kumar, who was producing Naam wanted me to sing this song on screen. Somehow I was conveyed the message that he wanted me to act in the film and for that I was not ready.

I thought what I was going to do in a minor film role when already my singing career had taken off. So I kept on avoiding Rajendra Kumar's calls. So annoyed was he, that he called up my elder brother Manhar and blasted him for my 'arrogance' but later when I told him what was on my mind, he just laughed aloud and said, "Pankaj, I don't want you as an actor. You will just appear on screen singing your song!"

2005 will be my 25th year in the music industry and to celebrate that I will be doing many special concerts all over the world.

I have also written my autobiography, which will be released as a part of the silver