In today’s times, where show- off has become more important than real talent and arrogance has become synonymous with any tiny achievement, meeting an artiste like Udit Narayan comes as a pleasant surprise. This uncrowned king of male playback singing in Hindi film music, whose songs like Main Yahan Hoon and Hum Hain Iss Pal Yahan are ruling the charts, comes across as an extremely simple, down-to-earth friendly guy without a trace of ego.

Just coming off a prolonged TV interview, he doesn’t show any signs of tiredness and smilingly welcomes me to his hotel room and we start chatting in about his career. He speaks in measured sentences in Hindi with an accent that belies his rustic Bihari roots.   

How was it singing the late genius composer Madan Mohan’s tunes in Veer – Zaara?

Oh, it was dream come true! Madan Mohan sahab must have composed those tunes so many years ago but when I heard them first in his voice, I was really thrilled and convinced of their originality. I am thankful for Yash Chopraji to have chosen me to render the songs and even more happy that the audiences have loved my songs!

Tell us about you background.

Our surname is Jha. I come from a Maithili Brahmin family. So our family has originated in Milthila- a city where Ram and Seeta got married. I grew up in my uncle’s place in Bihar which is situated on the Indo- Nepal border. After my matriculation exam, I went to Kathmandu for college education and even worked in Kathmandu Radio. There I got a music scholarship from Indian embassy and came to Mumbai in 1978 to study classical music in Bharati Vidya Bhavan. In my free time, I started making rounds of music rooms of various music directors.

So how was that struggle period?

Now looking back, I feel that the struggle is necessary for any artist before he savours his success. The bitterness of struggle makes the success sweeter. As a singer too, the struggle provides you with that inner pain, that