Eminent Bhajan singer, Anup Jalota wants to make a biopic on Begum Akhtar. The artiste, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2012, says his project would shed light on life and times of the ghazal singer and the obstacles she overcame to do what she loved to do the most – singing. While Jalota is in the initial stage of planning the biopic on Begum Akhtar, he is in talks with Ketan Mehta to direct the film.
Anup Jalota
The purist that this ever-smiling singer is, he laments that no one is paying attention to the language of music and poetry today. He says new age music in Hindi language has no foundation. This is because the modern generation is not conversant in Hindi or any other local language and is inclined only towards English.
“I am not averse to pop or jazz culture, but I believe no song should be treated like an item number. There used to be beautiful poetry in our times, which is now missing because youths want to listen to a song twice or thrice and then forget it. In our times, there were songs like ‘Chaudavi Ka Chand’ that are a hit with people even today. Who makes such songs now?” he says, adding that the young singers should not try to take to ghazal singing full-time because their language is not perfect.
“The genre of ghazal is filtered and hence, only quality matters here.” This is why, Jalota feels, parents should teach their children language first and then music.
Image courtesy: jagran.com
He believes poetry will only flourish if the current generation knows the language. “In our Shastras, it is written ‘Sabda Pratham Nada Dwitiya’, which means poetry always comes first and music is second. It is very important for parents to teach their children language and then music. If poetry is beautiful, music automatically becomes beautiful.”
Jalota, who has sung more bhajans than ghazal, says devotional music is an industry out there because religion always sells in India. “Ironically, you will find more number of temples than schools in India. In our country, if there is one hospital been built, you will find 10 new temples being made simultaneously,” says the singer, who has also donned the roles of an actor and film producer. On March 13 this year, Jalota’s production venture ‘Hum Baaja Baja Denge’ hit the theatres, while he will be making an acting debut in another of his production, ‘Satya Sai Baba’ that releases soon. He will be playing the lead character of the iconic god man in the movie that has been directed by Vicky Ranawat.
