I look up to Pankaj Udhas as a mentor: John Abraham

Pic Courtesy/ Instagram

Putting up one of his finest performances as the antagonist in the superhit film 'Pathaan', John Abraham, who had appeared in a music video for Pankaj Udhas' song Chupke Chupke aeons ago, mentioned that he is grateful to the ghazal maestro.

"I look up to him as a mentor because when I came into this industry as a model, the first person who graciously featured me in his music video was Pankaj Udhas sir," says John. He said so at a concert by Udhas where he rendered some of the ghazals penned by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

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In January last year, Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas completed 40 long years of his career. With more than 50 albums under his belt and some ever-green film songs including 'Chitthi Aayee Hai and 'Jeeye To Jeeye Kaise, the singer was all set for a grand celebration -- 40 concerts across the country. However, he could do only one at the Nehru Stadium in Mumbai in January. "Things changed completely after Covid struck. Nobody could imagine," laments this Padma Shri recipient.

For someone who has always preferred live concerts, jumping the digital bandwagon, like many other singers was not really an option. "You just cannot create the right atmospherics in a virtual concert. There is no intimacy, no immediate feedback and no interaction with the audience," said Udhas.

Feeling that in current times, the whole narrative has been around Covid, and many other diseases which also require urgent attention were being ignored, Udhas, who is also the President of Parent's Association Thalassemic Unit Trust (PATUT) decided to do a fundraiser called 'The Ghazal Symphony', which was streamed on Hungama Platforms last year on November 21.

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"I had performed 11 of my most popular Ghazals with violinist Deepak Pandit in a Symphony set-up that involved 40 musicians. While Ghazal as a genre is spontaneous like Jazz, in this the music was arranged. Also, it was captured on a five-camera set up and recorded on a multi-track. We had a good opportunity to do post-production work properly. The concert, therefore, had top-class sound and great visuals. Considering we did not want to charge for a virtual concert, a call for funds was raised through Ketto."

(With inputs from IANS)